Bench time for Moore?

Socceroos defender Craig Moore believes there's a strong chance he'll be benched for Sunday's (Monday AET) Group F game against Brazil as he and three of his teammates ride the yellow-card limit through the World Cup's group stage.

Moore, Tim Cahill, John Aloisi and Vince Grella all picked up cautions in Australia's 3-1 win over Japan - giving coach Guus Hiddink some difficult choices to make.

A second yellow card in the group stage means an automatic one-match suspension, with any of the four unavailable for the Croatia match if they fall foul of the referee against the Brazilians.

But the Socceroos know their final group match against Croatia on June 22 (June 23 AET) is more likely to decide their overall World Cup fate, and even a narrow loss to Brazil would not ruin their hopes of qualifying for the second stage.

Moore admits Croatia is the Socceroos' Cup final, and appears to be expecting an unwelcome tap on the shoulder from Hiddink telling him to take a breather against Brazil.

"It has been something I've heard the manager mention a couple of times now - and it is a bit of a concern," he said. "For me, that indicates he will tinker with the system. But I don't know anything for a fact right now."

"The Croatia game...that's going to be our Cup final to progress. Who knows? Obviously I'd love to play against Brazil but we'll see what the situation is."

The Socceroos can expect the Brazilians to be fired up after the World Cup favourite was pilloried, pummelled and poked by the pundits' stick for its tournament-opening effort.

Brazil's 1-0 win over Croatia in Berlin was widely panned, with star striker Ronaldo singled out for particular criticism.

Two of Brazil's largest newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo and the O Estado de Sao Paulo, labelled Ronaldo's performance as 'disappointing', while many pundits questioned his fitness and whether he was carrying too much weight.

One of Brazil's 1970 world champion team Tostao gave Ronaldo 'two out of 10' for his performance.

He also described the win as 'slow and bureaucratic' - something that will sting a side for which flair and finesse are demanded and more often than not achieved.

Instead it is the Socceroos who find themselves atop of Group F, but second-placed Brazil now has plenty to prove when it clashes with the tournament's upstart in Munich.

Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said the Brazilians' opener was about '60 to 70 per cent' of their capability - and his clear indication was that performance will be significantly bettered against the Socceroos.

"Whoever wins this game is through to the last 16," he said. "It's not just the second group game, it is a decisive game as the winner makes it to the next stage and that is our primary objective."

Moore also believes the Brazilians have plenty of improvement.

"They did enough, didn't they? It's probably not the best they've ever played but they got three points, and they're always very strong in the group stages," Moore said.

Croatia plays Japan in the other Group F match on Sunday in Nuremberg, with the loser almost certain to bid an early exit from the tournament.

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