The Socceroos don't need any introduction to Mohamed Salah.
But as a fitness cloud hovers over the former Liverpool star's availability for the World Cup round of 32, the Socceroos are ramping up their plans to deal with Egypt's talisman and his less-heralded teammates.
Socceroos players and staff watched on Friday night as their potential opponent swapped multiple times before Egypt's dramatic 1-1 draw with Iran and Belgium's 5-1 thrashing of New Zealand sealed their opponent.
Australia will play Egypt, the runners-up in Group G, in Arlington, Texas on Friday (4am Saturday AEST) - though there is a question mark over Salah, who came off and had his left hamstring iced after just 56 minutes.
"It didn't look good for him to come off in such an important game at 1-1, to come off at that moment, so you think there might be something there," Socceroos assistant coach Hayden Foxe said.
"But he's a player of enormous talent and I'm sure he'll be doing everything that he can to play in this game.
The points are shared between Egypt and IR Iran 🤝#FIFAWorldCup
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"To try and combat them type of players, you don't put too much emphasis, but you have to respect that and you have to acknowledge that there are some talented players.
"And then you might play a way where you can force them into a wide area or an area where he's not getting a lot of the ball in between the lines."
If Salah is fit, coach Tony Popovic could face a choice on whether to keep Aziz Behich on the left to mark him, or restore Jordy Bos to his natural side.
That would be a tough call given Bos's dynamic dominance on the right against Paraguay.
Salah is Egypt's undisputed headline act, supported by Manchester City forward Omar Marmoush.
The rest of the squad is less-heralded, but Foxe pointed to Egypt's superb qualification campaign, then strong warm-up friendlies against Brazil and Spain, as proof of their quality.
"They're a tough team. They play as a team. A lot of their players play in their local league, but their local league is strong," Foxe said.
"They know each other. They've been together for a long period of time, so they play as a team, as a unit.
"And as we've shown, when you play as a team, as a unit, you're difficult to beat. So it's going to be an almighty game."
Australia have only played Egypt twice, in 1987 and 2010.
But the Socceroos feel their tough AFC qualification route, which frequently involves playing west Asian opponents like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan, will hold them in good stead as they eye a maiden knockout win.
"They have some real natural technical talent," Foxe said
"They play kind of fearlessly, which is a typical African-Arab kind of way of playing football.
"So it's going to be a good test, a challenge we're looking forward to."
