The Bellambi junior believes Australia can better their round of 16 exit in Germany 2006 thanks to better depth - and acknowledged it would be harder to crack the squad.

Chipperfield has been out of the national team since June due to injury but is determined to add to his 61 caps, starting on home soil against the Netherlands and Oman next month.

"The last World Cup was a great experience and it's something I'm working hard towards getting back to," Chipperfield said from his Swiss base.

"I'm especially motivated to be there because we have a better squad than in 2006 and we can go further if we get a little luck, especially with the draw for the group stages.

"We have more depth than 2006, I think there are 30 or 40 players who could be in South Africa."

The FC Basel star admitted intra-squad competition - and the rise of fellow left back David Carney, who scored a wonder goal against Ireland last month and recently completed a move to Dutch club FC Twente after a horror stint at Sheffield United - raised the pressure for a place in Pim Verbeek's squad.

"There's a lot more pressure on me now, but I'm confident I'm up to it," Chipperfield said.

"David Carney has done well when I was injured and now that he's in Holland he'll be playing regular football and be a better player for it."

One thing in Chipperfield's favour is that Verbeek has faith in the former Wollongong Wolves star.

"I think Pim's a big fan of mine, he's always asking if I'm fit and wanting to make sure of what's best for me," Chipperfield said.

"If I'm fit, he always seems to put me straight back in there. Once I'm there and fit I'll do the job."

Verbeek originally picked Chipperfield for the Seoul showdown with the Koreans (lost 3-1 last week), but the 33-year-old felt he wasn't ready for international action after two hamstring injuries wrecked his European preseason.

"Pim picked me for the South Korea game but he knew I hadn't been playing much for Basel," Chipperfield said. "I thought it would be better to stay and get my fitness up."

However, Australia's lacklustre showing against South Korea means Verbeek is likely to rush Chipperfield, fellow Illawarra product Luke Wilkshire and centreback pairing Lucas Neill and Craig Moore back in for the October 10 (Holland) and October 14 (Oman) matches.