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Coach Ange Postecoglou says his Socceroos have a chance to not only win the Asian Cup, but also the hearts and minds of Australians.
Postecoglou is acutely aware a victory against South Korea in Saturday night's Cup final in Sydney can deliver an unprecedented fillip to football in Australia.
"We haven't won anything in the men's game yet," Postecoglou said.
"And this gives us an opportunity ...to achieve something.
"We're not going to host another, I doubt, in our lifetime.
"You can always dream. If we win it, it will be one of the biggest games ever for our code and our country.
"But we have still got some steps to go first."
The Socceroos advanced to the decider with a comprehensive 2-0 semi-final triumph against United Arab Emirates in Newcastle on Tuesday night.
Australia have banked 12 goals, the most of any nation in the tournament, and Postecoglou said the attacking bent was vital to winning new football fans.
"I think Australian sporting teams, we want them to be really aggressive and proactive and take the game to opponents," he said.
"And I think we have done that this tournament. We have scored more goals than any other nation ... we have created many opportunities and we have only conceded twice.
"So I think the general feeling I get from supporters is that they're loving watching this team play.
"And that is great because we want to be successful but we also want to continue to grow this game in this country. And the best way we can do that is by exciting the people who come through the gates."
Postecoglou, who said a final without Australia would "put a dampener" on the tournament, travelled to Sydney on Wednesday with the Socceroos squad to prepare for the decider against South Korea.
The Koreans have not let in a goal in their five games and downed the Australians 1-0 in a group fixture in Brisbane 11 days ago. But the result of that encounter was largely irrelevant - both teams had already secured passage to the knockout stage - and Postecoglou started his key attacking trio Tim Cahill, Mathew Leckie and Robbie Kruse on the bench.
The Socceroos were also without influential captain Mile Jedinak, who was recovering from an ankle injury.
They still generated plenty of scoring chances - 14 shots to nine - and held 67 per cent of possession in a display which, despite the result, heartened their coach.
"We didn't score last time and we had a number of opportunities ... Even though we didn't win, there certainly wasn't anything negative coming out of it," he said. AAP
