Australia can move to the very brink of World Cup qualification with a win at ANZ Stadium but they will meet an Uzbek team soaring in confidence from a 4-0 win over Qatar in Tashkent on Sunday morning (AEDT).

Back on home soil after tricky away assignments in Bahrain and Japan, the Socceroos are under pressure to play attacking football and comfortably beat their 74th-ranked opponents.

But defender Jade North said the Uzbeks would be anything but pushovers.

"Going by the results (overnight), they’re a heavyweight team for me personally," said North, now playing with South Korean side Incheon United.

"They’re going to come here and give it to us so we’ve got to be prepared for that.

"Obviously Pim (coach Verbeek) has put the pressure on us this week just to say this team’s no walkover.

"I know the media has been saying it’s going to be a goal fest for Australia but I don’t think that’s going to be the way."

Impressive forward Farhod Tadjiev scored a hat-trick as Uzbekistan climbed off the bottom of Group A with a win that kept their qualification hopes alive.

While it was their first win of this qualification stage, they have long been considered dark horses of the group after winning five from six matches in the last stage of qualifiers.

"Even when we played them over there (1-0 win last September), we knew they were a decent team and they’ve got fantastic players," Socceroos midfielder Brett Holman said of Uzbekistan, who are expected to arrive on Monday.

"That was just proved by them winning 4-0 against a decent Qatar team.

"They were fantastic, they looked really sharp ... and we’ll have to be very sharp on Wednesday."

While a win on Wednesday will almost assure Australia qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it will not be enough to officially get them over the line.

However that could happen as soon as Thursday morning, if Bahrain and Qatar play out a draw in Manama.

Failing that, the Socceroos would need just one point from their final three qualification games in June - an away assignment at Qatar and home matches against Bahrain and Japan.

The Japanese are also on the brink of qualification after 1-0 win over Bahrain on Saturday night, which gave them a one-point lead atop the group.

They need only one more win to book their spot in South Africa.

In Group B, leaders North Korea moved within sight of qualification with a 2-0 win over United Arab Emirates in Pyongyang while Saudi Arabia had a useful 2-1 victory in Iran.

The top two teams in each group qualify automatically while the third-placed teams playoff for the right to meet New Zealand for another spot.