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Can old heads beat young legs? Can experience triumph over youth? The Socceroos had better hope so. For they are pitting the second oldest of the 32 squads at the World Cup against a German outfit travelling with its youngest group in 76 years.
Australia is likely to field a starting 11 with only two players under 30 – three if Josh Kennedy is preferred over Harry Kewell.
The German squad’s average age, by contrast, is under 25.
This hands Australia a daunting task in a fast-paced modern game which puts a premium on speed and athleticism.
But Australia’s ageing veterans of the 2006 World Cup in Germany have no doubt they are up to the task.
Left-back Scott Chipperfield, at 34 the second oldest of the outfield players, is one who seems to have swallowed the elixir of youth.
He not only defends stoutly for the Socceroos but often surges up the left wing to get crosses over and even gets himself into scoring positions.
He has been banging in goals left, right and centre for his champion Swiss club Basel.
The age factor doesn’t bother him one jot.
“I’m happy with the way I am playing,” he said.
“A lot has been said in the press (about age) but we don’t worry too much about it.”
Chipperfield believes the question will only be answered on the field, firstly against Germany in Durban on Sunday and later against Ghana and Serbia.
“People say we are slower,” he said.
“If we qualify well and good, but if we don’t they’ll be saying we are too old and too slow.
“The German team might be young but they have a lot of experience.
“They play at the big clubs.
“We get a lot of (the German) Bundesliga on TV in Switzerland so I know them pretty well.
“They’re not experienced at World Cups but they are experienced in big games.”
Striker Kennedy, 27, has no concerns about the age issue.
“Most of us (in South Africa) played at the last World Cup but that’s a good thing, not a negative thing,” he said.
“Far from being old, most of us are in our prime and ready for this.”
One of the younger guns in the Socceroo squad, 22-year-old attacker Nikita Rukavytsya, believes the older, first-choice Australians have what it takes.
“They are very experienced and experience is what you need in football,” he said.
Captain Lucas Neill, 32, admits the bulk of the starting 11 could well be playing their last World Cup, but sees a big upside in that.
“It is one of the biggest factors driving us on,” he said.
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