The Socceroos, by pot luck, have avoided some of the sport's strongest nations for the 2026 World Cup.
But the path of Tony Popovic's side, No.26 on the latest FIFA rankings, remains on knife-edge ahead of the December 6 (AEDT) draw for soccer's showpiece tournament.
The Socceroos have been placed in Pot 2, meaning they won't face any of two-time champions Uruguay, 2018 finalists Croatia, Colombia, Switzerland or Austria in the opening round.
The Socceroos will also avoid early match-ups with great Asian rivals and fellow Pot 2 members Japan, South Korea and Iran.
Australian fans took some solace from bypassing a batch of dangerous opponents.
But the outlook depends on glass half-full or empty for the Socceroos amid the myriad of possible groups - from England, Scotland, New Zealand; to Spain, Norway, maybe Italy.
The draw ceremony for the first 48-team World Cup will be held at Washington DC's Kennedy Center, in the presence of US President Donald Trump.
The Socceroos met France and Denmark at both the 2022 and 2018 group stages. The only other nations encountered twice at the cup finals are Chile and Germany.
The draw will reward the four highest-ranked nations - Spain, Argentina, France and England will in separate sections of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.
The top four in the latest men's rankings will, if they top their respective groups, avoid each other until the semi-finals of the June 11-July 19 tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
That means defending champions Argentina with Lionel Messi and top-ranked European champions Spain with Lamine Yamal cannot meet until the final at MetLife Stadium near New York - if they win their groups.
“To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established,” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday, seeking to reward teams whose consistent good results have raised their world ranking.
At previous World Cups, the path for teams into and through the knockout phase was decided by which group they were drawn into.
Forty-two teams have qualified with the other six decided in March with European and global playoffs.
Next week's draw will set the match schedule by placing teams in 12 round-robin groups of four nations each.
WORLD CUP DRAW SEEDINGS
Pot 1: Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United States, Mexico, Canada
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European playoff winner 1, European playoff winner 2, European playoff winner 3, European playoff winner 4, Intercontinental playoff winner 1, Intercontinental playoff winner 2.
- with AP
