Australia will be looking to capitalize on what they see as a divided country behind the Japan national team, who host the Socceroos in a mouth-watering World Cup qualifier on Thursday.

Group B leaders Japan can qualify automatically for next year's World Cup in Russia with victory over Australia, currently third, one point behind Vahid Halilhodzic's men.

But if Japan fail to win before a sellout crowd at Saitama Stadium, their qualification hopes will hinge on their final group game on Sept. 5 against second-place Saudi Arabia in Jeddah -- and reportedly, it could be under a new coach. Australia host last-place Thailand in their final match.

Ever since losing the first match of the final qualifiers to the United Arab Emirates last September, Halilhodzic has been in the hot seat, and pressure on the former Algeria boss has never been higher, with thoughts of Japan missing World Cup qualification no longer so farfetched.

Australia defender Milos Degenek, who plays in the J-League for Yokohama F Marinos, said on Monday that based on what he has heard internally and around the league, support for Halilhodzic's side is frail and far from united, which could sway how the team fares over the two games.

"I think it's mixed emotions," said Degenek, who has become an understudy of sorts at Marinos to Japan's former World Cup center-half and 39-year-old ironman, Yuji Nakazawa, who has battled Australia over the years.

"In my team and my club, from what I've heard it's kind of silly to say, but they kind of want us to win. They've got different reasons which I won't mention, but they don't all agree with the Japanese system and the coaching staff."

"They've got a lot of pressure on them and they're putting a lot of pressure on themselves as well. They're looking at this as the do-or-die game in many aspects. The pressure on them is to win at home, not to go to Saudi Arabia and have to do the business there."

"They haven't had the best of qualifying, the round hasn't been that good for them. They're not the best at dealing with pressure so we'll see what happens. I've had a lot of supporters from my club wish that we win. A lot of my players who are also Japanese wish that we win."

Maty Ryan, the Brighton custodian set to be in goal for Ange Postecoglou's side on Thursday, feels things have not been clicking for Japan ever since the 2015 Asian Cup, where then champions were knocked out in the quarterfinals on penalties.

"Probably the pressure has been building from the Asian Cup, where they didn't perform as well as they would've liked," Ryan said.

"A lot of the European players probably aren't getting the game time which they've come to expect to in the past. But those little things count for nothing if us as a team, we can't take advantage of that."

On Thursday, Ryan, who transferred to the Premier League this summer after a lukewarm two years in the Spanish La Liga with Valencia, will be paying particular attention to one Japan player, fellow England-based Shinji Okazaki.

Leicester City striker Okazaki made Ryan pay for a mistake when their teams met in the second round of the season, after the Australian spilled the ball in front of goal in the first minute. Okazaki was right there, smashing his second goal of the young campaign past a helpless Ryan.

Ryan plans on making sure Okazaki won't hit another by him in three days' time.

"To be playing at that level, you have to be a good player and he's no different," he said of Okazaki, owner of 109 caps and 50 international goals. "Analyzing him in Brighton, he's very mobile and it's those qualities as a player at his level -- he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and making those little runs off the ball, arriving where the ball drops."

"He's got on the scoresheet already a couple of times against Arsenal and us. He obviously knows where the goal is and there's no doubt we'll have to be on our toes."