text: how far will australia go in the fifa world cup?   if they're lucky with the group e results (that could have them facing ghana rather than italy or czech rep) they could go as far as the semis.  but that's where the fairytale will surely end, as germany is a likely opponent, and germany will probably win unless they play as poorly as they did at last year's confed cup (we only lost that one because frank farina was coaching the side at the time).  i think they're good to make the round of 16, and if they face italy they may push them all the way to penalty shootout, which australia is no stranger to, but if italy scores it may be all over.  but no matter how the game against croatia goes, aussies can all be proud of their football team who have certainly raised the bar for future socceroos sides.