Bence Hamerli is a member of the Nine News Sports team.

I'm going to Rio for the 2014 FIFA World Cup but I'm starting to wonder whether the Socceroos will be there with me.

I'm intrigued by the place. On one of those old SBS football shows only diehards could watch, the late, great Johnny Warren described Rio as some sort of utopia.

He said he saw kids on a beach volleying a football to each other from 30 metres away, without the ball ever touching the ground. I tried it with a mate, it's tough to do.

The place is football mad. There are beautiful beaches and people having barbecues. The police are even getting tough on crime, cracking down on gangs like the one that kidnapped Robinho's mum for 40 days in 2004. I'm keen to go.

But will the Socceroos get there? How will we go if we do?

Looking back to Germany 2006 we had a great team. And they pretty much gave as good as they could. At South Africa 2010 Pim Verbeek's tactics – which made qualifying seem like an easy and boring chore (a 0-0 draw against China springs to mind) backfired against Germany.

Holger Osieck's side isn't coasting like that through qualification for 2014, but is it his fault? It's good to have a positive coach but he needs the cattle to do it. It's great he was furious after the loss to Jordan. He's threatening wholesale changes, but who exactly are the replacements?

Ten years ago we had half-a-dozen Socceroos playing regularly in the English Premier League, Serie A, or the Bundesliga. Now they're more likely to be based in the Middle East, so even the conditions aren't an excuse.

I've always been a champion of the Socceroos, shooting down any doubters. I love Archie Thompson, he's a cool cat. But when did he become our go-to striker? In his prime he was a fringe international, the sort of guy you'd call up to score 13 goals against American Samoa.

Alessandro Del Piero will be topping up his super in Australia, couldn't we ask the Gillard government to grant him citizenship so he could play for the Socceroos? It's a football emergency. We need someone world class with an eye for goal.

I'm confident the Socceroos will make it to Brazil, but I'm the same vintage as Brett Emerton and Lucas Neill. And people our age start to worry.

Will the Socceroos qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup?
What do you think of the current Socceroos squad?