World Cup 2014 Video: Australia v Netherlands match preview

Video: Ian Herbert reports from the Estadio Beira-Rio stadium in Porto Alegre as Australia prepare to take on the Netherlands following the latter's thrashing of Spain

Manager of Netherlands Louis van Gaal looks on during the Netherlands training session at the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre, Brazil. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos | Getty Images)

The Australian team bus bears the catchphrase, "Socceroos: Hopping our way into history!"

If Australia were to prevail against the Netherlands in Porto Alegre on Wednesday, it would indeed be historic, especially after the accomplished annihilation of the Spanish by Louis van Gaal's men last week.

Australian manager Ange Postecoglou said that the country’s obsession with playing football the Dutch way has helped them prepare for the match against the Netherlands. Australia have previously been managed by two Dutch coaches, Guus Hiddink and Pim Verbeek.

The Dutch camp were at pains to play down the excitement surrounding the team following their thrashing of the Spanish.

Manager van Gaal said, "You win a World Cup by winning the final matches. This is just the first step and we have to keep our feet on the ground. We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves."

"It’s possible that Australia will be a more difficult match than Spain," Sneijder said. "I don’t think we’ve ever beaten Australia. We have played them three times and haven’t won. So it will be a difficult match. Especially after the 5-1 victory everybody thinks we will approach this game lightly but we won’t."

On a more trivial note ahead of Wednesday's game, van Gaal complained to Fifa about the dug-out at the Estadio Beira-Rio stadium, saying it was below pitch level and that he would require “a barstool” to watch the game.