Australia midfielder Vince Grella admits the pain of Australia's last-minute World Cup exit to Italy in 2006 was hard to take, but insists his side are ready to move on and write a new chapter into the country's football history books.

GettyImagesVince Grella: Twisted ligament in his knee

The Socceroos lost out to the eventual champions thanks to an injury time penalty from Francesco Totti, but Grella, who plays for Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, thinks that an older and wiser Australia team have the quality to emulate the achievements of four years ago and reach the second round again.

"We have four more years of experience now, and some players have gone on to continue their careers in some of the top leagues in the world," Grella told Soccernet.

"They are playing at the top level week in week out, so I think the team has grown in confidence and obviously we all set high expectations for ourselves.

"I think [defeat to Italy] left a bitter taste in all the Australian people's mouths, it was a bad way to go out but that's football.

"We've turned over pages, we had a great qualification campaign, finishing top of the group, and now we will be looking forward to the World Cup in South Africa.

Australia have a tough job on their hands to qualify from a group containing three-time world champions Germany, African Nations Cup finalists Ghana and Serbia, but Grella says the minimum expectation in the Socceroos camp is a place in the second round.

"We expect to qualify for the next round just like every team that participates," he said. "We understand how hard that's going to be because of the opposition we are going to come up against, but we have a strong enough team if everyone's fully fit.

"We all know how hard the group is but if we study the tactics right for every game, we can get the result that we need. I think we have a good chance of qualifying for the second round."