After their loss to the United States, the Socceroos face the world's 37th ranked side in their final group D match in Santa Clara on Thursday (Friday AEST) with everything to gain.
Win or draw, and Tony Popovic's charges will finish second and head to Dallas to face the group G runners-up - one of Belgium, Egypt, Iran or New Zealand.
Lose, and Australia face a nervous wait to discover if they're one of eight best third-placed teams to progress.
The only problem; Australia have struggled against South American opposition, with just nine wins from 50 attempts.
Since beating Ecuador 3-1 in March 2023, the Socceroos have lost to Ecuador again, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.
Paraguay, who held on with 10 men to claim a 1-0 victory over Turkey and eliminate them from the tournament, are next up.
"Listen, it is just a totally different type of game. We all know that in the games we've played against South American teams in the past," said vastly experienced midfielder Jackson Irvine.
"Watching Paraguay against Turkey, there was a sequence towards the end of the game that kind of sums up their style of football.
"It was with about five minutes to go. They won the ball back high up the pitch, and they had a chance to go to the corner, and the guy just whips the cross in to the back stick with three men and they go on and try to score again with 10 men, when they're 1-0 up.
"You know what kind of game it's going to be. They have incredible individual quality, as you saw in some moments, and you expect the unexpected."
Former Socceroos skipper and current assistant coach Mile Jedinak puts Paraguay's resilience down to the brutal league-style CONMEBOL qualification process - during which Gustavo Alfaro's charges beat the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
"When you're playing against a South American team they'll fight tooth and nail for every single opportunity and we don't expect anything different," Jedinak said.
Paraguay will be without gun midfielder and former Newcastle United star Miguel Almiron, suspended after becoming the first player sent off at a World Cup for covering their mouth during a confrontation.
"A quality player, he's obviously been a huge part of what they do," Jedinak said.
"Obviously he spent a lot of time playing in the UK, and he's brought a lot of energy for them, and with the way that he is.
"If you ask anyone, he's been a pivotal contributor for them, definitely for the last few years.
"So, anyone that's missing like that in your line-up with that sort of experience ... is always going to be missed."
The Socceroos lost to Colombia 3-0 and Venezuela 1-0 in November, games that served as warm-up matches.
Irvine reflected on the Socceroos being comfortable in possession against Colombia but failing to create clear-cut chances.
"We know that tactically we're going to be very good within these areas, it's just about being clinical, because we know that that's where these teams thrive - as well as being clinical in the final third," Irvine said.
"That style of play - the technical quality and unpredictability of it - is tough to defend against as well.
"So we have to be switched on for that within our structure, but then find our ways to hurt them as well in the final third."
