Australia have been installed as odds on favourites to win the 16-team tournament starting on July 7 at their first attempt after a strong showing at the World Cup last year in Germany.

But West Ham United defender Neill insists defending champions Japan, who Australia beat at the World Cup, are favourites.

"I wouldn't say we were the favourites, I'd say we were one of the stronger teams," he said here where Australia are training ahead of a warm-up game against Singapore on Saturday.

"Japan, obviously, are, I would say, the favourites because they are more experienced at this level, in this environment, and we are coming here to try and challenge teams such as them.

"We have to approach it with a different mentality. We have a lot to prove because we are the new kids on the block."

Liverpool star Kewell, on the way back from injury, said it would be huge for Australia to win, but cautioned that it was one game at a time, starting with Oman on July 8 in Bangkok.

"It would be massive to win, it is a massive tournament," he said.

"It'll be hard, there are some great teams out here and we know what we are going to be up against. To win it would be something phenomenal for Australian football, but it's still a long way off.

"We have some hard games coming up and we just have to concentrate on the first game. Obviously, you have to set out to win a competition but we just have to take one game at a time."

Australia are grouped in the July 7-29 tournament with Oman, Iraq and Thailand.

They have been acclimatising and training in Singapore for nearly a week, getting used to the hot and humid conditions they will encounter in Thailand.

Neill said it would be impossible to play the type of up-tempo football they did at the World Cup in the tropics.

"It'll be impossible to do 90 minutes of closing down and high intensity. We could probably only do that for 20-30 minutes in a game," he said.

"Keeping possession will be a big thing because if you have it the other team is chasing.

"So I think patience will be a key, to make sure that for long periods we can keep the ball and conserve the energy for when we want to explode and surprise people."