Day by day, Bert van Marwijk gets more excited.
But every day, the new Socceroos coach hears the ticking of the clock.
Van Marwijk will meet his Australian players as a collective for the first time on Sunday in Oslo.
He'll have his new charges for not even two weeks - for friendlies against Norway in Olso on March 24 (Australian time) and against Colombia in London four days later.
"This is also new for me," van Marwijk told reporters on Thursday.
"Normally as a coach of a national team you have less time - and now it's even more clear."
The World Cup in June is just three months away.
But van Marwijk is conscious of not overloading his players with information when they first meet.
"It's very important to get to know the players," he said.
"I try to know them better and tell them something about my plan, I also can do this in a meeting room and I will do that.
"But really train things I want, I think we don't have the time."
But every day, van Marwijk says he's getting more excited about the short-term Socceroos coaching job.
"Especially when I talk about it now, then I get even more excited," he said.
"And it's always when I talk about these things, about the national team, about the world championship, I get more energy and I get more excited."
But he's reluctant to say whether, after his initial scouting of Australian players, if he's more or less confident of the Socceroos' chances at the World Cup.
"If I didn't have the confidence, I wouldn't accept this job," he said.
"I can't say if I am now more positive or less positive."
Australian Associated Press
