BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes was today anxiously awaiting the return of Aussie World Cup heroes Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton.

The Rovers duo were due to arrive back in England this afternoon, barely 24 hours after helping Australia secure a place at the World Cup finals for only the second time in the nation's history.

The Socceroos have had a gruelling week which began in Montevideo last Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Uruguay in the first leg of their World Cup play-off.

Guus Hiddink's side then returned to Sydney for yesterday's second leg, which saw them book a place in Germany after they triumphed in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.

And now Hughes is hoping both Neill and Emerton have something left in the tank as Rovers prepare to make the short trip to the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday.

The Welshman will assess the condition of the pair over the next 24 hours before deciding whether or not they are in the right physical shape to line up against Stuart Pearce's Manchester City so soon after their international exploits.

But Emerton, in particular, must be rated as extremely doubtful after he went off with what appeared to be an injury during the second period of extra time yesterday.

Nevertheless, the flight back to Britain will have been a euphoric one for Rovers' two Aussies, who, together with their team-mates, made history in Sydney.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Australia levelled the play-off on aggregate through Marco Bresciano's first-half strike in a fiery match dominated by the hosts.

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer then became the hero in the penalty shoot-out, saving from Marcelo Zalayeta and Dario Rodriguez, before John Aloisi, the former Coventry striker, tucked away Australia's fifth spot-kick to secure a 4-2 win in the Telstra Stadium.

That sparked wild scenes of jubilation and among the 80,000-strong crowd was Hollywood actor John Travolta, who celebrated with the Socceroos in the changing room after the dramatic finale.

"Not only have we made the nation proud, we had John Travolta in the changing room," said Neill. "It's an amazing night and that capped it off."

The Rovers full-back, who also scored one of his side's penalties, also had some special words of praise for Schwarzer.

"Credit goes to everyone but Mark will take the plaudits and deservedly so," added Neill.

"They made it very hard for us. The 1-0 scoreline in the first leg was a good result and we put ourselves in a good position.

"We had the composure to keep the pressure on, it went to the wire and was nerve-wracking but everyone got their value for money."