Jets coach Ash Wilson hopes Newcastle can harness the Socceroos' success by attracting a large and hostile home crowd for their A-League Women's clash with Perth at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday afternoon.
Football fever has swept across the nation since Australia set up this Sunday morning's round-of-16 showdown with Lionel Messi's Argentina at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and Wilson believes it can have a flow-on effect for the Jets.
"It's such a fantastic time for football," Wilson said.
"I teach at a school where there's so many kids who don't play football but everyone's talking about the World Cup. People are tired from being up at 2am [on Thursday] and you saw the scenes from Melbourne.
"If people are enjoying what's going on around the world and coming together because of the World Cup ... there's no reason why you can't start to think, 'How do we support our local team, how do we drive that in this area as well'.
"It just takes people going, 'You know what, I want to come down to the game'. It's an experience for young families who have young daughters to be able to see the quality of players that we have at this level, and we need to keep pushing that."
The Jets have no matches scheduled at McDonald Jones Stadium this season, instead playing eight home games at their preferred No.2 Sportsground.
It is a venue Wilson wants to "be our fortress" and she sees no reason why Newcastle cannot be pushing to beat the A-League attendance record of 5213 for a stand-alone women's game, set in Wellington in round one, with more performance's like their 4-2 rout of Western Sydney Wanderers in Tamworth last weekend.
"It's so achievable," Wilson said. "We have such a strong footballing community here in Newcastle. There's so many young females playing.
"We've got a lot more girls who have come from the local NPL into the team. It would be great to see a lot of those NPL clubs coming out and supporting their players.
"It's such a rich footballing community and we definitely have the capacity to be able to have that, with people getting behind it. Whether it's this week, or it's down the track ... we'd love to see as many people here as possible."
American Sarah Griffith starred with a perfect hat-trick - a goal with both feet then a header - to set up Newcastle's first win in 11 months.
In an encouraging sign for long-suffering Jets fans, the Chicago Red Stars forward said on Tuesday: "I want to win every game. I want to score every game."
The 23-year-old was not fazed by the prospect of garnering more attention from her opponents after rocketing to the top of the competition's goalscorers list and her post-match comments, desire and talent are sure to win over spectators.
So should the performances of those around her, such as a steely, enforcer-type effort from Lucy Johnson in the middle of the park against Wanderers and the skill and class of attacking midfielder Murphy Agnew, who is also from the United States.
"Every year we say it, that we want to make sure we get as many fans to the game as possible," Wilson said ahead of training at No.2 Sportsground on Thursday afternoon.
"It is like having that 12th person on the field. The energy that's created in this place when the girls are doing well or when they're working hard and the community can see that team that's personifying them, personifying the Hunter. That hard-working, attacking sort of brand of football that people resonate with ... the atmosphere is electric and we need to be able to harness that.
"So it's up to the girls to be able to put on that kind of performance that warrants that, but I also hope the fans know how much they're valued when they're here and how much they do lift the girls and how much the girls love being here."
The round-two win came after Newcastle lost their season-opener 2-1 to Brisbane.
Perth drew 2-2 with Canberra in round one before losing 1-0 to Adelaide last weekend.
"They're a good team. They're well coached, they're well organised," Wilson said.
"They had a fantastic season last year, where they just missed out on finals, and I know that the start from them is not exactly what they were hoping for.
"I expect a team that's very motivated to come out to get points and try to make up for their loss on the weekend."
Wilson is unlikely to tinker too much, if at all, with her starting line-up from round two.
A match-day squad will not be revealed until Saturday but forwards Adriana Konjarski (ankle) and Ash Brodigan (foot) are likely to come back into calculations after being sidelined in Tamworth through injury.
Both were back at training this week. Centre-back Teigen Allen (hamstring) remains in doubt after also not taking the field against Wanderers.
The clash with Perth comes before back-to-back Melbourne trips in rounds four and five for Newcastle.
"We're in Melbourne three times in a month, two away, one home then away again, and all the games coming up are going to be tough games," Wilson said.
"It's important to try to get the three points and make sure we're in a good position as we roll into those games ... but I'm focusing on this game. I'm not worrying about Melbourne City [in round four]. I'm worried about Perth. That's the focus."
The game on Saturday kicks off at 3pm.
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