Postecoglou started with a 3-4-2-1 formation and said today that he wanted to use the friendly to give players lacking game time a taste of match action before flying to Russia for the 2017 Confederations Cup.

He made six second half substitutions and said he took responsibility for his decisions – but also said it was important to send uncapped Dylan McGowan and Ajdin Hrustic onto the field.

“We had at least five guys who hadn’t played in over a month - Bailey Wright, Timmy (Cahill), (James) Troisi and Massimo Luongo,” Postecoglou said.

“They hadn’t played any football because their league's finished over a month ago. But they needed to play last night. If they didn’t play last night, they would have gone into the Confederations Cup underdone.

“I think they’ll feel better for it. When you’re up against the best though, there’s always the possibility that it won’t end well, and it didn’t end particularly well for us in the second half.

“The substitutions didn’t help because we wanted to give Dylan and Ajdin a taste of international football and playing against the best.”

Australia will face Germany, Cameroon and Chile in Russia before crucial qualifiers against Japan away and Thailand at home.

With captain Mile Jedinak ruled out of the Confederations Cup through injury – replaced now by Jimmy Jeggo – Postecoglou said he was not prepared today to name a sole captain for the tournament.

 “We’ve got leaders within the group and they’ll step up at different times as they have in the past,” he said.

“Guys like Timmy and Millsy who are probably the most experienced in the group but the others are beginning to gain some meaningful experience at international level and I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to the opportunity to step up.

“I officially named Mile captain, he’s just captain every time he plays. I think when I took over, it’s one of the things I spoke about that I don’t think anyone should presume anything about anything we do.

“When Mile’s been here, he’s been captain, Timmy’s been captain and I think Mark’s been captain for a couple of games. You’re betting on who starts in Germany, they’ll captain the team.”