On Tuesday afternoon a clearly exasperated Postecoglou criticised both the FFA, and the union for treating the national team like a political football in the escalating battle over the collapse of talks for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The players had angered the FFA by refusing to carry out a commercial appearance in Perth in a bid to force the issue to a crisis and get both sides back around the table: the FFA had reacted by criticising the players union, one of whom, Socceroos midfielder Matt McKay, is president of the PFA.

Postecoglou made his feelings clear on Tuesday when he said : "I don't have the players often and when I have them that time is precious, I don't want any minute wasted. The fact that both sides think the best time to play it out is in the middle of a Socceroos camp is not good enough."

But by Wednesday morning the FFA had put out a statement signalling a major climbdown by the Asian Cup winning coach, a man hugely popular with Socceroos fans and regarded as the right person to guide the nation to a fourth World Cup in succession.

"As a senior employee of Football Federation Australia I understand that my comments were inappropriate,"  Postecoglou said in the statement.

"I appreciate that I need to take sides on this issue. The commercial performance of the Socceroos brand directly affects the amount of investment in the match schedule, technical developments and sports science staff.

"In this case, the commercial boycotts imposed by Professional Footballers Australia will directly affect commercial partners and will inevitably hurt the Socceroos program.

"I made comments yesterday out of frustration. I acknowledge that the PFA initiated the regrettable situation that has distracted us in Perth. I understand that FFA was compelled to respond in order to explain its position to the game's stakeholders.

"I call on the PFA to undertake that no future Socceroo camp will be targeted in this way."

Postecoglou amplified his feelings at a pre-match press conference later on Wednesday.

"I think my intent yesterday was to talk about the football. I guess I have created another day of headlines. Maybe I should have tackled it a different way, but as I said we are 24 hours away from a World Cup qualifier. My thoughts and focus are totally on that right now. If I did anything other than that I wouldn't be doing my job.

"Do I have fears about tomorrow night being a distraction?. No the players have been superb as they always are, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Tim Cahill, who will captain the team in the absence of Mile Jedinak, added: " I think it's obvious that we don't need this in camp and what the boss does is protect us from everything on the outside.

"As an older player I have been around the block to know that it's a responsibility of mine to protect the boys. We have all stayed really professional... It would be an injustice for us to talk about the politics and not focus on the football side.

"One thing I would never have is the integrity of my players being questioned, especially with the commitment they give on and off the park, especially over the past decade."