Australia's talisman had been named captain of the team, but in the end it was former Melbourne Victory skipper Mark Milligan who wore the armband as Cahill watched his teammates race to a five-goal lead after an hour.

It was only then that he got the chance to come on and influence matters, although he could not add to the tally.

"We knew they would set up defensively and I just wanted to see us be really mobile," Postecoglou said in the post match media conference.

"We wanted to get mobile and technical players out on the pitch. We pushed Massimo Luongo further up the pitch. He is really good in the box. I thought we had plenty of movement [as a result]."

Postecoglou was delighted with the two-goal effort of Tom Rogic on his return to the international stage. The Celtic midfielder was ruled out of last year's World Cup through injury, and had not played for the Socceroos since.

"It was great for Tommy, I am sure he was a little bit nervous today playing again for his country and there's always huge expectations on him ... I thought he handled himself really well.

"With Cahill we just felt that we wanted to be really mobile tonight and get at them early on. Timmy came on and he was like a bull at the gate, ready to go. We have got him for the second game [against Tajikistan on Tuesday in Dushanbe] now which is good for us."

He also had plenty of praise for workhorse Matthew Leckie, who led the line to great effect in Cahill's absence.

The German based forward has not been the most prolific of strikers, but he scored Australia's first on Thursday night and was a constant threat.

"Leckie is really important to us. He looked dangerous. For the things we measure as a team he's been a really important part of what we do because he works so hard in an attacking and defensive sense. He's always a threat. He is one of the most disciplined in his role. He knows what he needs to do in his position and he does it all the time."

Overall, Postecoglou could not find fault with his team's display.

"It was pleasing, we got off to a really good start, which was important, we got on top of them early. For the most part we kept our discipline. It got a bit frustrating at times when the opposition sat back and there's a few stoppages which doesn't allow you to get into rhythm. Overall, I can't fault the players in terms of maintaining their focus and trying to play our style of football to the end."