As Ange Postecoglou prepares his squad in Japan ahead of their Tuesday friendly, one thing that will be instilled in all players is the need to create an abundance of opportunities.

In the past nine matches, Australia has scored just seven goals and was held goalless in its two most recent internationals against Asian rivals United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In choosing his 23-man squad, Postecoglou wasn’t shy about revealing the team’s failings.

“If there’s somebody banging in the goals, I think that’s the area where we really need someone to come into the squad and there’s an opportunity there.”

“I’m purposely picking players who are starting to play regularly and, no doubt about it, going into the Asian Cup, we won’t take anyone we don’t think can take that load and who isn’t match fit.”

Yet Postecoglou has had to make some unavoidable changes to his striking line-up that would have certainly hurt his confidence this week.

Melbourne Victory skipper Mark Milligan has been ruled out of Socceroos duty thanks to a lack of fitness, while Terry Antonis, a player desperate to get a call up after languishing injured for two years, was cruelly ruled out after being involved in a minor car accident on the way to the airport.

At least winger Robbie Kruse is back to health and ready to play.

The regular starter in the Bundesliga declared he’s feeling as good as he did before his knee injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.

“It’s been a tough road but I’m really looking forward to this next game,” he said.

“I feel like I went back to my club and I’m a different player now. I’m a lot more confident and better in one-on-one situations.

“It helped me get back into the team at Leverkusen, I’ve been coming off the bench regularly and I think I’m close to getting into the starting 11.”

Last time the Socceroos played Japan was during the World Cup qualifiers, where the Socceroos managed a 1-1 draw.

Playing them again will give them the best test to see if they have what it takes to lead proceedings at the Asian Cup in January. It will definitely be a step up from the Middle Eastern clubs they played recently.

Japan had a match on Friday against Honduras and will be able to pick an expert line-up for the game with Australia if the players remain injury free.

Japan vs Australia
Kick-off: 9:20 pm (AEST), Tuesday 18 November
Nagai Stadium

Socceroos’ last 10 results:
Australia 3-4 Ecuador
Australia 1 -1 South Africa
Croatia 1-0 Australia
Chile 3-1 Australia
Australia 2-3 Netherlands
Australia 0-3 Spain
Belgium 2-0 Australia
Australia 3-2 Saudi Arabia
Qatar 1-0 Australia
UAE 0-0 Australia