Australia coach Ange Postecoglou has become unwittingly embroiled in a pay dispute between Football Federation Australia (FFA) and its players ahead of Thursday's important AFC World Cup qualifying match in Perth.
The reigning Asian champions face Bangladesh at the nib Stadium ahead of another qualifier away to Tajikistan on Tuesday.
Postecoglou was forced to retract earlier comments about ongoing negotiations between the FFA and Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) over a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
"As a senior employee of Football Federation Australia I understand that my comments were inappropriate," Postecoglou said in a 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."
Ange Postecoglou has retracted comments he made yesterday about the negotiations over the CBA http://t.co/v7mmY8oOXW pic.twitter.com/VFWBJV7bJj
- Football Australia (@FFA) September 2, 2015
On Tuesday, the 50-year-old had expressed his frustration in the way that the dispute was "getting played out in the Socceroo camp... while the game is on, lay down your guns and pick them up as soon as it's over."
In August, talks between the players union and the FFA broke down after the parties could not reach an accord on renewing the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding -- an agreement that has underpinned the game's relations with its players for the past eight years.
This week, the Socceroo players cancelled several public appearances ahead of their first match in Western Australia in more than a decade in support of the PFA.
Postecoglou, who earned four national caps as a defender in the 1980s, added in the statement that he regretted his earlier remarks.
"I made comments yesterday out of frustration," he said. "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."
Australia are in third place in Group B in the second round of AFC World Cup qualifying after winning their opening game away to Kyrgyzstan on June 16. Only the top side in the group are guaranteed passage to the third round of qualifying for Russia 2018.