Australia coach Ange Postecoglou denies he's trying to push Tim Cahill closer to retirement after putting the former Everton star on the bench for their latest AFC World Cup qualifier.
The Socceroos' all-time record scorer was restricted to a 30-minute cameo as Australia cruised to a 5-0 victory over Bangladesh in Perth.
But before the squad arrived in Tajikistan on Friday ahead of the fourth match of their second round campaign on Tuesday, Postecoglou stressed the value of the 35-year-old Shanghai Shenhua forward to the team.
"We put out a team we thought would be really mobile and test the opposition and give an opportunity to some guys who need more experience at international level," Postecoglou told ffa.com.au.
"Tim showed when he came on he's still a handful and he'll be a great asset for us in the next game."
Cahill, who has played in three World Cups and three Asian Cups, was named captain for the match in the absence of regular skipper Mile Jedinak.
But that didn't mean that the Sydney-born attacker would start the game, Postecoglou added.
"I know people are fretting over the fact he was captain and didn't play, but I thought I made it quite clear at the media conference we were picking the team after the training session and Tim wasn't in the team," he said.
After a slow start in the Chinese Super League, Cahill has scored seven goals in his last 10 games for Shanghai Shenhua.
He moved to China in February after two seasons with New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer. He has 39 goals in 84 internationals since 2004.
"I'm not pushing Timmy into retirement. He's still got a lot to offer," Postecoglou said.
"Our challenge is to make sure we don't sit back and think a certain group of players will take us forward.
"People will fit in that will keep getting opportunities. Others we'll bring in at different times.
"Whether it's Tim or anyone else, we're not looking at a post-anyone era. At the moment what we're looking at is a team that's continually evolving and we'll continue to evolve until we get to a place where we feel we can challenge the best in the world."
Asian champions Australia are top of Group B on six points with two wins from two matches, followed by Jordan (four points from two games), Kyrgyzstan (four points from three games), Tajikistan (one point from two games) and Bangladesh (one point from three games).