Australia's trademark fearlessness and ability to rise against football's heavyweights were washed away by two 6-0 losses to Brazil and France in recent friendlies. Due to the nature of the defeats, Osieck's replacement will likely be a coach who can prove to the FFA that he can match Australian sporting psyche with a strong technical standard.

''We need someone who can bring world class technical expertise to the job as well as understanding Australia's great sporting heritage and Australian football's desire to compete well against anyone that we come up against,'' FFA chief executive David Gallop said.

A number of foreign coaches remain in contention with former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink reportedly linked to return and former Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo also in the frame for the job. Although, the FFA's main intention is to hire an Australian coach with Postecoglou understood to be their preferred option. Central Coast Mariners coach Graham Arnold and Western Sydney Wanderers' Tony Popovic are reportedly among the candidates. Gallop would not comment on any contact with coaches or any potential candidates but confirmed his desire to see the Socceroos coached by an Australian in the future.

''It makes sense for an Australian to coach our national team at some point. Whether we are at that point right now is not something we can immediately answer,'' Gallop said. ''We want to be producing coaches of world class quality and we want a coach of our national team who can fulfil the requirements to coach our team and represent us off the pitch.''

The governing body is undergoing a review of the national teams, and will wait until the process is completed before appointing a new coach. FFA technical director Han Berger and head of national performance, Luke Casserly will be part of the review which will decide whether to appoint a coach to take Australia to the World Cup or hire somebody to take the Socceroos all the way through to the next Asian Cup.