Olyroos boss Aurelio Vidmar is hoping his side learns plenty of lessons from their 4-0 loss to Japan on Thursday.
The Australian U23 team lost easily in their final group stage match of the Asian Football Confederation U22 Championships in Muscat, Oman and Vidmar wants it to be a learning curve even though they managed to finish top of Group C with two wins and a loss.
"It was again important for us to make changes to see that the players can play at this level," said Vidmar of his much-changed line-up.
"The first 20 minutes were OK and we had some good occasions, but after the early goal we really struggled.
"Japan made it difficult for us with the extra man in midfield and we found it difficult to play in the tight areas.
"It was not the intention to take it easy. We had a discussion that even though the match had no bearing on the result we still wanted to play at a high level.
"It looked like some of the players were fatigued as a lot of these players don't play a lot of football. They need to try and get through when it is difficult. No game at international level is easy and tonight was no exception."
A brace from Shoya Nakajima, a goal from Shinya Yajima and an own-goal courtesy of Corey Brown allowed Japan to secure their first win of the tournament to finish a point behind Australia in second place.
The Olyroos will now take on Saudi Arabia in the quarter-finals in Seeb on Monday while Japan will meet Iraq in Muscat on the same day in their final eight clash.
