LONDON (AFP) - Australia's caretaker coach Rob Baan admits he was surprised by Tim Cahill's late withdrawal from the Socceroos squad to face Nigeria in London on Saturday.

Everton only informed the Australia Football Federation on Wednesday that Cahill was not fit to join up with the rest of his team-mates, forcing Baan to change his plans for the friendly at Fulham's Craven Cottage.

Cahill has played six matches for Everton since returning from a broken foot that had sidelined him since March.

The midfielder scored a superb equaliser at Chelsea on Sunday, but his Premier League club insist a couple of unspecified niggling injuries make it too risky for him to play this weekend.

Baan would have prefered to hear from Cahill or Everton sooner and he said: "I was a little bit surprised that Cahill didn't inform us in time.

"It was only at the time that all the players came into the camp that we heard he was injured."

With Cahill joining Mark Viduka, Jason Culina, Mark Bresciano, Michael Petkovic and Vincenzo Grella on the injury list, Baan will use Australia's first match since September to give his young stars a chance to shine.

Celtic's in-form striker Scott McDonald will win his fifth cap, while Genclerbirligi's Nicky Carle makes his first start as Cahill's replacement.

Baan revealed Nurnberg forward Josh Kennedy and Grosseto's Carl Valeri are also likely to feature as Harry Kewell and Scott Chipperfield are not fit enough to complete 90 minutes.

There is plenty of reason for Baan's team to want to impress as they could be watched by prospective new coach Dick Advocaat, who is in line to take charge by the new year.

"It is a significant game for some players," Baan said. "Nicky Carle will get a chance, (Scott) McDonald has shown good form and he can start. It gives a chance for some other players to show their capabilities.

"I might start with McDonald and Kewell but I want to see the Kennedy and McDonald partnership as well.

"Carle and Valeri are the players who now can show they can play on this level.

"Hopefully the new coach will then have an idea how many more chances he has."

Baan, who works as Australian football's technical director, is in the unusual position of knowing this is almost certain to be his only match in charge after he replaced Graham Arnold.

Advocaat is expected to arrive from Zenit St Peterburg by the time Australia's World Cup qualifiers begin in February.

Baan said: "I don't think it's difficult. It's just something unexpected. With Graham Arnold with our Olympic team for the qualification rounds there was no choice.

"With a new coach coming in hopefully in January the only other possibility was to appoint Graham's assistant but he had already signed for Sydney.

"I knew the players from the Asian Cup, so that is an advantage for me and makes it easier to do the match."