Sydney: Tim Cahill still belies his diminutive stature with his ability to leap above defenders and get his head on the ball and Australia hopes he will similarly help the Socceroos confound their lowly standing in Brazil.
The hard-tackling attacking midfielder will be playing in his third World Cup but Australia go to the 2014 finals as rank outsiders in one of the toughest first-round groups with world and European champions Spain, Netherlands and Chile.
At 34, Cahill is winding down his career at the New York Red Bulls after spending 14 years in England, first with Millwall and then Everton, but he remains a talismanic figure for his country as well as Australia’s most prolific goal-scorer.
When Ange Postecoglou was appointed coach in October and promised to give a new generation of players their chance, nobody for one second thought that Cahill would be among the old guard dispatched into retirement. Two goals in a friendly against Ecuador in London in March made him his country’s top marksman and he added another in the “farewell” warm-up game against South Africa in Sydney to give him a tally of 32 in 68 appearances.
His scoring feat is impressive enough for a midfielder even before the importance of many of them are considered. In Australia’s opening game of the 2006 World Cup Cahill came on as a second-half substitute and scored twice as Australia beat Japan 3-1.
