Give us your all, coach tells Tim
WARREN Joyce has challenged Tim Cahill to have his best season ever.
And from all the signs the new Melbourne City boss has seen so far, he is confident Cahill, 37, is capable of doing just that — even if this could be his last season.
Cahill is back in Melbourne after his two-goal heroics against Syria on Tuesday night fired Australia into the final round of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.
Cahill has declared himself fit and available for tomorrow night’s derby against Melbourne Victory despite playing 120 minutes at ANZ Stadium.
He was also a late starter in City’s pre-season campaign after he played at the Confederations Cup and has had his training interrupted twice more by Socceroos camps.
But Joyce is adamant his star attraction is as primed as ever. “The conversations I’ve had with Timmy is to challenge him to have one of his best years ever,” he said. “That’s my challenge to him and his training has been geared towards that.
“You can certainly see a hunger in his eyes and a physical capability to do that.
“He’s been a top, top player for many years. But I think those kinds of players relish that challenge. Tim has had a wonderful career, but his career is not over.
“You challenge him like you do all the players, but when you’ve got that ability and you’ve got that desire . . . that’s the demand that you can put on them.”
Speaking yesterday at Fox Sports’ Melbourne derby launch, Cahill said he was raring to go.