World Cup entry vital to future, says Cahill

TIM Cahill says the Socceroos must qualify for next year’s World Cup to keep his sport’s momentum alive.

And teammates Mark Milligan, Mathew Leckie and James Troisi all say they understand how important World Cup qualification is every four years.

The Socceroos will snare a qualifying berth for Russia if they can win on Japanese soil for the first time tonight, while a draw would set up the opportunity to qualify on home soil against Thailand at AAMI Park on Tuesday.

Cahill said it’s imperative for the health of the game that his side is mixing it with the world’s best next June-July.

“There is no shadow of a doubt — we have to qualify for the sake of our sport,” Cahill said. “It plays a massive part in keeping the momentum, it plays a massive part with all the politics going on right now in the game.

“And it also gives us a chance to shine.

“You want to be respectful, but we are at a stage now where we have to kick on. And kicking on means we have to beat Japan and we have to beat Thailand. “There is no other choice.” Leckie said it was “very important we qualify for the World Cup” and said he was happy the team’s destiny was now in its own hands.

Troisi said: “We want to progress Australian football and one of the ways we can do that is to perform at the highest level. That changes the game and gets kids more interested as well.”