CAHILL IN STRUGGLE TO REGAIN FITNESS
TIM Cahill’s first training session since arriving in Honduras was a mixture of stretching, walking and signing autographs for local media as the guessing game continued on whether the Socceroos stalwart would play in Saturday’s World Cup qualifying playoff first leg.
Having arrived in San Pedro Sula to an awaiting media pack the night before, Cahill was again the focus of attention at Australia’s training hit out at Estacio Francisco Morazan, the home ground of club Real Espino.
He stretched with rest of his teammates before disappearing back into stadium tunnel, presumably to have more physio on the ankle he injured last Friday night in his club side Melbourne City’s 1-0 loss to Sydney FC. Cahill later emerged to walk laps of the field with Socceroos physiotherapist Les Gelis as the Australians completed a session that lasted for about an hour.
A few of the Honduran media pack were waiting at the fence to ask Cahill for his autograph as he left the field for the last time.
Cahill obliged as the Socceroos’ continued their charm offensive with locals, who remain fixated on the dangerous image of Honduras that has been portrayed in Australia.
How much time, if any, Cahill is given on Saturday is also a hot topic after he declared upon his arrival he would “do anything to be available”.
It would be a surprise if Cahill started the match, but if he’s fit, he would be more than handy off the bench.