Cup hopes cop blow after Cahill sees red

TIM Cahill’s hopes of some much-needed game time before the start of the World Cup have been handed a blow after he was slugged with a threegame suspension.

The Socceroos and Millwall striker was charged with violent conduct by the Football League after catching Fulham defender Ryan Fredericks with an elbow to the neck during the Lions’ 3-0 defeat at the Den last Friday. The incident went unpunished during the game but Cahill was punished retrospectively by a Football Association panel.

He will now sit out his side’s final two games of the season.

The 38-year-old will also miss the first match of the play-offs, should Millwall reclaim their place in the top six.

The Lions dropped out of the playoff places yesterday after being usurped by Derby County, who beat secondplaced Cardiff 3-1.

Millwall’s loss to Fulham was the first time they have tasted defeat since Cahill’s emotional return to the club where he started in January.

The form of south Londoners has seen the Socceroos’ record goalscorer not start a game for Neil Harris’ side and he’s played in just 65 minutes of the 14 matches he’s been involved in since leaving ALeague side Melbourne City. Bert van Marwijk’s Socceroos squad will assemble in Turkey for a four-week, pre- World Cup training camp, on May 19.

The Dutchman will name an extended squad which has to be reduced to 23 by June 4, with Australia kicking off their campaign against France on June 16 in Kazan. Despite being the biggest name in the Socceroos squad, Cahill is far from certain of a place in van Marwijk’s squad and played less than half an hour in the two recent friendlies against Norway and Colombia.

Should Millwall miss the play-offs, Cahill will get just one opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the squad in a friendly against the Czech Republic in Vienna on June 1.

A second match against Hungary will be played in Budapest on June 9.