Veteran Cahill makes the cut for qualifiers
melbourne — Australia coach Ange Postecoglou has dismissed concerns about Tim Cahill’s lack of match fitness and selected the veteran striker in his final 23-man squad for crunch World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and the UAE.
The 37-year-old Cahill was overlooked for the qualifier against Thailand in November and has spent little time on the pitch at club level for Melbourne City in the past month but he remains the nation’s go-to man when the pressure is on.
Australia’s disappointing 2-2 draw in Bangkok saw them slip to third behind in Asia’s Group B behind Saudi Arabia and Japan, outside the top two spots that guarantee automatic qualification for next year’s global showpiece in Russia.
The Socceroos will hope to revive their campaign with victory
From our perspective, it’s not the first time we’ve brought Timmy in with limited game time Postecoglu, Australia coach
over Iraq in Tehran on March 23 before UAE visit in Sydney on March 28, the first of three home matches which round out their qualifying campaign.
Australia’s most prolific scorer with 48 goals from 94 appearances, Cahill has a long track record of rescuing the Socceroos and found the net three times in qualifiers last year. “From our perspective, it’s not the first time we’ve brought Timmy in with limited game time,” Postecoglou said on Tuesday. “He’s proved pretty resilient in the past in being able to do a job for us.” —