Cahill could get last five minutes for farewell tie
sydney — Tim Cahill’s farewell appearance for Australia will be limited to the last five minutes as the Socceroos look ahead to life without their record scorer — and wonder how to replace his goals.
Cahill, 38, will earn his 108th and final cap in Tuesday’s friendly against Lebanon in Sydney, but coach Graham Arnold has thornier matters at hand ahead of Australia’s Asian Cup defence in January in the UAE.
Arnold said on Monday that Cahill, the former Everton forward, would be restricted to a five-minute cameo as the Socceroos aim to make the most of valuable match practice.
“The first 85 minutes is all about our performance,” Arnold told Fox Sports, ahead of Australia’s final outing before regrouping in late December for their Asian Cup preparations.
“There (are) no friendly games — the last five minutes can be for Timmy.” The move echoes last Reuters file week’s somewhat controversial goodbye for England’s record scorer Wayne Rooney, who came out of international retirement to make his final appearance as a substitute against USA.
While England have come on leaps and bounds without Rooney, reaching this year’s World Cup semifinals, Australia haven’t found Cahill so easy to replace.
The talismanic Cahill, known for his prodigious leap and knack of scoring important goals, has hit the net 50 times for his country, playing in four World Cups.
New-look Australia’s lack of goals was apparent in Saturday’s 1-1 stalemate against South Korea, when the hosts dominated but had to wait until stoppage time for Massimo Luongo’s equaliser.
Arnold, who took charge after this year’s disappointing World Cup campaign, said the problem was so acute that he had ordered his forwards to do extra “finishing practice” at their clubs. —