Postecoglou looking for goals without Tim
SOCCEROOS goalscoring talisman Tim Cahill looks set to get little game time in the final two warm-up matches before the Asian Cup as coach Ange Postecoglou tries to “protect” the star striker.
Cahill (pictured) played 10 minutes of the dour 0-0 draw with United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning.
He looked sharp when replacing Bernie Ibini as Australia struggled in front of goal.
But ahead of games with Qatar in Doha early Wednesday morning (AEST) and Japan in November, Postecoglou said he was not worried about a lack of firepower without Cahill.
“If you’ve got a player who is that good, why would you worry about it?” Postecoglou said.
“I’d worry more if we didn’t have him – that’s why we’re trying to protect him a little bit.
“He’s played a lot of football recently and (done) a lot of travelling and we want to make sure he’s physically in great nick for January (at the Asian Cup).”
The Socceroos looked much more assured in defence against UAE as they kept their first clean sheet in nine games, which pleased the coach somewhat. Despite that, Western Sydney defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley is expected to be given some game time on Wednesday.
Qatar is ranked the 96th best team in the world on FIFA rankings, 12 spots below the Socceroos.
Coached by Djamel Belmadi, Qatar, which will also compete in the Asian Cup, has beaten Lebanon (5-0) and Uzbekistan (3-0) in its past two games. Al Ahli striker Meshal Abdullah scored in both games, including a double against Lebanon.