Why Tim Cahill Will Be Australia’s Major Weapon at the World Cup

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 10, 2014

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He's arguably Australia's favourite footballer, the face of the national team for many and the embodiment of the Socceroos' fighting spirit, and Tim Cahill will once again be the side's most dangerous player at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

A veteran of two previous World Cup campaigns, the 34-year-old has not just survived the gradual disintegration of his country's "Golden Generation," he remains the focal point of Australia's attack.

Cahill, of Irish and Samoan descent, is nothing if not a battler, and he had to battle long and hard even top earn a Socceroos cap.

It was not his ability that was in question but rather his eligibility. As a 14-year-old, the Sydney-born Cahill accepted an invitation from the Samoan Soccer Federation to represent Western Samoa at the 1994 OFC U-20 Championship after receiving assurances that it would not affect his chances of representing Australia in the future.

The teenager participated in only two games as a substitute in the tournament, but that would later prove a major obstacle to his eligibility to play for the Socceroos.

FIFA intervened when Australia tried to select Cahill for their 2000 Olympics squad, sparking a four-year scrap for the player which was only resolved when the rules were changed to allow those capped at junior levels to switch allegiances. 



The then-Millwall man was a star on the rise when he first turned out for the Socceroos on March 30, 2004. At the World Cup two years later, he established himself as a national team idol by scoring Australia's first two goals (the first two ever scored by Australia in the tournament) in their dramatic 3-1 comeback win over Japan in the group stage.

Cahill had by then proven himself as an influential player at Premier League level, performing superbly for Everton as an energetic box-to-box midfielder capable of providing link-up play, defensive graft and goals.

T...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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