Tim Cahill (AFP/William West)

His header looped into the top left corner to give Australia victory over Syria, and Tim Cahill’s mind raced back to that June afternoon in Kaiserslautern more than 11 years ago.

Just like the Japan game in Germany 2006, Cahill had scored his second goal to rescue the Socceroos from an unthinkable plight. It secured a 2-1 comeback victory for a 3-2 win on aggregate in the AFC World Cup playoff in Sydney.

More than a decade ago, Cahill also helped Australia come from behind to record its first World Cup finals’ victory in its opening group game in Germany. This time, it was an extra-time header that saw the team overcome a stubborn and courageous SyriaN side to set up a November meeting over two legs with
Honduras.

In 2006, Cahill was only into his third year of international soccer, overshadowed by the likes of Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka. However, today, as he aims for his fourth consecutive World Cup, he’s more than a decade older than most of his teammates. He will turn 38 in December, a month after Australia’s next playoff on the road to Russia 2018.

Having hauled Australia back into the game after it had fallen behind early with a 13th-minute header, Cahill struck again in the 109th minute as he connected with Robbie Kruse’s cross.

“I felt great. It was like 2006 World Cup when I scored against Japan and I ran around and all the boys just mobbed me,” Cahill told ESPN FC.

“It was one of those feelings. You get déjà vu. I kept saying to Krusie: ‘Don’t even look, just cross it’ […] I pushed these [Syria] boys so far back to create room for the [number] 10’s. I was trying to create havoc there. You’ve just got to wait.”

Unlike the times he’s scored in three World Cups, including the brace against Japan, there was no boxing corner-flag celebration from Cahill, who took his record tally to 50 goals in 103 appearances. Having not played in last Thursday’s drawn first leg in Malaysia, nor featured in the A-League so far this season, it was a risk by coach Ange Postecoglou to stick with him when the match went into extra time.

“I waited long enough and the boss […] he knew […] he left me out there,” Cahill said. “He knew that I was fit enough. I might not have played in a while, but I felt fit and I felt I contributed well to the team, so it was awesome.

“I’m 37 and a lot of people talk about my age, and tonight if you don’t do well they’re probably asking for me to step aside.

“But it’s just a number and producing on the big stage is what I’ve done my whole career. I’m just proud.”

Cahill’s heroics papered over the cracks of another unconvincing performance from the Socceroos, who haven’t played well since a 1-1 draw with Chile in June’s Confederations Cup.

The fact that Syria pushed them so close — the 10-man visitors were desperately unlucky not to progress on away goals when Omar Al Soma’s late free kick hit the post after beating Maty Ryan — shows that the reigning Asian champion has a lot of work to do.

Take Cahill out of the equation, and the Socceroos have few weapons to worry quality international opposition, despite a majority of possession.

Speculation over Postecoglou’s future won’t help, but he will take some encouragement from the fact that it was probably Aaron Mooy and Tom Rogic’s best game yet in tandem. Yet, there’s a lingering feeling that the pair is a little like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard with England — excellent individually but not so effective as a pair.

Australia is also over-reliant on central midfielder Mark Milligan and center-back Trent Sainsbury. Like Cahill, Milligan was a member of the 2006 World Cup squad in Germany, and captains the team in the absence of fellow central midfielder Mile Jedinak.

Milligan, 32, will be suspended for the first leg of the playoff against Honduras, along with Hertha Berlin utility Mathew Leckie, who was a standout performer on Tuesday night.

The bubbling optimism about Australia’s playing depth that came after the Asian Cup win less than three years ago has now disappeared. Suddenly, there seems to be a lack of quality forwards and defenders. And while there is an abundance of midfielders, too few of them are scoring goals and consistently making a difference.

So, by all means celebrate the remarkable Timothy Filiga Cahill, but let’s not get carried away. Unless there’s a marked improvement across the whole team, unconvincing Australia will lose to Honduras, and won’t be going to the fourth-consecutive World Cup finals.

 _______________________________

Jason Dasey is the Singapore-based senior editor of global soccer website ESPN FC. Twitter: @JasonDasey

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