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In the final days leading up to the 2022 World Cup, foxsports.com.au takes a look at some of the biggest moments in Socceroos history to take place at football’s biggest show.
Next up: Tim Cahill’s heroics against Japan, and the crushing pre-game blow that inspired him.
Before the highs of Tim Cahill’s history-making heroics against Japan in 2006, there was a crushing low for the man who would one day become Australia’s greatest ever goalscorer.
Told the night before he would be starting in Australia’s first World Cup finals match in 34 years, then 26-year-old Cahill devastatingly found out the next morning the plan had changed and he had been dropped.
Cahill revealed in 2018 Guus Hiddink’s decision left him shattered and hiding at the back of the team meeting “so the boys didn’t see me crying”.
But before the tears came rage.
Teammate Luke Wilkshire, the man who profited from the demotion with a call-up, recalled last year Cahill was “burning mad”.
But then came determination.
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Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, then Hiddink’s assistant, was given the unenviable task of speaking to Cahill about the decision and calming him down.
It was a tough conversation but one Arnold will never forget, especially considering the events that followed.
“The biggest thing for me was his reaction,” Arnold told foxsports.com.au.
”He went from pissed off to … ‘when I get on the pitch, I’m gonna show him, he’ll never f***ing do this again to me.
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“To me that was his attitude. And Timmy, he’s a goal setter and he’s so motivated.”
Cahill came off the bench in the 53rd minute with Australia trailing 1-0. He scored a five minute brace that is immortalised in Australian sporting history before a John Aloisi goal sealed the nation’s first ever World Cup goal.
“He (Cahill) knew, and I didn’t even know it, but he knew that Australia had never scored a goal at the World Cup,” Arnold said.
“So I think the biggest disappointment initially (when he was benched) was, ‘what happens if someone scores before I get on?’ He wouldn’t have that label.
“And you could see from the moment he warmed up and it was just, ‘don’t worry, I’ll do it’. And he went on there and did it. That’s Timmy Cahill.”
In three World Cup campaigns since it remains one of only two victories by the Socceroos at the tournament — the other a 2-1 victory over Serbia in 2010 in which Cahill also scored.
Arnold believes Cahill’s heroics ultimately masked how poor Australia was against Japan and highlighted the genius of Hiddink.
“Honestly I think we were sh** against Japan,” Arnold said. “That was our worst game at the World Cup. Again, something you learned from Guus — having plan A, B, C, and D.
“And we were down to C … we had basically three at the back, two midfielders and five up front.
“It was a great moment and a great memory and I want more of those moments for the Australian fans.”
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