By Neil Billingham

Tim Cahill’s body has had a tough few months… better make that a tough few years.

His nickname among the Everton faithful may be “Tiny Tim”, but he’s been making Herculean efforts for both club and country over the last few seasons.
Three years of unbroken football have finally come to an end due to two injuries which have ruined what was shaping up as another great campaign for Everton’s Australian midfielder.

The hope now is that his body can produce even more heroics and recover from a broken foot in time to play for the Socceroos in their first ever Asian Cup adventure this winter. Cahill broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot in the Toffees’ 1-1 draw against Sheffield United in March.

Cahill is expected to be in the Socceroos starting line-up in Thailand against Oman on July 8 and if anything, after his injury lay-off, he’ll be fresh and raring to go. Not that he’s been lying back and putting his feet up in the mean time just because he can’t play.

“Everyone thinks that when footballers get injured they’re just sitting around waiting for the injury to get better,” says the 27-year-old. “When I did my medial ligament back in November I had about 10 days rest and thought I’d get even longer than that.

“But as it turned out I was in at the training ground three times a day – morning, noon and night, working hard trying to get the strength and power back in it. It was at a stage where I would have needed surgery if it didn’t work out, so I wasn’t resting at all.

“It tends to be like that with all injuries,” Cahill adds. “You need to keep the muscles strong and keep a certain level of fitness otherwise it will take even longer for you to come back.”

Having said that, surely taking away the routine of two matches a week and training with his team-mates must have given him a different perspective on
the game?

“I was working hard at the gym but when you’re not away at the weekends playing games it gave me a chance to look at football from the outside which was different. I got to see a lot of my family which was nice. There isn’t a day goes by when my two boys don’t cry for Daddy when I leave to go and play
or train, so to spend more time at home was great.”

Not that Cahill would complain about the full-time rigours of life as
a Premiership footballer or the responsibilities of being one of the senior member of the Socceroos. Few footballers have played as much football in the past three years as the Everton midfielder, but for him it’s always a pleasure, and never a chore.

“When I was growing up all I wanted to do was play football in England and play for Australia,” he says. “In the last three years I’ve represented my country at the Olympics, the Confederations Cup and the World Cup while I’ve been playing regularly for a great club in the Premiership.

“That’s the platform I’ve always wanted to be on, it’s what I’ve always strived to do. It sometimes takes a lot out of you but I feel I’ve got a duty to perform to the best of my ability every time I play,” Cahill says with determination. “It’s a big responsibility but I wouldn’t be doing myself justice and it wouldn’t be right on the fans if I didn’t give 100 percent every time I stepped onto the pitch.”

A Socceroo based in Europe has more demands placed on him than perhaps any other international player because of the extreme distances they are asked to travel. Australia’s admission into the Asian Football Confederation has exerted even more pressure on the minds and bodies of Socceroos players.

Since joining Asia, the Socceroos have played more meaningful matches, and as Australia’s recent 2-0 win against China showed, Football Federation Australia’s aim is to pick the best eleven players available at the time, giving Socceroos coach Graham Arnold a better opportunity to properly assess his European-based players wearing the Green and Gold. This selection policy is bound to further stir up the ever-fiery club versus country debate which inevitably rears its ugly head before international matches and tournaments.

It’s safe to assume Cahill’s manager at Everton, David Moyes – who has lost his star player’s services for the remainder of the English season – is less than happy about the scheduling of the Asian Cup. In a year where there is no World Cup or European Championship, July is usually the time for Premiership players to take a time-out, get away from the pressures of top-flight football and rest those weary limbs.

Assuming he’s fit in time, Cahill is looking forward to the new challenge, although he remains diplomatic about the club versus country debate.
“From a travel point of view it’s definitely a disadvantage joining the Asian Confederation,” admits Cahill. “We’ve got such a tight schedule with our club and now we’re being asked to play in places like Bahrain, Kuwait, South-East Asia and Australia, with some of the games being mid-week. It’s tough and David Moyes’ first interest is for Everton Football Club and that’s mine as well.

“But being a footballer,” Cahill continues, “if I’m playing for my country, that can only make me more of an asset to Everton and hopefully people appreciate and understand that playing for my country is one of the biggest things for me. It’s all about common sense and if I’m not 100 percent right for a match I won’t play. I think I’ve proved to the gaffer [David Moyes] that I can go away and I can come back and still be on top of my game”.

Indeed, in September, Cahill turned out for Everton against Middlesbrough only three days after playing for Australia against Bahrain in Sydney and less than 24 hours after landing back in the UK. Remarkably, Cahill started the Boro match and scored in a 2-1 defeat.