"The injury is similar to Wayne Rooney's before the last World Cup. It's probably eight to ten weeks. I've had contact with Timmy and he's been quite positive about it all and said he'll be ready for the Asian Cup. We'll have a bit of time on our side. So it's all good."

Cahill sustained the metatarsal injury on the weekend playing for Everton against Sheffield United in the EPL.

Arnold also said yesterday that the physical exertion from World Cup 2006 has begun to affect many Socceroos in 2007. And as such it’s exposing our lack of depth.

"Let's hope that our injured stars will come good. I've said in the past that the physical demands of the World Cup have taken a toll on a lot of our players this year.

"We pushed them to the limit at the World Cup to get them super fit and we're now seeing some of them suffering from it. Against Denmark eight boys had to pull out.

"We were fortunate during the World Cup we had a full squad apart from Tony Vidmar. But take some of the best players out and performances can drop. It shows our lack of depth.

"Our first 11 is strong but take out six or seven from that side and put new players in, there is a significant difference and I'm concerned about that. We have to fast-track players into the squad and make sure we're successful at the Asian Cup and qualify for the 2010 World Cup."