If Everton complete the job against Brann at Goodison Park on Thursday, they will face the winners of the Rosenborg v Fiorentina tie, with the Italians now favourite as they took a 1-0 lead back home for the second leg next week.

But if Cahill is to fulfil his dreams he knows that Everton will have to play 20 more games this season, including eight if they want to lift the UEFA Cup at Manchester City's Eastlands stadium in the final on May 14.

Those 20 games will be played in 84 energy-sapping days, and five in one crippling 16-day spell - and Cahill will have his Socceroos duties on top of the punishing schedule.

From April 19 to May 4, they could face Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the Premier League, plus both legs of a European semi-final.

Manager David Moyes said: "We have the squad to win the UEFA Cup and qualify for the Champions League. I do not see it as a choice, nobody can pick the one they want.

"But our squad is good enough. We have coped recently with a lot of players missing and we are still in fourth spot in the league."

His words will be tested to the limit if Everton improve on a stunning run of six successive European victories next week, a record for the club and the Toffees' boss.

He said: "I'm told that six wins on the trot is a record in Europe for an Everton manager, and that makes me proud.

"But it is the next six games that are the most important, but even that will not be enough to get to the final of this competition, it goes on and on.

"There is still a lot of work to be done but we are getting near the juicy part of the tournament, even if the UEFA Cup seems to go on forever."

To win the UEFA Cup, Everton would have successfully negotiated 15 European matches, a mammoth task. And they dare not ease up in their final 12 Premier League games or fourth spot will be lost.

It is the most testing time of Moyes' near six years as manager at Goodison, but he added of their European run: "We are growing into this tournament. We did not hurt Bergen enough early on, and there is always an element of fear over two-legged ties.

"You don't want to take risks. But we are maturing as a team now, and we are showing that maturity and that we understand how you have to play at this level.

"We have a lot of belief now that we can win away games in Europe, and it is not going to get any easier. But the more games we have had this season the better we have played."

Moyes' view that Everton dare not take Brann lightly in the second leg is shared by Leon Osman, who scored the second half goal that set them on their way to victory in Bergen.

Osman said: "It is the old cliche that winning breeds confidence but it is so true. With every win you get, the more confident you get. A 2-0 away from home in Europe is a fantastic result.

"But the tie is only half done, and the players and the staff cannot afford to look too far ahead. Maybe the fans can, but we have got to concentrate on next week's game and I am sure Brann will try and make it even more difficult than they did on Wednesday.

"We will have to meet the challenge head on and hopefully we will remain patient. That was the key. We were patient in possession and found our openings."

He added: "It would be wonderful to get to the final but we cannot think ahead of ourselves. The second leg is the most important game for us now and we have got all week to work on it. We will be putting everything into it.

"If we get through that, then we can start to think about other things but we are not getting carried away."

If they do complete the tie successfully, it is likely they will face a trip to Florence next month after Adrian Mutu scored an early goal to clinch Fiorentina's 1-0 win in Oslo.

But the Italians failed to kill off the game and were fortunate at the end when Konan Ya hit a post for the Norwegians.

The game will have left Moyes with plenty to think about on the flight home, before he has to face what could be a shattering fixture pile-up.