Cahill came on in the final 20 minutes for the Socceroos against Japan for the 2018 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old said the following day he felt good and could last a full game, however van ’t Schip was waiting for the final training session on Friday and praised the leadership he brought to City.

“Tim is physically in a good condition, the only thing we have to look at is to manage him and see how far he can come, that could be 90 minutes, that could be 60 minutes,” van ’t Schip said.

“We just have to see and in general that’s how we have to work with a lot of the players. Especially with Tim, he’s had a bit of an interrupted pre-season coming from China and he went back to the United States and then came here.

“Tim gives that winning mentality to the group and he brings of course a lot more.

"He’s a player that has played in different countries abroad, he knows what it means to play on the highs at international level.

“He’s of great worth in the dressing room for every player and also for young players. Even looking at them, so again we knew what we got in, we knew that was one of the things he could bring with him and it’s about his performance on the pitch.

“Looking at that he’s fit, very hungry to achieve still big things and that’s also what drives him.”

With Cahill’s success for the Socceroos and status with former Premier League club Everton, van ’t Schip was confident Cahill thrived under the pressure of performing in his first club game in Australia in 19 years.

“It’s not that one game is more than the other game, it’s every game you’ve played is past, it’s history and you move on to the next one and the pressure is the pressure,” he said.

“You can build it up as much as you want, it’s more of the outside that builds things up, for Tim it’s just preparing for a game and I know it’s not just a game, it’s his first official game he’s going to be playing, so it’s something he knows.

“He’s a professional, he’s had bigger games on international platforms, he played for Everton and played for Socceroos in the World Cup and this is in that sense a big game as well, but I think that’s why he’s a good player because he loves the big games.”

Second-choice goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis will make his first start for City since signing in January after goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was sent off in the season opener against Wellington Phoenix last week.

And with City’s poor record at Etihad Stadium, they only record one win against Victory at the dome dating back to their (then Melbourne Heart) 2-1 win in the opener of the 2012/13 season.

Van ’t Schip was not taking City lightly after they miss key forward James Troisi due to a collar bone injury and winger Marco Rojas’s recent return from New Zealand’s friendlies against Mexico and United States.

“There’s always opportunities and again we’re looking at ourselves, we know Victory’s a good team, they have strength in their team as well and we just have to focus on ourselves and make sure we’re ready,” he said.

“We’re focused, we’re sharp and we can play our game. If we can play our game that we’re sure of fighting ourselves into the game when needed, so I think we have all the ingredients this year that we can achieve that.

“We have fighting spirit, we have good football players, but still we need to improve and get better, it’s just early days in the season, it’s a great game to see how far we are in that expect.”

The Dutchman also indicated a real rivalry between the Sydney and Melbourne derbies after the Sky Blues thumped Western Sydney Wanderers 4-0 recording the biggest attendance in A-League history.

“It’s big for the A-League, big for Australian football, people see that 60,000 people show up and tomorrow 50,000 hopefully,” van ’t Schip said.

“If you see how quick the growth has gone in the last few years, it says enough about the passion people are feeling for the world game and I think it can only get better if we can improve the league, get more teams and start building to get a bigger amount of crowds then I think it’s only a positive sign.

“It shows (the rivalry), that’s the way it’s been from the start, it’s a been big help for the league in Sydney and Melbourne.”