Asian Cup 2015: Captain-for-a-night Tim Cahill says Socceroos must not get distracted by Oman

TIM Cahill has scored three times against Oman but Australia’s captain-for-a-night is concentrating only on the win that will assure a place in the next round.

Socceroos

FOUR times Tim Cahill has faced Oman, and three times he has scored against them.

But the Socceroos’ captain-for-a-night will take that history with a pinch of salt in Tuesday night’s Asian Cup tie, concentrating only on the fact that a home win assures Australia of a place in the next round.

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Familiarity breeds respect for the Australians, who have struggled on several occasions against Oman - starting with the 1-1 draw that Cahill rescued for his side in the 2007 Asian Cup.

Tim Cahill says the Socceroos must prepare well for the Oman challenge.

But while Cahill said the team would “do its homework”, the focus he said was on the Australians perfecting their gameplan.

“It’s going to be a massive game because three points changes the tide of where the group is at,” Cahill said.

“There’s a lot on the line for us. We’ve worked really hard to get to this stage; the Kuwait game was a big target, and now we want to be sure we execute this game in the right way.

“We respect them highly - we know they have a great squad and a coach who has been with them for a very long time. They have a familiarity, but we have to focus on ourselves. We’ve trained well and had a great start but now it’s down to us to perform again and do the country proud.

“History means nothing in a game like this - we prepare mentally and physically, and concentrate on our intensity and how we move the ball. Let Oman take care of their own house.”

Oman lost narrowly to South Korea in their opening game, and Cahill said he could predict the tactics that would be employed against Australia.

“I saw that (South Korea game) and their games at the Gulf Cup when they beat Kuwait 5-0. We always do our homework, and they were unlucky in some circumstances. Whether it was a fair result (against South Korea) they probably beg to differ but we’re wary of their team regardless of how many times we’ve played them before.

“They will either close me down or give me space, and if not I’ll create space for someone else. It was like waiting for a bus the other night (for a chance), but when it comes it feels great.

“There won’t be a lot of ball movement because they literally have 11 behind the ball, same as Kuwait, but if we believe in the philosophy of how we want to play, it will eventually come right.”

Originally published as Asian Cup 2015: Captain-for-a-night Tim Cahill says Socceroos must not get distracted by Oman