Socceroos v Oman: veteran striker Tim Cahill proud to lead Australia in 4-0 thumping of Oman

TIM Cahill expressed his pride at leading the Socceroos in their rout of Oman but says the team must stay grounded ahead of a crunch clash with South Korea.

TIM Cahill didn’t need even a sentence for the Socceroos, after captaining the side to its second successive 4-0 win at the Asian Cup.

“In one word, I’m proud,” Cahill said after a win that earned his side a place in the quarterfinals and puts them in the box seat to top the group by avoiding defeat to Korea on Saturday in the final pool game.

“I’m proud of the boys, proud to wear the armband, proud to give it to Bresh [Mark Bresciano]. This is what it is all about.”

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It was a performance, he said, that convinced the players’ most demanding critics – themselves.

“”I’ve said time and again that I believe in these players but the thing is, they have to believe in themselves – and they do,” he said.

“Now it’s about consistency. So how do we drive them to be consistent? We’re going to make them as professional as possible, on and off the park.

“It’s been an amazing camp, this is all part of the recipe and the football we played.”

With a smile Cahill noted the concentration in the media on the sloppy goal his side had conceded last Friday against Kuwait, despite scoring four themselves.

“”When I looked at the analysis after the first game, everyone was talking about the goal we conceded and how difficult the Oman game was going to be, saying we were going to have a tough test again,” he said.

Australia's Tim Cahill heads the ball away from Oman's Jaber Al Owaisi.

“It’s going to be excellent to read what the analysis is going to be now! The main thing, as we said, is that we want to go for it. We want to concentrate on ourselves, we want to be disciplined, that’s the main thing we’ve been driving into ourselves.

“That discipline and professionalism – and how can we make ourselves that little better than all the other teams.”

Nor did Cahill think there would be any confusion about their approach to Saturday’s game, despite knowing a point would be a sufficient result.

“I honestly think against Korea, just because we qualified for the quarter-finals, we’re not going to rest,” he said.

“We want maximum points, we want to win games and we want to keep making an impact,” he said. “We love the football, we love the style we’re playing and with Millsy [Mark Milligan] and Matty [McKay] coming in tonight, they moved the ball quickly – the penetration and the passing and getting in behind.

“[Oman] couldn’t deal with the waves of pressure. They couldn’t deal with our fitness. That was supposed to be a tougher test – supposedly, according to the [media] analysis, after Kuwait – so I can’t really pick too many negatives.”

Originally published as Socceroos v Oman: veteran striker Tim Cahill proud to lead Australia in 4-0 thumping of Oman