A-League Confidential: Tim Cahill paid Melbourne City to leave; Socceroos’ friendly against USA?

HOW much did Tim Cahill want to get out of Melbourne City? A lot. So desperate for match time ahead of the World Cup, the Socceroos star dug deep into his own pocket to escape the club.

Tim Cahill’s hip pocket is half-a-million dollars lighter.

HOW much did Tim Cahill want to get out of Melbourne City? Enough to fork out a substantial six-figure sum to make sure it happened.

Desperate to secure a move to a club where he would play enough to stay in Socceroos reckoning, we hear Cahill agreed to refund a sum north of $500,000 to City, and possibly approaching $1m, in compensation for the fact his salary was heavily front-loaded on what had originally been a three-year contract.

Tim Cahill’s hip pocket is half-a-million dollars lighter.

It says everything about Cahill’s determination to play at another World Cup that he didn’t baulk at agreeing to the terms, securing a release immediately.

Both parties were glad to see the ill-feeling of recent days brought to a head.

ANALYSIS: Where to next for Tim Cahill?

We understand relations between Cahill and the club had deteriorated so rapidly, to the point that Cahill’s “bombshell” decision to leave City hardly came as much of a surprise to the club.

OK, USA!

COULD the Socceroos be looking at a star-spangled send-off game ahead of the World Cup? Despite missing out on qualification themselves, the US still sent representatives to attend the World Cup draw in Moscow in search of opposition for friendly games. An American spy told Confidential that Australia was one of the countries approached.

But the Socceroos won’t have to look very far to arrange warm up games in Russia itself. Both Japan and Costa Rica will be based in Kazan for the World Cup, the same city as the Socceroos, and a match against Costa Rica in particular is being seen as ideal preparation for the World Cup group match against Peru.

RACE FOR VICTORY’S TOP JOB

IAN Robson’s decision to quit as Melbourne Victory CEO has sparked a variety of hats to appear in the ring. Victory GM Trent Jacobs is the early favourite, but Perth Glory CEO Peter Filopoulos is certain to be a candidate given his long background in sports administration in Melbourne.

Could former Sydney FC CEO Tony Pignata do the unthinkable?

Former Sydney FC CEO Tony Pignata is also back living in Melbourne and is certain to feature in discussions.

Robson’s decision to take the head job at Rowing Australia prompted one wag to note to Robson that he was swapping a sport going backwards for one where that’s actually in the rules.

EPL LINK IN ROOS JOB SEARCH

IT’S interesting that Sven Goran Eriksson should publicly declare his candidacy for the Socceroos job on the same day that Mark Bresciano was named on the panel of experts given the job of sifting through candidates.

The former Socceroo was almost signed by Eriksson at Manchester City, but City couldn’t agree payment terms with Bresciano’s then club, Palermo.

RICH TALENT POOL

SUCH was the football royalty in Moscow for the World Cup draw, that even Mark Schwarzer found himself a bit starstruck. The former Socceroos goalkeeper, who spent a decade in the English Premiership, snapped selfies with Pele, Gareth Southgate, Samuel Eto’o and Kanu - to name a few.

Also among the numerous familiar faces in attendance was former Sydney FC guest player Kazu Miura – who at the ripe old age of 50 is still playing for Yokohama FC.