Tim Cahill plays last game for Socceroos and a potential new star is unearthed

IN the end there wasn’t to be one final memory, no parting shot for the highlights reel.

Tim Cahill with his children on stage after his final game for the Socceroos. Picture: Toby Zerna

• Match report: Socceroos unearth new hero
• Player ratings: Who starred and who struggled for Socceroos

Update: For 90 minutes or more Tim Cahill traversed the ANZ Stadium pitch, doing what he has done for 15 years as a hero to thousands of Australian fans.

Only 11 minutes or so of that time was actually spent playing in his farewell match, the rest just a blur of autographs and selfies as hundreds of young fans waited patiently for their country’s record goalscorer to reach them, long after the rest of the stadium had emptied.

In the end they weren’t to be given one final memory of Cahill scoring during the game, no parting shot for the highlights reel, but the man himself had no intention of leaving the stage until every duty was done.

“It’s everything you could dream of or wish for at the end of your career as an international,” Cahill said. “Even leading into the game I was really proud and content, just happy.

“It’s not just about scoring, this sort of stuff I’m taking it all in, I embrace it. I’m going to sign every single autograph until we all go home, because this is why I am where I am today. This is priceless.

Tim Cahill after coming on for his final match for the Socceroos in Sydney on Tuesday night. Picture: Getty Images

SEE HOW WE COVERED THE GAME IN OUR LIVE BLOG

“Grassroots, kids, they don’t come back unless you put the effort in, and I’ve got kids this age.”

It told part of the story of Cahill’s enduring popularity, as well as the 50 goals and the moments when time and again he changed his country’s footballing destiny.

No wonder the loudest cheers of the night had come when he pulled on his shirt and emerged from the substitutes bench to play a final few minutes as an international.

At 3-0 last night the game was won when Graham Arnold sent Cahill to warm up, prompting as big a cheer as any until that point. Arnold kept checking his watch, and with almost 10 minutes to go summoned Cahill man to the fray.

Tim Cahill in his 108th and final appearance for the Socceroos in their match against Lebanon in Sydney on Tuesday night. Picture: Getty Images

Arnold had only promised Cahill five minutes, suggesting the coach is more sentimental – or attuned to pleasing the crowd - than he would have us believe.

The Socceroos’ record goalscorer came on wearing boots made specially for the occasion, the flags of Australia and South Africa on one to remember his debut in 2004, and those of Australia and Lebanon stitched into the other for this final farewell 5349 days later.

Socceroos great Tim Cahill signed autographs for two hours after his final match for his country. Picture: Toby Zerna

In truth they will be almost certainly the least worked pair of any in his collection and yet as valuable as any for their part in the night he brought the curtain down.

It almost ended brilliantly too, Mathew Leckie’s drilled cross from the right brushing a defender’s head and just eluding Cahill’s typically well-timed run. Not even he, though, could engineer one final twist in the script.

Tim Cahill celebrates with fans after his final match. Picture: Brett Costello

But it was somehow fitting that as the country’s all-time hero bowed out, his cameo was preceded by the first glimpses of a new act with the potential to lift the fans from their feet.

It will be Martin Boyle’s two goals on is full debut that take the headlines, but there is a dynamism to him that could potentially offer Graham Arnold a rather different weapon at the Asian Cup and beyond.

Martin Boyle scored twice on his starting debut for the Socceroos. Picture: AFP

Albeit against the 82nd-ranked defence in the world, Boyle showed nimble feet and 360-degree awareness of those around him, both in green and gold and in the Lebanese red.

In Arnold’s new attacking system the ability of the forwards to interchange is essential and Boyle roamed across the front line, stretching the defence one moment then coming deep the next to drag the Lebanese defenders from their structure.

Get every match of the 2018/19 Hyundai A-League LIVE. Get 1 month free Sport HD plus Entertainment with no lock-in contract and no iQ4 box fee. T&C apply. SIGN UP NOW!