Socceroos World Cup plans take hit as Brandon Borrello injured, Tim Cahill suspended

The Socceroos’ World Cup stocks have taken a hit, with Brandon Borrello out injured for the year and a setback for Tim Cahill.

Millwall’s Tim Cahill, who won’t play again this season after he was suspended for three weeks by the English FA.

Socceroo hopeful Brandon Borrello’s knee injury is worse than first thought, with scans revealing the talented striker has suffered a ruptured ACL that will sideline him for the rest of the year.

Borrello was injured on Friday while training with his German division two club Kaiserslautern and initial reports indicated he would only miss the rest of the German season but nonetheless force him out of contention for the Socceroos squad for the World Cup finals in Russia in June.

Joining Borrello on the sidelines will be Tim Cahill, who won’t play again this regular season after the English FA suspended him for three weeks. Cahill, who went on as a 77th minute replacement for fellow Australian James Meredith in Millwall’s 3-0 loss to Fulham last week, was yellow-carded following an incident in the 88th minute with Ryan Fredericks.

However, following a video review of the incident after the game, the FA charged the Socceroos great with violent conduct when it showed he had elbowed Fredericks in the neck. His three-game suspension means he will miss the rest of the regular season unless the club makes the promotion playoffs, in which case he would be available for the second leg of the first series of home-and-away games.

It is a big blow for the Socceroos as it will deprive Cahill of valuable game time ahead of the World Cup finals.

For Borrello, the heartache of missing out on the Socceroos was compounded by the subsequent devastating news of the extent of the ACL injury.

Socceroos aside, it could not have come at a worse time as Borrello’s management were in serious talks with several Bundesliga one clubs about his future for next season.

Those talks are now on hold as he looks to undergo a knee reconstruction in Germany on Monday before starting a long and painful rehabilitation. Borrello is tied to Kaiserslautern for next season but is unlikely to make it back until the end of the year or early in the new year. His absence in the short term will be tough for the club, which is bottom of the table and almost certain to be relegated to the third tier.

The 22-year-old attacker had a slow start to his career in Germany, being left on the bench for nine of the opening 12 games of the season, but he quickly took his chance when finally given his first start in September, establishing himself as a regular and missing just two of their past 18 matches.

In his breakout season in Europe, Borrello scored three goals and had seven assists as he became one of the fan favourites at Kaiserslautern. But despite some quality performances he was surprisingly overlooked by new Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk for friendlies against Norway and Colombia in March.

However, his form of late was too good to ignore and it is understood van Marwijk was keeping a close eye on him.

Cahill, meanwhile, has not started a game since joining Millwall in January from Melbourne City. He has played just 64 minutes of club football, his longest stint being 18 minutes.

However, he had 23 minutes in Australia’s 0-0 draw with Colombia in a friendly in March.

Cahill posted on Twitter that: “I’ve accepted a 3 game ban by The FA and I’ll always accept accountability for my actions on and off the football pitch while representing @MillwallFC.

“My aim now is to contribute in training and to help keep my teammates focused on trying to secure a playoff place.”