Skip to content

Australia coach backs Tim Cahill to play at 2018 World Cup

Edgar Su / Reuters

Australia's record goalscorer Tim Cahill is still producing the goods as he nears his 36th year, and his national team boss Ange Postecoglou has tipped him to represent the Socceroos up until Russia in 2018.

The former Everton man has been one of the most successful Aussie imports in Premier League football, and has represented his country at three World Cups including scoring its first goal in the international football's elite competition in 2006.

And Postecoglou is confident he can again represent Australia on the world's biggest stage in two-and-a-half years time.

"The way he's going at the moment, yeah," he told World Soccer Talk.

Cahill's last two outings for Australia has seen him tally four goals, including a hat trick against Bangladesh two weeks' ago.

"He can't stop scoring goals and if he keeps scoring goals he'll keep getting picked. He's been fantastic for us. We've got a very young group so his experience is pretty important at the moment and he's still playing very well."

The midfielder-turned-striker is currently playing under ex-Bordeaux boss Francis Gillot at Shanghai Shenhua, alongside former Chelsea forward Demba Ba. If he keeps up his fitness playing in the Chinese Super League, there's no reason why he can't continue to represent Australia.

"At the moment I think he's still performing very very well for us and he's a massive contributor," Postcoglu continued.

"We've got some young players coming through who we know will help us get to the next level, but we're certainly not going to push Timmy into retirement while he's playing the way he is."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox