A TEARFUL Tim Cahill was inconsolable yesterday as he described the sending-off which left his World Cup in virtual ruins as the saddest moment of his career.
His face a mask of raw emotion and his eyes welling with anguish, Australia’s main man faced up to the prospect of Australia’s fate being sealed when he returns from his mandatory one-match ban for the final Group D game against Serbia on June 23. And he will only play that game after FIFA’s disciplinary committee makes a ruling on the seriousness of the offence.
If it is deemed to have been an instance of unduly reckless play, he will be suspended for the remainder of Group D.
Cahill automatically misses Saturday’s must-win match with Ghana after being handed the straight red card by Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez in the 57th minute of Australia’s humbling 4-0 loss for a lunge on German star Bastian Schweinsteiger.
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“It’s the saddest moment I’ve faced in my career so far,” said Cahill, who this time four years ago was the unlikely hero as his two goals steered Australia to a historic first World Cup win against Japan. “It just proves how dreams can be crushed in seconds. I never went out to hurt him and was genuinely going for the ball. I kept my knee bent to make sure that’s what happened.“I felt the incident turned the game because although we were two goals down at the time we had a bit of momentum behind us and were making them work hard to stay ahead. It shows how in football you can be a hero one moment and hit the bottom the next.”
In a twist to the tale, Schweinsteiger went out of his way to console a shattered Cahill afterwards, telling him that he should never have been sent off. It was scant consolation for Cahill, whose tournament was left in tatters.
Cahill, 30, paid tribute to Schweinsteiger for his honesty, adding: “A lot of players could have milked that situation but for him to say I shouldn’t have been sent off meant a lot to me.”
Defender Scott Chipperfield was aghast at the decision to march Cahill, declaring: “It was harsh to say the least. I saw the replay and I don’t think it was even worth a yellow card, let alone a red. There was only minimal contact. It was a really tough call on Tim.”
Skipper Lucas Neill concurred. “It was the wrong decision. If you look at the replay it wasn’t justified at all,” he said.
“You could see that Tim went into make the tackle and then pulled out.”
Cahill vowed to continue training hard, insisting he will pick himself up and overcome his darkest hour. “Our team is not about any one player,” he said.
“For me it’s about being a role model to the younger players and I’ll continue to try and be that, whether I play or not.”
LOVE TIM CAHILL <3
I’m shattered too.
