Reading this piece on Tim Cahill, I was struck by the possible presence of Australian double standards.
Cahill was allowed to be rested for Australia’s friendly against South Korea last week (the Socceroos have already qualified for the World Cup) but Mark Schwarzer played in the game and picked up a neck injury that threatens to keep him out of Sunday’s meeting with Everton.
Cahill’s a fine player and an important part of both his club side and his country’s national team so you can understand common sense being used when he’s recovering from an injury. But Schwarzer is just as established an international as the Everton midfielder and I wonder if he was given an opportunity to rest.
Now that Cahill’s beeen rested, he’ll be raring to go and burst back into Premier League action against Fulham on Sunday. He’s a great player and I’m really looking forward to seeing him play. Meanwhile, we’re sweating on Schwarzer’s fitness. There’s no doubt who got the fuzzy end of that lollipop.
Yes, very strange – but I also think it must be Schwarzers choice. Australia does not have a clear choice backup keeper, so I would have thought Pim (the manager) would use these meaningless games to work that out.
I can well imagine that Schwarzer is such a professional that he wouldn’t have asked to be rested but I wouldn’t imagine Fulham would have been shy about asking if they had known about Cahill’s arrangement.
As you say Geoff, it’s not entirely clear who will be the number two to Schwarzer when the Socceroos get to South Africa, so it struck me as kind of odd that he played the whole game.