Cahill's World Cup repeat saves Australia from defeat

Jul 9 2007 by Gary Rose, Liverpool Daily Post Correspondent

Tim Cahill in goalscoring action for the Blues (158)

AUSTRALIAN coach Graham Arnold admitted it was a case of lightning striking twice after Tim Cahill's stoppage-time leveller in the 1-1 draw with Oman in their AFC Asian Cup Group A opener.

The Everton midfielder's heroics rekindled memories of the Socceroos World Cup win over Japan.

Oman took a 32nd-minute lead through Badar Mubarak and that looked enough to give the Gulf Sultanate all three points. But Cahill came off the bench to rescue Australia in their Asian Cup debut, just as he did in Germany against Japan.

Said a relieved Arnold: "I changed the system three times but there was no system in the last five minutes and we resorted to hitting long balls upfield. It was like at the World Cup against Japan all over again."

In Kaiserlautern Cahill scored two late goals to inspire a come-from-behind 3-1 win over the three-time Asian Cup winners, after Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura had given Japan a 26th-minute lead.

Commenting on the talismanic Goodison midfielder, Arnold continued: "That is why 'Timmy' is so special to us. He's coming back after a three or four month injury lay-off and now has 30 minutes under his belt. He's making good progress."