Historic goal delights Cahill

BANGKOK - Australia's goal-scoring hero Tim Cahill insists he is happy to play any role for his country as he echoed his World Cup heroics to step off the bench and rescue a 1-1 draw in their opening AFC Asian Cup game against Oman.

Last year, the Everton star helped Australia to victory against Japan when his late brace after coming on as a substitute turned potential defeat into a 3-1 win.

This time, he climbed off the bench to score his side’s first ever goal in the Asian Cup finals, sparing the Socceroos’ blushes as they rescued a 1-1 draw against the Middle Eastern side.

Australia, making their debut in the competition, clearly struggled to adapt to the Bangkok humidity and were frustrated by a determined Oman, who took the lead in the first half through a Badar Mubarak strike.

It could have been a different story but for goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer pulling off a number of superb saves late on.

And it paid off as Cahill, who came off the bench midway through the second period, shot past Ali Al Habsi after pouncing on a spilled Mark Bresciano shot.

"I have got a lot of respect for this first goal in this competition because the Asian nation is magic, there are millions of people here and it is a massively watched tournament.," said the 27-year-old midfielder, whose side are now level on points and goal difference in Group A with Oman, Thailand and Iraq.

"I am pretty lucky, I said to myself if I got the chance I would take it and it came against Oman and it is another big moment in my career."

Another good performance for Cahill suggests he is close to full fitness after breaking his fifth metatarsal against Sheffield United in the Premier League in March.

A place in the starting line-up cannot be far off but Cahill insists he is happy to play any part for his country, be it from the bench or not.

He added: "I am happy being a part of this squad, I said that from day one and as long as you can play in any shape or form on the pitch and make something happen I am happy.

"What happened for me (against Oman) is priceless, you can't take that away, and you can't take away the first World Cup goal."

After torrential rain had dominated the tournament's opening game between Thailand and Iraq on Saturday, the skies cleared to give way to bright sunshine on Sunday.

Consequently, the humidity was fierce and clearly affected the Australian players and Cahill admitted that the stifling conditions are proving difficult to adapt to.

"It will most probably be like this throughout the whole tournament, hopefully we can go grow stronger but when you play in conditions like this, it is so hard," he said.

"You can't warm up in the humidity, it didn't affect them at all, they kept going to the end and Schwarzer had to pull off saves and it could have been a different story."