Tim Cahill star status in one of England’s football heartlands Liverpool, increased further overnight as he grabbed the only goal in Everton’s 1-0 win over Portsmouth that leaves just three points behind league leaders Arsenal.
Tim Cahill star status in one of England-s football heartlands Liverpool, increased further overnight as he grabbed the only goal in Everton-s 1-0 win over Portsmouth that leaves just three points behind league leaders Arsenal.
The Qantas Socceroo midfielder rose to head home a free kick from Tony Hibbett in the 80th minute, although this time there was to be no repeat of his sending-off following his Everton debut goal two weeks ago.
Cahill (pictured above) has impressed many since his debut against Manchester United four weeks ago and he has single-handedly added six points to Everton-s points tally this season with his two goals.
His form for Everton is just what the doctor ordered for Australian coach Frank Farina, with the two-match series against the Solomon Islands coming up in just under two weeks time that will decide Oceania-s representative at the 2005 Confederations Cup in Germany.
While Farina will be delighted with Cahill-s goal, the news from Italy wasn-t what he-d hoped for with influential Parma midfielder Marco Bresciano forced off the field after just 13 minutes against Inter Milan with an ankle injury.
While the extent of the injury is not known, Farina will be hoping it-s a precautionary measure taken by the Parma coach, with an important UEFA Cup clash on Thursday. Bresciano is regarded as a central figure in the Socceroos team with some outstanding performances in recent matches in the green and gold.
Unfortunately for Farina, Bresciano isn-t the only injury concern, with Liverpool star Harry Kewell not playing in the weekend-s clash with Norwich, although there are reports he will be available to play in the team-s Champions League clash on Wednesday. Stan Lazaridis is another concern and didn-t take the field for Birmingham again, while Socceroos captain Craig Moore was absent from Rangers 2-0 win over Dundee reportedly because of a bout of flu.
Mark Schwarzer was again in good form for Middlesbrough, although he could do little to prevent Chelsea-s winning goal, while Mark Viduka had little service in attack and was eventually replaced.
Defender Tony Popovic was back in the Crystal Palace side that drew 1-1 with Aston Villa.
John Aloisi backed up his weekend claims in a Sydney newspaper for a starting spot in the two matches against the Solomon Islands with another very good performance for Osasuna. Aloisi set up both his team-s goals in the 2-1 win over Getafe that leaves them well placed in 5th position.
In Scotland, former Qantas Young Socceroos captain Scott McDonald continued his very impressive form for Motherwell notching his teams second goal in a 3-2 win against Livingston. McDonald is equal top goalscorer in the Scottish Premier League with six goals.
