Cahill To Live The Dream Tonight
Australia’s latest Socceroo, Tim Cahill, will live a dream tonight at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, when he becomes just the third Australian to play in an FA Cup Final.
Australia-s latest Socceroo, Tim Cahill, will live a dream tonight at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, when he becomes just the third Australian to play in an FA Cup Final. Not only is Cahill playing in an FA Cup Final, he will also line up against the team he has supported as a boy - Manchester United. The match is a classic David versus Goliath battle, with First Division battlers up against one of the most reputed clubs in world soccer. Cahill will line up for unfashionable outfit Millwall in what is the South Londoners first FA Cup final appearance in their 119-year history. In the opposing corner is ‘Goliath-. Van Nistelrooy, Keane, Scholes, Giggs and Ronaldo are but a few of United-s cavalcade of stars and with Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm, the Red Devils reputation speaks for itself. In stark contrast to their rivals, United have claimed the FA Cup prize on ten occasions from 15 attempts in their highly decorated history. Having defeated Premiership rivals Aston Villa, Manchester City, Fulham and, most recently, Arsenal en route to the final, United have been instilled by British bookmakers as absolute favorites for England-s showpiece event. However, such is the beauty of the Cup, the underdogs can sometimes have their day. Cahill-s Millwall plan their day to be tonight in Cardiff. Cahill has been nothing short of a revelation in the First Division this season. He is top scorer in both FA Cup matches (3) and overall (12) for the Lions in 2003/2004 and has netted his fair share of vintage goals. Most famously, Cahill scored the winner in Millwall-s 1-0 semi final win over Sunderland at Old Trafford, almost a month after doing the same against Tranmere Rovers in the previous round. It comes as no surprise that Cahill has pushed his way into Frank Farina-s calculations at national level and Australian fans can look forward to seeing a lot more of one of the starlets of Britain. First up though is tonight-s match, by far the most significant in Cahill-s career to date.
He will opposed in midfield by some of the world-s best, most notably United skipper Roy Keane, who will be making his sixth FA Cup final appearance. At 24, Cahill is in his prime and tonight could be the night he shoots to global prominence. Having being named in the Nationwide First Division Team of the Year, Cahill-s name is already being mentioned regularly as a likely target for English Premier League clubs and a great game tonight will only enhance his reputation further. So this could in fact be his final game for Millwall and he will no doubt want to leave them on a high, if this is the case. Not since Wimbledon-s epic victory over Liverpool in the 1988 final has such a mismatch produced such an upset. With a member of that team on Millwall-s books tonight, that being player/coach Dennis Wise, the Lions know first hand that FA Cup immortality is not beyond their reach. Millwall have been written off, slandered in the press and given the tag as no-hopers. But ‘David- has some plans of his own and fans of the underdog will be hoping Cahill returns to Australia with an FA Cup winners medal in hand.