TIM Cahill has revealed he was the catalyst behind the likely Socceroos debut of former Greek international Apostolos Giannou.
Cahill told The Advertiser he lobbied for the inclusion of Greek-born Giannou, 26, in the squad which takes on Tajikistan in a World Cup qualifier at Adelaide on Thursday.
Giannou was granted FIFA permission to play for Austtralia despite coming off the bench for the final 20 minutes in a friendly against Turkey.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou last week made a shock announcement that Giannou would partner Cahill in attack.
Victorian-raised Giannou was leading the Greek Super League’s goalscorer with Asteras (14 goals) before joining China’s Guangzhou R&F.
“I spoke to the boss probably three weeks ago about Giannou, mentioning we might be able to get him and there was an option and that was something he was very positive about,’’ Cahill said after landing in Sydney from China on Thursday.
“Now you see Matthew Spiranovic is injured and Alex Wilkinson has come in, so you see a lot of depth in (the Socceroos) and with depth comes opportunities to hopefully do well for your country.
“Hopefully these new boys can get a crack at it and try and be consistent in providing what we need and that’s three points consistently.”
Cahill also welcomed other uncapped Socceroos Alex Gersbach, 18, formerly of Sydney FC but now of Norwegian club Rosenborg and Melbourne Victory’s Jason Geria, 22, to the squad.
He said he expected the Socceroos to field its strongest XI against Tajikistan after the underdog put up a good fight in Dashanbe before succumbing 3-0.
Cahill scored twice in that September clash to take his record Socceroos tally to 45 goals in 88 appearances before making the move to China’s Hangzhou Greentown this year where he scored on debut in a 2-1 win over Changchun Yatai on March 6 in the season opening match.
Cahill said he won’t be taking Tajikistan lightly.
“I take every game the same,’’ Cahill said.
“We got a little bit of a wake up call when we played Jordan away (0-2 last year), I watched that game from the bench to start with and came on towards the end.
“But overall every game is a must win, you set yourself a standard of how you want to play and also the standard that you want as a group of boys.
“You want to reflect the manager’s (Postecoglou) work ethic and effort and to push ourselves.
“Tajikistan is one of those games people might look upon lightly on but as a squad the boss won’t let us. It’s a massive game and making sure we stay top of group.”
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