Needing goals, Australia could call upon veteran Cahill

AP  |  Sochi 

Needing a win and plenty of goals to stay in contention at the World Cup, could finally call upon veteran

The 38-year-old striker has a chance to make his debut in on Tuesday when plays

The Socceroos need to beat already-eliminated and hope beats in the other Group C match. If that happens, goal differential would determine which team moves on to the next round along with the French.

knows a thing or two about scoring in soccer's showcase event. He can become only the fifth to score in four World Cups, joining Pele, Uwe Seeler, and

"If Timmy's been called upon, no doubt he'll do a (good) job for us," defender said.

"Timmy is a true professional, it shows the way he works on the pitch in training every day and he's just a proper example for all of us, not just the young boys. Mentally, he's always strong and ready to go, so we love having Tim as a part of our group and we all know what he can do."

A spot in the Australia attack opened when forward dislocated his shoulder in the 1-1 draw against Denmark, and is a contender to fill it along with and

"We have three strikers that are chomping at the bit at the minute to put their hand up for this next match," said.

"While I'm sure (Cahill) is frustrated that he's not had his shot yet, the amount of help that he gives to the players around him ... is unbelievable."

Scorer of Australia's first goal - against in 2006 - Cahill is the nation's all-time leading scorer with 50 goals in 106 appearances. He netted two goals in in and another two in the 2014 tournament in He had one goal in in 2010.

FINDING GOALS

Even with Cahill on the team, scoring has not been an easy task for Australia in World Cups recently.

Its last three goals in the tournament have come from penalty kicks, including two from in

Australia is only the second team in history to score three consecutive goals from the penalty spot. did it from 2006-2010.

TRUST IN

The Australians, who lost 2-1 to in their opening game, had no concerns about the group-leading French holding back against

"That's totally out of our hands but what we do know is that they will go into that match to win," Milligan said.

"France has quality right through their squad." Behich said Australia needed to focus on doing its job and let everything else fall into place.

"I believe that France will do the job against but we have got to focus on ourselves because we have got a tough task ahead," he said.

France has already secured a place in the knockout round, and Denmark only needs a draw to ensure it goes ahead regardless of the result between Australia and

Australia is trying to advance out of the group stage for the first time since 2006.

INJURY SCARE

Peru has played well in both of its matches but got no points to show for it.

The South Americans will likely be without striker Jefferson Farfan, who was hospitalized with after a hard collision with a teammate during practice on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, June 24 2018. 18:20 IST