Supersub Cahill fires brace as Aussies bounce back to overhaul Japan

TIM CAHILL scored twice in the last six minutes and John Aloisi added a third in injury time as Australia made a winning return to the World Cup finals with a dramatic victory over Japan.

Everton midfielder Cahill came off the bench to score in the 84th and 89th minutes to overhaul Japan, who had taken the lead following an error by Mark Schwarzer in the first half at Kaiserslautern’s Fritz Walter Stadium.

Aloisi then rounded off the victory in the Group F opener — Australia’s first ever at the World Cup — 32 years after the nation’s only previous appearance at the finals, also on German soil, in 1974.

Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi looked like being the hero for Japan with a string of fine saves that kept the Australians at bay both before and after Shunsuke Nakamura gave the Zico-coached team the lead with a bizarre goal 26 minutes into the game.

But a misjudgement by the former Portsmouth goalkeeper saw Lucas Neill’s 84th minute throw-in make its way across the Japanese penalty area and, after Harry Kewell’s shot was blocked, Tim Cahill stepped up to score the first of his two goals as

Australia recorded their first ever World Cup win in dramatic fashion.

“I have never given up three goals in the last 10 minutes,” said the 31-year-old. “It was terrible. We had the three points won at 80 minutes but we had lost everything. We had no concentration, we had no energy, we did not work hard enough.”

Nakamura had put Japan in front when his cross from the right sailed over Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer before bouncing over the goal line.

The lead was barely deserved as

Australia had the best of the early chances, with Mark Viduka and Marco Bresciano both forcing fine stops from Kawaguchi.

The Japanese keeper pulled off further stops from Viduka and John Aloisi before Cahill equalised six minutes from time.

Five minutes later the Everton midfielder put his team in front for the first time in the match with a fine effort from the edge of the penalty area that gave the Japanese goalkeeper no chance before, in injury time, Aloisi completed the remarkable win.

“We have no experience of this before,” said Kawaguchi. “If we had the experience, we could have dominated the midfield but we didn’t work in midfield in the last 10 minutes. We lost concentration and we have to change everything, especially our mental approach, before the next game against Croatia.”

While the Japanese were disconsolate, the Australians were hailing the battling qualities that saw them press on until the final seconds of the game.

“That was a goal for every Australian,” said Aloisi of his victory-sealing strike. “We’ve waited long enough for it.

“It was hard out there. It was hot and it was physically draining but we believed we could get something out of the game and our belief made us get through the tiredness.”

Defender Craig Moore said the result proved Australia were not at the World Cup just for the experience.

“We’re not here to make up the numbers. Australian football is getting better all the time and it’s at a decent level and hopefully we can do well.”

AUSTRALIA: Schwarzer, Neill, Moore (Kennedy 61), Culina, Wilkshire (Aloisi 75), Emerton, Grella, Bresciano (Cahill 52), Chipperfield, Kewell, Viduka.

Subs Not Used: Beauchamp, Covic, Kalac, Lazaridis, Milligan, Popovic, Skoko, Sterjovski, Thompson.

JAPAN: Kawaguchi, Komano, Miyamoto, Santos, Tsuboi (Moniwa 56), Nakazawa, Fukunishi, Hidetoshi Nakata, Nakamura, Takahara, Yanagisawa (Ono 79), Moniwa (Oguro 90).

Subs Not Used: Doi, Endo, Inamoto, Kaji, Maki, Koji Nakata, Narazaki, Ogasawara, Tamada.

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Essam Abdel Fatah (Egypt).