Melbourne City FC striker Tim Cahill declared his match-winning performance in the Westfield FFA Cup Final 2016 as “right up there” with one of the proudest moments of his career.
Cahill continued his proclivity for netting match-winning goals, rising highest to meet Ivan Franjic’s cross with a textbook header early in the second half to secure City’s first senior Men’s trophy.
The script was written once again for Cahill to make his mark. So often throughout his career has the Socceroos striker produced for club and country when his team needed him most.
Now with a Westfield FFA Cup winner’s medal hanging proudly around his neck, Cahill encouraged his teammates to build on the historic achievement and use it as a springboard for future success.
“My feelings are pretty amazing,” he said. “Everything we spoke about for the past nine months, leading into this campaign and the FFA Cup… the culture of the club, to bring a winning mentality and a group of guys together.
“When it hit my head – it’s the story of my life… people will say he’s done it again but that’s why I play. I play for moments like that. “Maybe for the other 50 minutes it was difficult to get on the ball and do whatever but that’s not my job. My job is to be in the box.”
“It’s up there with the proudest moments of my career. You can have your wildest dreams… this is nice, it’s in Australia, it’s where I am from.
“I said I would give it everything, regardless of what people were saying about my age and my body.”
Experience and the ability to perform in big matches are two qualities which Cahill has in abundance, with the striker calling on his teammates to seize the opportunity during a heartfelt pre-match speech.
“Collectively as a group I said to the boys before we went out, you don’t get a lot of chances like this in your career,” he said.
“For one night only we will play our heart and souls out and give it everything, and when you are cooked put your hand up… I wanted to get the fire out of their bellies.”
Cahill paid tribute to the Club’s professionalism and attention to detail which has set the standard for the rest of the competition to match.
“This club is run like a Premier League club. I am there from 8am every morning to 3 in the afternoons….I am so impressed with what we do in the community and with the Womens’ team,” he said.
“This football club, we have to win things. Now we have won something, we take this momentum, we regroup; we stay humble, and go again.
“Silverware’s silverware – whether people like it or not, Melbourne City have got a trophy and it’s a good platform for us now to go on. So this is definitely up there as a massive moment in my career and it’s even sweeter that I scored.”
