Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van’t Schip believes Tim Cahill’s winning mentality will set a high standard for his teammates to follow as the Club prepares for the upcoming Hyundai A-League season.
Cahill arrives at the City Football Academy with a reputation as one of Australia’s greatest strikers, with his trademark aerial prowess a standout feature during highly successful spells in England, China and the United States.
The Socceroos all-time leading goal scorer enjoyed his first training session with his new teammates on Monday, and the Dutchman believes Cahill’s addition to the squad is another sign of the Club’s evolution.
“We are looking every time to improve,” van’t Schip said. “The facilities, the quality of the players and the next step now we signed Bruno (Fornaroli) as a marquee and we brought Tim in.
“But again those aren’t all guarantees to win a title. It’s all about hard work, dedication, effort; the real attitude to have that winning mentality.
“Tim has all those things. He’s won titles, he has a winning mentality and he’s a guidance for young players.
“We have to all help each other. He’s going to help us, we will help him and in the end it has to result in that we can lift a trophy, but it’s going to be hard work.”
City is in the middle of preparations for next Wednesday’s Westfield FFA Cup Round of 16 tie against Brisbane Strikers, but van’t Schip is wary of rushing Cahill into first-team duties ahead of the new campaign.
“He just arrived and it was the first training so again we have to make sure that he feels good, that when he starts playing that we don’t rush those things.
“We’ll see how it goes day by day. He’s been on a break for a few weeks now and did some light training himself. The body needs some rest as well so we have to monitor Tim now in a way to get him in two or three weeks in good shape.”
“As you know the FFA Cup is earlier; it doesn’t say that we’re not going to talk about it, but it’s a bit too early to talk about it.”
