Originally Posted by
Olé Olé
I remember reading an article with Cahill stating that as a 14 or 15 year-old he played in an under 20 matches for Samoa because the games were held in Samoa meaning he could travel to visit his grandmother, whom he had not seen in quite a while or was sick. He never envisaged that it would rule him out of playing international football for another country he was eligible for i.e. Ireland, Australia or England.
But when that issue was resolved an the door was open to claim for Ireland, I'm wondering why he neglected to do so and instead claimed for Australia. It could well be that Mick McCarthy, a former Millwall player, was the Irish manager around 2002 when Cahill initially stated a desire to play for Ireland and by the time the rules had changed McCarthy was manager of Sunderland.