Cahill is currently in Australia with his Everton teammates.

Spearing a little of his time at a signing session for Optus, Cahill took a minute to talk to us.

We asked him about his thoughts on the A-League to start with.

“Yeah look, I support all the teams in the A-League and hope they do well,”

“Football in Australia is growing, as you can see,”

Speculation had of course been rife now for a few years about Cahill launching an A-League side in Sydney around Wollongong. But Cahill quashed those rumours, for now at least.

“Not too sure mate, but we’ll see what happens in the future, though,”

“Like I said, I just hope the teams do well,”

We couldn’t let him escape without one question about the World Cup though, and what better than his thoughts about all the Jabulani controversy.

“It’s different!” he said with a smile as he signed a Socceroos scarf for us.

TIM CAHILL and his Premier League side Everton are currently in Australia for three pre-season matches. They face Sydney FC (July 10), Melbourne Heart (July 14) and finish with a clash against Brisbane Roar (July 17).

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Play Every Minute!

Going, Going, Grosso... Fabio won't be on the plane.

Grosso now joins the exclusive, if not desired, club of 2010 World Cup omissions. With him are players such as Brazilian talisman of 2002, Ronaldinho, Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy and former France captain, Patrick Viera.

There have been a range of other notable absences for this year’s Cup and it seems people are divided in opinions more than ever before.

Italian coach Marcello Lippi conceded it was a ‘hard call’, but ultimately one that he had to make. Grosso who of course won a famous ‘penalty’ against Australia in the Round of 16 in Germany was considered a very good chance to retain his place in the side. However, it appears his inconsistent performances for Juventus this season were the main reasons behind his demise.

Most international coaches have chosen a provisional squad of around 30 players for the Cup which must be cut to a final squad of 23 by June 1 at the latest.

So it appears that the most dramatic of player cuts are yet to come as coaches look to finalise their squads.

Injuries also have taken their toll as Michael Ballack joined the club after sustaining an ankle injury from a Kevin-Prince Boateng challenge in the F.A. Cup Final.

We’ve also launched a new poll asking which player you think was the most unlucky in missing the cut for their respective countries. The poll available on the right hand side of every page!

As promised, just look at the Injury Time XI we’ve put together of 2010 World Cup omissions, surely it will provide a much better perception of some of the talent that won’t be on the plane to South Africa! (ps. Have a look at that bench!!).

Who fill get the nod for the Roo's?

Good morning all and welcome to this very special occasion. We have for you today live coverage of the announcement of the Australian Socceroos team for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa!! 31 men will be named for now!

Here is the 31-man squad that will be cut to 23 on June 1:

Michael Beachamp
Marco Bresciano
Tim Cahill
Nick Carle
David Carney
Scott Chipperfield
Jason Culina
Brett Emerton
Adam Federici
Eugene Galekovic
Richard Garcia
Vincenzo Grella
James Holland
Brett Holman
Mile Jedinak
Brad Jones
Joshua Kennedy
Harry Kewell
Shane Lowry
Scott McDonald
Mark Milligan
Craig Moore
Lucas Neill
Jade North
Thomas Oar
Nikita Rukavytsya
Mark Schwarzer
Carl Valeri
Dario Vidosic
Luke Wilkshire
Rhys Williams

Football is the most popular sport in the world, rightly called the world game, and though the externalities of the game are constantly changing at a rapid pace, the game itself has remained traditional, and is still growing at a large rate around the world. So this poses the question; why fix that which is not broken?

I sit back watching many sports, where umpires and referees have lost all confidence in their own ability to make a decision. Video replays are used for Rugby League and Cricket, yet even with technology in sport, we still get just as many, if not more wrong decision. There is still always an uncertainty with the use of technology, and often creates more problems than it solves. We still often can’t tell when the ball caries to a fielder or if the player was out or in as he put the ball down for a try.

The time wasting also involved with using technology would see the normal stoppage time extend from two to four minutes to double or even triple that. Referees will start jumping to technology, much like in Rugby League when a try is scored, or umpires in cricket when there is a run out, for their every decision. Keep the power with the referees, for technology within other sports, at least for the moment is too indecisive and cumbersome to be of much use.

A backline official has been on the cards for a long time. This position is a totally unnecessary one, a man payed to do the job of the other officials and be called upon maybe once a match. The ‘hand of frog’ incident was so blatantly obvious I would not be the only one questioning whether the referee and linesman overlooked it on purpose to get one of their top teams into the World Cup. The money that would be spent on these officials I would much rather see spent on training the officials we already have to improve decisions all over the pitch, rather than just within the goal mouths.

A replay of the match was never on the cards despite the FAI’s appeal to FIFA. It was a cruel, unfair and dirty way for Ireland to be knocked out, but that’s football, no one likes it but every player has experienced it and should move on. People are pointing back to the Uzbekistan-Bahrain Qualifying match of 2005 that was replayed as a precedent. But the error made in that game was completely different, with not a missed call, but rather a blatantly wrong decision by the laws of the game from the referee. If a game can be upturned by a missed call, you would have precedent to replay almost every match ever played.

As such, I do not think its right for the integrity of the sport, nor for the young kids all over the world to see this incident to go unpunished. I believe FIFA has to take a step into the game and start punishing those players who are found to be cheating. I am not only talking about sly moves like Henry’s but also the increasing amount of players diving to try and get free kicks and other low moves. As a coach for young kids new to football I am amazed at how many you see copying these styles within park football. I think it’s disgusting not only for football but sport in general that these underhand tactics are allowed, and if FIFA wants to get this out of its wonderful game it needs to take a stand, because if they do I believe it will quickly leave the game. It is time for FIFA to take a stand, to bring back integrity and skill to the forefront of global football.