Is Tim Cahill really our greatest Socceroo?

You are obviously basing your opinion on a couple of instances in a couple of matches. Harry won best young player(u21) in England against the cream of worlds young players, an amazing feat. Rio Ferdinand said he signed at Leeds because Harry was there. In 2001 he was literally one of the hottest young properties in world football. He wore the number 7 at Liverpool. He could light up the game. Tim went from Millwall to Everton. It is no contest, Harry by the length of the straight.

For our best player i find it strange that people will say "he didn't have the silky skills" but his endeavor was outstanding. I can just see Brasil naming their greatest as the workmanlike bloke for his great consistency. Of course they would name Zico or any one of a dozen luminaries. You can bet it won't be a consistent workman.

If you talk to a united fan about Bozza you will not hear anything positive said by them about him. If you talk to a Chelsea fan about Bozza you will only hear about him failing a drug test. Also Zelic neve won the Champions League with Dortmund. Dortmund won the Champions league the year after he left.

As others have said, Kewell's best years were at Leeds. Didn't do much after that, yeah injuries but that's not the only reason. To me he was always a little reluctant to play for Australia unless a World Cup was around the corner, so in that respect I rate many others of more worthy accolades than Kewell. Certainly Cahill ahead of him. If you want to see a great Kewell goal, watch his stunner at Arsenal when Leeds won 3-2 to survive the drop. Viduka scored the winner in the same game and it cost the Gunners the title. Viduka had incredible ball skills for a big man, i'd say he had just as much influence in Leeds' Champion League run when they made the semis. But the big fella didn't produce for Socceroos. Cahill for me.

Joe Marston has seriously case to have the greatest club career by a Socceroos player. However when we go by greatest socceroos, we have to go by performance in national team. Born in the wrong era, Marston never played in a World Cup qualifier. It's hard to weight performance for the national team like that. If we treat the match Joe Marston play as a test series Joe Marston 1947 - 5 matches against South Africa - Lost the series 3-1 1948 - 4 match against New Zealand 4-0 victory 1950 2-2 with South Africa in a 4 match series 1955 - Lost 4-0 to South Africa in a 4 match series 1958 - Won 1-0 to New Zealand in a 2 match series that is really the extent of his international career playing against South Africa and New Zealand where Australia normally defeated New Zealand but lost to South Africa. He did play a fair amount of "B" international against club sides but very little international matches. He was born in the wrong era I will say in terms of international football. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Socceroo/Socceroo.shtml When it comes to Ray Baartz, if that fateful match against Uruguay never happen and Ray Baartz ended up lighting up the World Cup in 1974, he would have had a decent shout at being the greatest but bad luck prevented him from doing so. He may have been the greatest but really bad luck prevented him proving that due to him getting a stroke due to him being a victim of assault by the Uruguay thugs. In any case, Rale Rasic who saw Ray Baartz and Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell play, rated Tim Cahill as the greatest back in 2008. Now in 2014, Tim cahill stocks for the Socceroos has risen even higher since then. If Rale Rasic believes that Tim Cahil is the greatest, then he has strong case to be considered the greatest http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/cahill-rated-the-greatest-socceroo/story-e6frg7mo-1111117783011

I agree with the sentiments Kewell the most talented player, Cahill the best performances for the Socceroos. Kewell and Viduka were victims of Australia not being part of Asia and having a regular qualifying schedule. Playing only two competitive matches every 4 years is simply not enough to develop signature moments for the national side and that Australia missed qualification in 1997 and 2001 really robbed them opportunities to create defining moments for the Socceroos (the fact that Kewell did create defining moments in the few competitive games he did play is testament to his talents). The qualifying pathway was so unfair where we had to play sudden death to qualify to the World cup when sudden death matches are normally done to punish teams who aren't good enough to top the group. Sudden death should never be used by itself to qualify and Australia was victim of that unfair qualification route. Australia would have qualified if we went through Asia (before people bring up Iran, two draws against Iran in World Cup qualification equals two points and would not have eliminated us from the World Cup and would have been decent results as well) In an ideal scenario, 1998 World cup would have been the year Kewell and Viduka announced themselves to the world as talented youngster. 2002 World Cup would have been Kewell and Viduka at their peak of their powers demonstrating they are stars of the game. 2006 World Cup would have been them as senior players past their peak but still key players of the national side (yes I believe both Kewell and Viduka were already declining as players in 2006). However none of that occur and Kewell and Viduka only had one World Cup (really the 2010 didn't really count) to demonstrate their ability at the highest levels of international football. If Australia qualified through Asia in 1998 and 2002, would Kewell and Viduka undisputably be our two greatest socceroos? Probably yes, but we can't based things on hypothetical scenarios and Cahill was in the right place at the right time where he can shine in three world cups and that's why he is the greatest Socceroos ever.

Never heard of Pele? I hear he was pretty good for decades.

1)Bozza 2)Zelic 3)Viduka 4)Kewell 5)Schwarcher 6)Cahill 7)Craig Johnson 8)Paul Okon 9)Vinny Grella 10)Lucas Neil Bozza was rated the best keeper in the World for a while. Played for Man U and Chelsea. Zelic was a star, he won a Champion's league title with his German club, should of been socceroos captain but Farina went for Okon. He was the Olympic games 92 captain which made the semi's. Was a class player.

Cahill for me.....and it decide it on the basis of him scoring the goals when they counted. All I seem to remember of kewells nternational career is missed 1 on 1 s......in particular one against Japan that cost us the Asian Cup.....and a couple against Brazil in 06

You would have to say ronaldo usually has a stronger team to play with though

I'm not comparing them. I rate Ronaldo as the best non-Argentinian player of all time and 3rd best ever. No Australian would be anywhere near a top 100 of all time. I am saying that scoring when it counts is huge and that's what Cahill has done.

I dont think it had to do with who dukes played for, I think it had to do with Viduka's career being alongside Harry who seemed to eclipse him. Thats not a dig at Viduka who was an exceptional striker, but Harry had more of the spotlight than Viduka did. Now that i think of it, how good was that 2006 WC squad?

Cahill easy, Harry was a better footballer but if you look only at performances whilst with the national team then it is Timmy by a few lengths Also, lets no forget that Harry early on in his career shirked playing for the Socceroos for brief periods

Typo 3-0 of course.

He was also suspended twice and according to the conventional wisdom would have made all the difference. Also his victim went by ambulance to hospital and had been hurt. That doesn't make it into the narrative of Saint Timmy though. I'm not bashing the guy he produces but he is more that just " a top bloke" and goal scorer. The one dimension golden boy boy sells him short, but its more compicated. He is remembered as something of a thug by English fans( the ones on bbc hys ) he had a bit of a reputation accoding to them i haven't seen enough EFC games to know but i have seen clips of some of his carded "challenges. What i'm saying is it's part of his game to be intimidating but it can go wrong and here we are again, suspended for the final game which we were very hopeful of doing well but intstead we lose 3-1. Let us down.

Celtic to Leeds, obviously

I think it is likely the teams he played for. Much like Matt LeTissier who was never recognized as the great he was simply because he played at Southampton. Dukes highest rated club was Leeds but he is remembered as a journeyman. After Croatia to Celtic then borough and Newcastle. Ferguson rated him highly like most in the know.

That is true, a short competition can throw up odd results. But Cahill hasnt been good in only one competition. He has been outstanding at three world cups as well as carrying Australia to a Asia Cup Final.

Viduka will always be a legend. I can't put my finger on it but there is something ever present that is holding him back from being thought of as the greatest.

Harry is the best Australian footballer in terms of quality. He was playing at a high level from 17. Scores in Tehran & Melbourne. Injury and our wilderness years in terms of not qualifying for world cups set back his cause to claim mantle of greatest Socceroo. In my opinion his game in Sydney against Uruguay kept us in that tie. He was unbelievably good on the left in the second half. Sheer class in an otherwise pretty dour game (don't get me wrong, it was nail bitingly good to watch). Timmy's time coincided with our return to the World Cup stage, and since Kaiserslautern he has been our best player year in year out (that is for the Socceroos team). His two goals in Japan, and 1 of 2 in Brazil each scored with his feet rather than head. Just unbelievable. His quality in say the Japan qualifier in Brisbane (1-1 I think) was class. Happy to play up front by himself for many games in the cause. What a player. Our greatest Socceroo (results count and he has delivered).