Tim Cahill (right) attends the “Aspire Academy Global Summit” yesterday.
A familiar face, that has paid a lot of attention in every session of the Global Summit, is former Australian international Tim Cahill, who is currently starting his coaching career at the academy of Everton FC.
In the following interview he reflects on his journey as a footballer, that took him all over the globe, his approach to youth coaching and sport science and the rise of football in Qatar.
Q: Tim, you are currently here in Doha at the “Aspire Academy Global Summit” on Football Performance & Science. What role has sport science played in your career as a footballer?
A: Sport science was very big for me as a player having played a really tough schedule internationally, having to travel all over the world and then also playing in the Premier League made long distance flights necessary. You play a game in England, fly on a Sunday or Monday to Australia, play on a Wednesday and then travel back to England to play on a Sunday.
Recovery is important, the aspect or the way to look at it is for me has three pillars: first is nutrition, second is the basis of the physical output of what you put in and third is the sleep element. I really feel it’s important to have an understanding of your body and take your own education as a player and also take as much from the facilities and the people you have around you.
Q: Since you were just talking about younger players, here is a question that is quite crucial. How can you, as a coach, support them in the best possible way to make the successful step from youth to senior player in a professional football club?
A: Supporting the development for youth coming into the first team has to be an infrastructure with a philosophy that starts on the top and feeds us all the way down. This is my opinion. I feel when you have the same implementation of recovery, philosophy and training Qatar is a very good example of this with the way they nurture the children and they bring them to ranks through their league or through their school or through their education and also with their national team they have the same behaviours and habits and continuity which brings a chemistry that is very important.
Q: Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022, you have quite a World Cup history yourself: You were the first Australian to score at a World Cup, you played in three different editions. From your perspective, what makes a World Cup such a special event?
A: For a player there is nothing bigger than playing at a World Cup. You play for your country, you play for your badge. I played for 28 million people in Australia, whether I was on the bench or on the pitch scoring goals, it was a privilege to be part of this group for so many years, breaking so many records and being a pinnacle to young kids.
Q: You have heard a lot about the development of Qatar’s football over the last two days. What do you think about their approach to youth football development and what do you expect of Qatar’s national team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup?
A: I think that people need to understand the progression over the last ten years, the understanding of infrastructure and the long-term goal they’ve put in, not only in this team winning the Asian Cup or going to the World Cup, but underneath.
The layers and layers and layers of everyone being on the same page from the Qatar Football Association to Aspire Academy to everything coming together to have the chemistry to really create an opportunity that no other country can do with the facilities, with having the players full-time, which is a massive advantage.
And also what they have been doing over the last ten years, to win an Asian Cup with this population, with the amount of children playing football, is incredible. And with that dream alone it sets a whole different benchmark with which comes pressure to perform at the World Cup.
But the measure of success is what they have done over the last ten years and the momentum they can kick on and find new ideas and then integrate the youngsters into these sorts of tournaments.
Qatar should be very proud. A lot of people are looking over Qatar with envy and they are seeing the layers starting to show its true colours. They deserve all the credit, because they really worked hard for it.
