Melbourne City forward Tim Cahill claimed that negative chants from Sydney FC fans spurred him to score the winning goal in the Westfield FFA Cup Final.
Cahill decided the match early in the second half when he held off an opponent to nod Ivan Franjic’s cross past Sydney goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.
City crowned Westfield FFA Cup 2016 winners
As has been the case for many of his games since joining City, Cahill was hardly his team’s best player but, like he has so many times for the Socceroos and previous clubs, the 36-year-old made the difference.
“Tonight was just special because just beforehand – for no reason – the [Sydney] fans were singing about me and it plays and plays in your head all the time, when the fans sing negative stuff towards me, and I thought ‘this is my chance’,” he said after the game.
“When it hit my head – it’s the story of my life… people will say he’s done it again but that’s why I play. I play for moments like that.
“Maybe for the other 50 minutes it was difficult to get on the ball and do whatever but that’s not my job. My job is to be in the box.”
Cahill’s goal secured City’s maiden men’s trophy, ending a wait that stretches back to the founding of Melbourne Heart in 2009.
Like City coach John van ‘t Schip had argued before the FFA Cup Final, Cahill declared that Wednesday night would be the first of many successful ones for the Bundoora-based club.
“In Melbourne, you know, there’s too big teams but the shift’s starting to turn now a little,” he said.
“People are starting to take notice and there would have been a lot of people watching that game tonight praying that we didn’t win, including other A-League clubs.”
Cahill added: “Silverware’s silverware – whether people like it or not, Melbourne City have got a trophy and it’s a good platform for us now to go on. So this is definitely up there as a massive moment in my career and it’s even sweeter that I scored.”
