Australia recalls Red Bulls' Cahill

• AFP, Wednesday, August 29, 2012 4:15 PM

Tim Cahill will be logging some major air miles next month. He's been summoned by the Australian national team for matches against Lebanon and Jordan, even though upon signing with the New York Red Bulls last month he said he'd rather not play for the Socceroos in friendlies until he'd settled in.

Coach Holger Osieck has included Cahill in a 22-man squad to play Lebanon in a friendly in Beirut Sept. 6 as well as a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Jordan in Amman five days later. Cahill would not miss any MLS games during his period; after a league match Wednesday against D.C. United, the Red Bulls don't play again until Sept. 15.

Osieck is confident the Socceroos' performance would be different from that in a 3-1 loss to Scotland in a friendly earlier this month. Cahill was not called in for that match. He played for Australia in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and has 57 caps.

"We should not put too much into the Scotland game when you recall ... most of the boys didn't even finish their preseason, the leagues hadn't even started and you could see that some were not in the actual shape that they need to be when they are, for instance, in midseason," he said. "I am 100 percent convinced that we will definitely have a different performance level when we play the qualifier in Jordan."

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