Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill have appealed to fans not to give up on Australia ahead of its crucial Group D match against Serbia at the World Cup.
Cahill was suspended and had to watch from the stands as the Australians, despite an early red card for Harry Kewell, held on for a 1-1 draw with Ghana on Saturday that kept their hopes of progressing alive. The Everton midfielder says the fighting effort had restored the Australian players' belief in themselves.
``I was sitting with the fans yesterday and was so proud to see what they had to offer,'' Cahill said at training Sunday. ``You would've thought we were playing the game in Australia. So for us, thanks for your support and obviously keep the faith because we believe in ourselves.''
Australia needs to beat Serbia in Nelspruit and rely on Ghana either beating Germany or losing by a large margin to go through. The team will be without Kewell, who was sent off in the first half against Ghana for handling a goal-bound shot from Jonathan Mensah. FIFA announced Sunday that Kewell would receive a one-game suspension, the maximum penalty for a handball incident.
Neill said he was proud of his team for the way they dealt with Kewell's dismissal and the subsequent equalizer, from the penalty spot, by Asamoah Gyan.
``Any football fan in the world can't ask for any more from a player to go out and give a performance like that,'' the Australia captain said. ``OK, we made mistakes, but the reaction and the spirit epitomizes what it is to be Australian. We fight to the end. We have unbelievable belief. We're still here and the nation shouldn't give up on us, because we haven't given up.''
Neill said the team had learned a lesson in the 4-0 opening loss to Germany. It had been behind 2-0 when Cahill was sent off.
``When we went 10 men down against Germany we thought we could still play the same football,'' Neill said. ``Today we were a lot smarter and on another day we would have come away with a 2-1 victory and have been talking about this as one of the best games Australia's ever played.''
Australia had four fresh players on the field against Ghana and changes are likely again against Serbia as the Socceroos' Dutch coach Pim Verbeek tries to combat player fatigue. But Neill said the players were physically ready for the challenge.
``They came in last night and were dead on their feet,'' Neill said. ``But we keep going and we don't feel unfit. We feel fitter and there's plenty of petrol in the tank.''
