Football
ESPN staff 7y

Chile strength comes from experience - Australia veteran Tim Cahill

Socceroos veteran Tim Cahill says he is not taking the challenge of Chile lightly ahead of Sunday's crunch Confederations Cup clash.

The looming clash in Moscow pits Ange Postecoglou's youthful side against the double Copa America champions, who have been brought back from the wilderness by former manager Jorge Sampaoli and kept inside the world's top five by current boss Juan Antonio Pizzi.

"I know the majority of the players because I've been fortunate enough to play against them in my career," the 37-year-old Cahill told AAP. 

"They're obviously technically gifted but they play with a lot of passion, the Chileans. The South American teams leave everything on the pitch. With a lot of these countries everyone comes out fully loaded with their full squad and they really respect it, because they're big competitions and the chance to win silverware internationally is everything.

"Regardless of whether Chile is an ageing team, a lot of their stars are still around from other World Cups and other campaigns. That's where they get a lot of their strengths."

Aside from new all-time record-scorer Sanchez, 28, much of the Chile squad will be over 30 by the time Russia 2018 comes around and may not have the stamina to maintain their bold, high-intensity style despite the skills of Arturo Vidal, Mauricio Isla and Trent Sainsbury's recent Inter Milan teammate Medel.

While their contemporary Cahill is the only remaining fixture of an ever-transitioning Socceroos, the forward believes Australia are moving with the times.

"We're evolving with youngsters," he said. "For us it's about seeing what's coming in the next generations and how they can develop to get us to more World Cups."

Information from the Australian Associated Press was used in this report.

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