SOCCEROO Tim Cahill give us his top ten playing tips, including so how to do those legendary headers, win grudge matches and return from injury.

1  Losing your marker
“First of all, when I want to shake off a marker, I make sure I am fitter than him. You also have to constantly move and make sure you are on their shoulder where they can’t see you. Just make sure that you do everything to ensure they don’t know where you are. He needs to watch the ball and keep in position, so I get on a player’s shoulder and run in behind them. Try and think two moves ahead and change direction a lot.”

2 Rising above taller opponents
“A lot of it is timing. It is one thing to be able to jump high and rise above players, but you need to meet the ball too. You see so many players rising and jumping without having an end product. I focus on that end product with my game. It is hard to coach this! It is something for me that I have developed and got stronger and stronger with. I have been a professional for some time, but I am still finding new ways to rise above players.”

3  Scoring at corners
“It is about assessing who you are playing against and knowing all the elements of their strengths and weaknesses. I never complicate things by trying to do something special. I keep it simple, make sure I’m in the right place and do the basics right as the ball is coming across.”

4 Winning grudge matches
“The biggest thing I teach kids now is ‘treat every game the same’. Whether you are playing Scunthorpe or Brazil you have to play your hardest every time. Professionalism and efficiency are the most important aspects of my game. If I am playing consistently and at the top of my level then I am ready for the grudge matches as I’m used to winning all of my battles, no matter what.”

5  Playing as a lone striker
“It is not easy! When you are taking on the likes of John Terry and Alex it is difficult. You have to think outside the box, you need to work on the aspects that defenders don’t like to see in the strikers they are marking. Be close to them, close them down when they have the ball, never give them time on the ball, run the channel and make sure you get in the box to get on the end of balls.”

6  Dealing with fixture congestion
“It is all about preparation and recovery – pre-hab and rehab. What I do on Monday to Friday is just as important as what I do in the game. I get in two hours before every training session and stay behind an hour to an hour and a half. I use this time to strengthen my body, getting treatment even when I do not need it – that could just be a light massage. Sleeping and eating right is vital – you need to treat your body with the upmost respect.”

7 Role when injured or suspended
“That role is just as important. You always need to be a good ambassador for the club and players. I make sure I am still leading the team as the manager looks to me to provide inspiration to the other lads. You always need to be at the games, whether you are fit or not. A massive part of the game is being pleased for, and supporting, your teammates. Our motto at Everton is ‘there is no I in team’.”

8 Pre-match meals, post-match recovery
“I eat very healthy – protein, a little bit of carbs, vegetables and salad. For me, breakfast and lunch have always been the same thing. I try to keep my body fat between six and nine per cent throughout a season. When I get injured I challenge myself and get my body fat to as low as six-and-half per cent. I always keep my body weight between 74-76 kgs. As for recovery, ice baths sometimes, it just depends how you feel at the time.”

9  Returning after an injury
“I come back and I have never played in the reserves. I always get thrown into the thick of it. I make sure I am in peak form when I return and I spend every day on the bike for half an hour, plus doing weights in the gym, yoga. If I have an leg injury, I still do one-legged bike work while that is repairing.”

10 Being told you are not good enough
“Criticism is the best motivation and the best form of ammunition. People usually criticise due to their own insecurities and you have to turn that negative into a positive. When I was younger I was told I did not have the attributes to be a footballer and it was the best thing anyone could have said to me.”

"I'm not saying I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world."

— Tupac Shakur

Arsenal 4 – 0 Shakhtar Donetsk[matchhighlight.com]

Nong | Myspace Video

Another training ended and one of my teammates said "Nick, I haven't been feeling your passion for the last few weeks, there's no fight, no determination", I was suprised by hearing that comment. In response I just said I'm tired, which I have been the last week or so. By the way, I decided to create this post now instead of playing a brand new FIFA 11 copy I've been anticipating for weeks and I desperately want to play, I realise my real career in football is more important. Anyway, I thought deeper and deeper on the way home and in the shower and I think he was right. There hasn't been the same "passion" in the last few weeks as there had been in August for example. I have been less determined to win the ball or to run back, etc. It's not because football is not fun for me and I don't want to do it anymore because I feel it's fun and I love to play, It's really because of one reason: I feel as though I should already be playing a professional club. I am the best player in my club team and in my school team. There's not a focus that's physically right there in front of me I can be motivated by, what I mean is that there's not a better player technically, no pressure from other players trying to be better than me because I probably train three times as much as they do. And so I do "just enough".

I guess it's one of the drawbacks of playing in a low-skilled team, but I have little choices. I have to think straight too, I couldn't confidently say YES if someone asked me now whether I was good enough to play in an top European academy.

I've realised now that I gotta look at the bigger picture, of the goal I set for myself in Feburary this year of playing for a Premier League academy by next year. I can't adapt to the worser players because than maybe I'll become a "worser player." I have to fight and sprint and work to get the ball as if I were playing in a premier league game. I have to visualise with what's in front of me. Because if I don't and I keep the way I'm going, I will not reach my goal.

So from tomorrow's training I will:

• Have the same workrate and focus as If I were playing in a premier league game.

I thought I'd create a My Rules page. This is my own policy from now on I have to abide to, in order to become a better footballer and especially a leader on the pitch this forthcoming season.

Check it out.

It’s possible and I can do it. Play for the Socceroos in the World Cup and be the best, most talked about player on the team. I can’t wait!

This is what my strengths are from best to not the best:

• Slide tackling
• Speed
• Long balls/crossing
• Running with the ball
• Dribbling

(and add set pieces there somewhere)

These strengths are consistent with wingers, which do these things (from wikipedia):

• Technical skill to beat a full-back in a one-to-one situation.
• Pace, to beat the full-back one-on-one.
• Crossing ability when out wide.
• Good off-the-ball ability when reading a pass from the midfield or from fellow attackers.
• Good passing ability and composure, to retain possession while in opposition territory.
• The modern winger should also be comfortable on either wing so as to adapt to quick tactical changes required by the coach.

I'm decent now, but I have to really buckle down and get really, fantastically good at these skills if I want to be the next amazing player.

Now that I've confirmed what I am good at, and what position suits me. It's time to formulate a training plan around this.. Watch out for the next post!

This is my Ultimate Footballers Experience:

These quotes are by champions and remind to keep on track of my goal:

So the biggest problem in training for me today was keeping the ball under close control. Javier Mascherano talks about how he keeps the ball under close control, another good video from nikefootball.

• Keep on your toes.
• Be aware of the players around you before receiving.
• Take the ball away from the closest player, away from danger.

So last night after watching Will Smith’s video on wisdom, I became really motivated. I have this red, mini football I got from my club’s Christmas party.  I set a unreasonable target for myself that I would get 100 juggles with this mini ball by the end of the night. I could barley do 10 or 15 kick ups to start, my record was probably about 20, but I never stopped believing that I wouldn’t get 100 and eventually I got closer and closer until around two hours later YES! I got over 100 juggles.

So basically what seemed like an impossible task to start wasn’t actually impossible at all, it was just a state of mind.

I have also just come back home from a pretty hard fitness training, I hate them so much but I have realised that in order for me to become one of the best players that ever lived I need to have tough mental challenges for myself and so things like that is good for me and now I am enjoying it, that while i’m going through physical exhaustion that the exhaustion is just a state of mind, by body telling me that I can’t keep going. But in truth I can and like Will Smith says “I’m not afraid to die on the treadmill” ha ha

Two favourite quotes I found:
“You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me but if we get on the treadmill together i’m gonna die! It’s that simple.”

“I hate being scared of something.. the only fear you have of fear, is fear itself”.

I was kind of scared going into the next two weeks of fitness in training. Now I know there is nothing to fear and that i’m willing to go all out and die to be noticed as the hardest working footballer there is.

I want to be legendary not only for my performances on the pitch but off the pitch too.

I want to be admired by millions of people as someone who was nothing to something with companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars as well as living the life as a footballer. I will go down in history as a player that lived with everything, an object of success in football. I can help hundreds of millions of people, football can be the platform to do so.

I want to be a leader, a motivator on the pitch, a player un-fearful of any opponent. I will not treat a player like a God, I will analyse them and study how they are successful and then become better then they are.

I can be all of these things.