Cool Cahill defies the heat

The temperatures that stymied England don't seem to have affected Australia's double scorer.

About time Everton had a World Cup hero, although the nuances of Merseyside football rivalry do not seem to have made it to German television. Every time Harry Kewell touched the ball on the station I was watching the German commentator pointed out that he played for Liverpool, yet when Cahill won the game against Japan with two late goals there was no mention of Everton. The commentator said he played his football in the Premiership, in Liverpool.

Given that Cahill has played in England for several years now it was odd that he remained unaffected by the heat, since the temperature in Kaiserslautern was around five degrees higher than it was in Frankfurt on the day England found they could not get going against Paraguay. The Aussies don't whinge about these things, they just keep going anyway, and they got their reward with three second-half goals. In case you didn't know, that's three more second-half goals than England have so far scored in two World Cup tournaments under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Paul Wilson is the Observer's chief football writer