Why Cahill's Indian switch is a smart move

Tim Cahill’s move to the Indian Super League has already been the subject of derision among some quarters, but it shouldn’t be. At 38, he’s earned the right to do as he pleases.

In any event, the shift to Jamshedpur may end up being one of his better recent decisions. As the player with the biggest profile in India for the upcoming season, he has the opportunity to create another – yes, we’ll use that word – legacy.

I don’t say that lightly. First, a confession: I have a personal interest in Indian football. I co-authored a thesis during the FIFA Master last year on the future of the game in the world’s largest democracy.

The opportunity to pour a year of dedicated research into the subject gave me a totally new perspective on Indian football – its history, its present status, its challenges and where it aspires to be.

What triggered my curiosity in the subject was contemplating how Indian football might look in 10, 20 or 50 years from now. In a nation of 1.1 billion people, you only have to move the dial a millimetre to achieve something extraordinary.

The game is growing at an exponential rate. Year on year, more and more Indian children are playing football. More and more people are watching football. The lure of the big European leagues is huge but don’t underestimate the passion for the local game, especially in the football-mad cities.

But the passion in the stands isn’t always matched by the execution on the field. Not yet, anyway.

There’s lots and lots of flashes of individual skill. The dribbling attributes of many players is a sight to behold. But it’s often in defence and tactical organisation where there’s deep problems.

The culture of coaching in the country isn’t strong, so young players aren’t taught many of the basics – especially in positional play – required to succeed at the highest level.

As such, Cahill should score plenty of goals in India. And it’s not a 38-game season, either. It’s only half that amount.

And because of his history in the English Premier League and with the Socceroos, he’s going to get a rousing reception. When the goals start flowing, it’ll be vastly different to what he’s experienced before. Check some of the videos on YouTube if you don’t believe me.

Although Cahill isn’t the most technical player, he’s an exceptional reader of the play and therefore gets into the right positions. He’s a supreme physical specimen, with a body those a decade or two younger would be proud of.

He hasn’t played much in the past year but he still kept himself in the kind of condition that had most of the country begging for Bert van Marwijk to give him more game time at the FIFA World Cup.

For all the improvement in Indian football, Cahill’s physical and dietary obsessions will seem like a different planet. It may seem silly to mention this – until you hear foreign coaches in India, to a man, lamenting the challenge of getting players to eat the right things.

Indeed, Cahill can set an example of what it takes to be a professional. Without wanting to be unfair, most Indian players genuinely have no idea of what that actually looks like on a day-to-day basis.

Cahill is honest enough to admit that things didn’t work out as planned in season two at Melbourne City, then at Millwall and also at the World Cup. But he’s hardly finished, either.

He could still play in the A-League and no doubt turn heads, but given his game time would probably be limited, why not look to a place where he can make a much bigger impact?

In India, he gets a fresh chance in a country pining for football heroes. Naturally, there’s a commercial element to this and if he succeeds on the field, the opportunity for Cahill to grow his personal brand in India is massive. It’s a culture where winners are worshipped, and marketed, like no other.

The challenge is to avoid the fate of those who turned up in India looking for a pay day. Both Roberto Carlos and Alessandro Del Piero did that and neither achieved much. On the contrary, Scottish-born-Canadian striker Iain Hume, the ISL’s all-time leading scorer, turned the final days of his journeyman career into something bordering on hero status.

And while Cahill will soon be looking to cast an eye towards his post-playing days, for a nation that needs him as much as he needs them, he might just have found the right place for one final flourish.