http://germanfootballteam.com/2010/06/schweinsteiger-statement-helps-cahill/Schweinsteiger statement helps Cahill16 Jun 2010 | schweinsteiger, world cup 2010
FIFA’s judicial committee is expected to decide on Thursday whether Cahill will receive a one or two-match ban following his send-off for fouling German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.
But Cahill’s fate could depend on post-match comments made to the Australian by Schweinsteiger and caught on tape by Australian Associated Press, the national news agency.
As AAP senior correspondent Doug Conway was interviewing Cahill, Schweinsteiger went past and sought out the Everton midfielder, saying: “It wasn’t a red card”.
Conway picked up the exchange clearly on his digital recorder and has been asked by Socceroos officials to provide a written submission to FIFA, along with a recording of what Schweinsteiger said.
That will be used in part to fight Cahill’s case to avoid a possible two-match ban, which FIFA’s disciplinary committee can impose should they deem the challenge sufficiently bad.
A one-match suspension ruling him out of the Ghana match on Saturday appears the more likely result.
In light of Schweinsteiger telling him that he thought he should not have been sent off by the referee, Cahill said: “Dreams can be made and crushed in the space of hours. To hear Schweinsteiger say that, it’s very nice of him to say it wasn’t a red card.”
