Tim Cahill says he expects the Socceroos to reach into every corner of their Asian Cup squad across the tournament, meaning he will only play half of Australia’s matches.

At 35, the Socceroos’ record goalscorer is still the lynchpin of Australia’s attack.

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Under Ange Postecoglou in 2014, Cahill has played more matches and scored more goals than any other calendar year for the national team.

But he expects to be warming the bench during plenty of the January tournament as Postecoglou tries to keep everyone fresh in a bid to win the cup.

“I don’t expect to play every single game,” Cahill said.

“At the World Cup I played two out of three which I knew beforehand.

Mark Bresciano shows off his skills. Photo: Getty

“For this one, it’ll probably be three (for the tournament), who knows.”

The Socceroos are certain of playing three group games, needing to qualify from their group of Kuwait, Oman and Korea and then win another three knock-out games across 23 days.

That means understudies Tomi Juric (23-years-old) and Nathan Burns (26) will get their opportunities – which Cahill is looking forward to.

“Burnsy’s form has been fantastic,” he said.

“I’m really impressed with what he’s produced and now it’s about how we can translate that together as a team to make him perform at international level.

“When Tomi realises his ability, with his strength and his size, he’s just got to become ruthless and he can definitely become someone for the future.”

Along with Robbie Kruse (26), Matthew Leckie (23), Tommy Oar (23) and James Troisi (26), the Socceroos next-generation forward line looks strong.

They’ve come through a demanding campaign prepared by Postecoglou involving matches in Europe, the Middle East and Japan en route to the Cup.

It’s seen the Socceroos slide to a world ranking of 100 – and 10 in Asia – for the first time but Cahill said playing away to Japan in front of 50,000 people was ideal preparation.

“He’s got to know what he’s dealing with when it comes to the big moment … who’s going to sink or swim?” he said.

“OK, Our rankings have dropped. Our football has improved.

“We could have played Qatar, UAE and Japan in Australia (for) possibly two out of three wins.

“Our rankings would have stayed up a bit and everyone would have been happy.

“It would have put a smokescreen over what really we should be learning about.”

The New York Red Bulls striker said two teams stood out as key dangers for the Socceroos in the tournament.

“Iran, Japan is an obvious, there’s a few other dark horses” he said.

“I really think Iran, the way they performed at the World Cup, were pretty special.

He then stepped out of line with coach Postecoglou’s hopes to win the tournament – but to only be satisfied if they win with style.

“I don’t care how we win, as long as we win,” Cahill said.