Cahill lines up other players for academy opening

DUBAI // Tim Cahill, the Everton midfielder, will not have time to check on his Dubai-based academy when he makes a stop-over in the city this week, but is planning to sprinkle some stardust anyway. Cahill will pass through the UAE on his way from Liverpool to Yokohama, where he will be playing for the Socceroos against Japan in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. He is a director of the multi-sport Elite Sporting Academy (ESA), based at Repton School in Nad al Sheba, which he launched last year. He will have to miss the academy's open day on Thursday, but in his absence, the former England midfielder Trevor Sinclair and the World Cup-winning England rugby union player Jason Robinson will attend. Cahill set up the Dubai venture with the intention of "providing students with a pathway into the top flight". The academy's football programme is headed by another former international, the ex-England midfielder Carlton Palmer. John Mamea-Wilson, the managing director, said: "ESA is committed to providing a world class development programme which will prepare our students for life on and off the pitch." pradley@thenational.ae