Albury United’s Adam Carty and Albury City’s Nick Higgins were among the Socceroo faithful watching from a distance in the 3-2 loss to the Netherlands this morning.

Higgins, 17, said his generation had grown up with Cahill and Harry Kewell as their idols.

“What can you say about that goal — it’s the goal of the tournament so far,” he said.

“A long ball off his left foot on the volley .. you can’t really beat that as a spectacle.”

VIDEO: Click below to see Michael Lynch and Sebastian Hassett review Australia's heartbreaking loss to the Netherlands in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Carty simply says Cahill is a freak.

But he’s confident the Socceroos will find someone to step into his shoes.

“He traditionally gets most of his goals in the air and that is probably what was so remarkable about the goal he scored this morning —it was such a well-timed shot and not something we see too often from the world’s best, including Cahill,” Carty said.

“He will be tough to replace but I think there are others emerging who may just fill the void.

“You look at the players who aren’t in this squad, the likes of Tom Rogic and Robbie Kruse and you can only imagine what might have been and the inspiration they will take out of that goal.

“Hopefully we see them at the Asian Cup.”

Carty said the Socceroo’s performance in the “group of death” was outstanding.

“We all talk about the second half against Chile and how we found our legs and we can hold our heads up high again this morning,” he said.

“But at the same time in the back of your mind you think what if?

“What if we could have got away with a result there this morning, not started so poorly against Chile?”