Australia plea for leniency

Cahill: Shown the red card

Australia are hoping Fifa will be lenient towards Tim Cahill and only ban him for one World Cup game.

The 30-year-old midfielder was sent off during the Socceroos' 4-0 hammering at the hands of Germany on Sunday and he will definitely miss the game against Ghana on Saturday.

Fifa can increase the penalty to two games but Australia have appealed against such a ban, and have cited Bastian Schweinsteiger's post-match comments to aid their cause.

Schweinsteiger, who was on the receiving end of the challenge, has claimed the red card was undeserved but it remains to be seen whether Fifa will extend the ban.

Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley said: "Quite rightly Tim's disappointed, but our submission to Fifa has gone in this morning (Wednesday).

"We have done a very comprehensive review of it and we are confident the submission will get a fair and reasonable hearing."

Manager Pim Verbeek added: "One game is more than enough because (the foul) is not that bad.

"The decision seemed very harsh to me. I have seen worse than that in this tournament so far which have only been yellow cards.

"A yellow card would have been more than enough."

Australia's chances of progressing to the knockout stage of the tournament were dealt a blow with the Germany defeat, and they now need results against Ghana and Serbia if they are to qualify.