Plenty of air up there for Kenendy and Cahill to share Non-starter: Josh Kennedy. There's a school of thought in Australian football - gaining more and more momentum - that Josh Kennedy and Tim Cahill can't play in the same team. It's not because of some personality differences or some long-running bitter feud, though the way some talk, they might as well have. Somehow, the idea has gathered increasing pace that because they both have aerial ability, they are incompatible in the same team and are basically fighting for the same position. Socceroos coach Holger Osieck has not helped in the argument. Despite seeing Kennedy get fit, firing and starting in the J-League, the German didn't even bother to bring him on against Japan at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday. In fact, the question was put to him at the post-match press conference about why Kennedy wasn't used as a substitute when the match was up for grabs. Instead, he brought on Dario Vidosic. "I don't know if you followed the game correctly," Osieck snapped. Dario is more an attacking midfielder and had to do a lot of work there and that is why he played. Finally, it's my decision, not anybody else's. So instead Kennedy, and most of his teammates, were left to ponder why he made the journey on the bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo to begin with. Curiously, after the match, Japanese striker Ryoichi Maeda went out of his way to comment on the Socceroos' forward setup, saying it made no sense to have Cahill as the lone ranger. "They were physical and used a lot of long balls but they only had a target man like Cahill," he said. I think if Josh was there we would have had a lot more problems. Though it sounds like a slight on Cahill, it's more a statement of common sense. Japan's two central defenders, Maya Yoshida and Yasuyuki Konno, are both taller than Cahill - Yoshida by some 11 centimetres. To expect Cahill to bring down long ball after long ball against those two was ridiculous in hindsight. What Cahill thrives on is leaping to attack a ball he can head forwards - from set pieces, corners or crosses. But Kennedy, at 194 centimetres, wins almost everything in the air, including the aerial lumps from defence. They have vastly different skill sets that can be exploited. Cahill's tenacity, which differs from Kennedy's laconic lope, makes him ideal to set the tone of an energetic defensive press. It's eminently possible they'd made quite a good combination - Kennedy at the point, Cahill in behind - even if the latter isn't a traditional number 10. As Australia chases a spot at the next World Cup in the next two weeks, they need players who are ready and capable. Brett Holman, who has hardly played in months, was fine going forward against Japan but found the grind of pressing and tracking back tough going. It's worth nothing that Jordan's tallest defender, Anas Bani Yaseen, is still eight centimetres shorter than Kennedy - a serious advantage if Australia needs an aerial option. Crucially, of the seven goals Kennedy has scored in competitive matches, five have been against Middle Eastern opposition. There's a lot to be said for knowing thy enemy. Meanwhile, should Australia make it to Brazil, it will be interesting to see if Harry Kewell can find his way into the mix alongside Cahill and Kennedy. All going well, Kewell's signing with Melbourne Heart is good news for player, club, league and potentially country. At long last, he's made a selfless decision. It's clear money isn't his motivator. This is obviously the 34-year old's last-ditch attempt to find his place on the plane to Rio. Whether he's still good enough will only be found out in time, but Osieck should at least monitor his progress closely. Even now, despite all his time away, there might be three options to consider up front this time next year.