Red Bulls" Cahill to Miss 3-4 Weeks The term warrior is often overused when it comes to athletes. But the Red Bulls" coach, Mike Petke, felt it fit in describing Tim Cahill's game-long resolve in fighting through an injury. Rich Schultz/Associated Press Tim Cahill, right, sustained a knee injury early in last week's win over Real Salt Lake, but remained in the match until the 85th minute. Cahill, a Red Bulls midfielder who recently helped his native Australia qualify for next summer's World Cup in Brazil, will miss the next three to four weeks of the Major League Soccer season after sustaining a knee injury last Saturday. The injury occurred in the fourth minute of the Red Bulls' 4-3 win over visiting Real Salt Lake at Red Bull Arena. Cahill played on, scored a goal and left the match in the game's 85th minute - before his team's furious rally snatched the full three points. Cahill sustained a torn posterior cruciate ligament on a tackle by R.S.L.'s Yordany Alvarez, for which Alvarez was shown a yellow card. Minutes later, Cahill scored on a header off a free kick from Thierry Henry. "It's a very big loss to us," Petke said during his weekly conference call. Like I said, I think it was a very reckless and careless challenge. I don't think it was intentional. I don't think Salt Lake plays like that, but I think it was just a very careless challenge to the knee and it's going to be a very big loss for us. In his first full season with the Red Bulls, Cahill has emerged as the midfield engine for the club, especially since the recent departure of the Brazilian Juninho. He has six goals and and three assists in 19 starts this season. The injury forced Cahill to withdraw from Wednesday night's game between the M.L.S. All-Stars and Roma of Italy, won by the Italian club, 3-1, in Kansas City, Kan. Cahill will also miss Saturday's critical Eastern Conference match between the second-place Red Bulls (10-7-5, 35 points) and first-place Sporting Kansas City (10-6-6, 36) at Sporting Park. "First of all it shows what kind of mentality and what a warrior he is, that he played throughout that game," Petke said. He added, "That's soccer, that's life and we have to figure out ways to just get on without him." After the match at Kansas City, the Red Bulls play at Columbus (Aug. 10), against Philadelphia (Aug. 17), at Chivas USA (Aug. 25) and against D.C. United (Aug. 31). The Red Bulls" other designated player, the captain Thierry Henry, played 57 minutes for the M.L.S. stars against Roma and remained in Kansas City ahead of Saturday's match.