Cahill, who has started in all bar City's opening match in Wellington when he was away on international duty with the Socceroos, was absent from the side that beat champions Adelaide 2-1 on Friday night in front of just over 10,000 fans at AAMI Park.

Danish defender Michael Jakobsen was another absentee, with Van 't Schip suggesting that the quick back up - this was City's third game in seven days - had come too quick for two of his older players.

All up, City made four changes to the starting line up that saw off Melbourne Victory in a feisty Cup semi-final just three days earlier, and Van 't Schip was full of praise for Connor Chapman, Osama Malik, Paulo Retre and Bruce Kamau, the quartet who came into the starting line up as he rested several players who had been involved against Victory.

"The mindset was very strong. That's what we said from the start, we said we had to go full-on again. We approached the game the way we did on Tuesday. I think we played some very good football in the first 30 minutes.

"We lost a bit of momentum, Adelaide came more and more into the game. "

The changes were forced upon him, he said.

"We had to do it because Tim and Michael Jakobsen didn't really pull up well after the Victory game. Hopefully they will be back next week."

Cahill was said to have stiffness in his Achilles region, while Jakobsen was not able to train on Friday.

"I expect everybody to be available. It was too quick (the turnaround) a lot of the players are running on their last legs this evening."

Adelaide United coach Guillermo Amor could only lament that his injury ravaged side - several key players, such as James Holland, Sergio Cirio and Marcello Carrusca were not available on Friday night - could not get something out of this match.

However he maintained a positive outlook, taking some solace from the performance of his back up players and youngsters.

Amor remains confident that, like last season, Adelaide can bounce back from a sluggish start. They were bouncing near the bottom of the table at the end of November last year after failing to win in their first eight games yet went on to host and win the grand final.

"The score is 2-1, they play at home, our team is young, we play with very young players and this is the difference. We lose 2-1 but it's okay.

"It's football, today in a moment, the last 25 minutes we control moments of the game and we could have got a draw. I enjoy today with my team, with our players."