A coaching career beckons for Tim Cahill when he hangs up his boots for the last time, but Australia's attacking midfielder would rather use his head to score goals than strategise from the sidelines for a few years yet.
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The 33-year-old, who plays club football for New York Red Bulls, is part of an ageing core of Socceroos players who will again be counted on to secure Australia a place in a third successive World Cup.
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Despite a stuttering campaign in the final phase of Asian qualifying, Australia have their World Cup fate in their hands and need home wins over Jordan on Tuesday and against Iraq the following week to secure a ticket to Brazil next year.
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While Australia's 40-year-old goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has stated Brazil would be his international swansong, Cahill said he planned to be among the Socceroos in some way, shape or form for as long as he could hang on.
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"I'll play as long as possible," the former Millwall and Everton midfielder told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.
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"The years to come, whether I'm on the pitch or off it, so long as I'm part of the squad, as long as possible.
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"I love it ... I definitely want to do something to boost (Australian soccer), obviously being an Australian coach and obviously, the grass-roots side in Australia, I'd love to do something like that later on, but a lot later."
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Like Schwarzer, 35-year-old captain Lucas Neill and fellow 33-year-old midfielder Mark Bresciano, Cahill will bid for a third successive World Cup appearance with a team that has struggled to regenerate since the 2010 South Africa finals.
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Australia's failure to produce a new crop of players to take over has caused some angst Down Under and been blamed in part for the team's erratic qualifying campaign.
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Few local soccer fans would begrudge Cahill from hanging on, however, given his outsized role in Australia's World Cup history.
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Cahill is Australia's top World Cup goalscorer with three goals, and became his country's first to score at the global tournament when he netted a brace against Japan at the 2006 finals in Germany.
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He heads into the Jordan match with 27 international goals, sitting third on Australia's all-time list behind retired striker Damian Mori (29) and Socceroos teammate Archie Thompson (28).
All players now want to coach immediately after they are done with playing for their national teams and clubs.