Tim Cahill

Tim Cahill

Personal information
Full name	Timothy Filiga Cahill[1]
Date of birth	6 December 1979 (1979-12-06) (age 31)[2]
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Everton
Number	17
Youth career
1997	Sydney United
1997–1998	Millwall
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2004	Millwall	220	(52)
2004–	Everton	168	(46)
National team‡
1993	Samoa U-17[3]	1	(0)
2004–	Australia[4]	42	(21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:15, 22 August 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:00, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Timothy Filiga "Tim" Cahill (born 6 December 1979) is a Australian football player who plays for Everton and the Australian national football team. Cahill has also played as a striker on several occasions and captains Everton in Phil Neville's absence. Cahill has become one of the highest profile footballers in the Asian Football Confederation. Cahill scored the first goal by an Australian at a FIFA World Cup, and has also scored the most goals by any Australian in the World Cup. In 2007, he also became the first Australian player to score at an Asian Cup.

Early life

Cahill was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to a Samoan mother and a British father^[5] of Irish descent^[6] and was encouraged to play football as a child. As a youngster Cahill played football for Balmain Police Boys Club and the Marrickville Red Devils Soccer Football Club. He attended Bexley North Primary school, Tempe High School and Kingsgrove North High School, where he ended his high school years.

Cahill paid a visit to Bexley North following his World Cup exploits where, despite the fact that the school holidays had started, almost the entire student body turned out to welcome him back.^[7][8]

His brother, Chris Cahill, is also a professional footballer.^[9] He has three cousins who are professional rugby players; Ben Roberts (New Zealand Rugby League), Joe Stanley and Jeremy Stanley (New Zealand Rugby Union).

Club career

Millwall

In 1997, Cahill asked his parents to allow him to travel to England to play professionally, where he was signed by Millwall on a free transfer from Sydney United. He made his Millwall debut on 22 May 1998. In the 2003–2004 season, Cahill was the workhorse in Millwall's heroic campaign which led them to the FA Cup final for the first official time in their history, scoring in the semi-final against Sunderland, and a UEFA Cup place. Cahill polled over 100,000 votes to win the FA Cup ‘Player of the Round’ award for his performance during the semi-final victory in that competition.^[10] Cahill made 241 overall appearances for The Lions, scoring 58 goals.

Before the start of the 2004–2005 season, Cahill's contract was transferred to Everton Football Club for a fee of £1.5 million,^[11] after he turned down a move to Millwall's South East London rivals Crystal Palace.

Everton

Tim Cahill playing for Everton on 15 December 2007

Before the start of the 2004–2005 season, Cahill was transferred to Everton Football Club for a fee of £1.5 million.^[12] In his first season, he was Everton's top goal scorer^[13] and was fans' Player of the Season.^[13]

Before the 2005–06 season Cahill's contract at Everton was extended with a salary increase reflecting the impact he had made at the club.^[14] The third round of that season's FA Cup drew Cahill's former club, Millwall against Everton at The New Den. He scored the winner in the replay at Goodison Park, but chose not to celebrate his winning goal, stating, " I decided not to go mad and just pay my respects to the club that gave me my start in the game. To celebrate would have been a kick in the teeth, it is all about respect."^[15]

In October 2006, Cahill was named as one of 50 nominees for the Ballon D'Or. He was the first Everton player in 18 years to be nominated^[16] and was also the only player on the list from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania. A month later he was out of action for 8 weeks with a knee injury sustained by colliding with teammate Lee Carsley in a home game against Aston Villa on 11 November. Cahill returned on 14 January 2007, in place of the suspended Mikel Arteta, in the 1–1 home draw against Reading. However, in March, Cahill sustained his second serious injury of 2006–07, breaking his fifth left metatarsal in a 1–1 draw against Sheffield United which ended his season. In June 2007 he signed a contract extension at Everton that will see him stay at the club until 2012.

Cahill returned from injury partway through the 2007–08 season in the club's first UEFA Cup Group match, a home match against Greek side Larissa on 25 October 2007, scoring from a diving header after 14 minutes in a 3–1 win.^[17] His extra time winner against Luton Town on 31 October in the League Cup, sent Everton into their first cup Quarter Final in more than 5 years.

His 100th league appearance for Everton came in the 1–0 victory over Sunderland after which Cahill mentioned Duncan Ferguson and Alan Stubbs as his two biggest influences at Everton.^[18] Cahill has shown versatility by becoming a makeshift striker during December, 2008, due to injuries to all 4 of Everton's senior strikers. In this role he scored 2 goals in 3 games, both in 1–0 victories away to Manchester City and Middlesbrough, as well as a late equaliser in the Merseyside Derby,^[19] and becoming the first player since Dixie Dean to score for Everton in three Anfield derbies.^[20] His 100th career goal was scored against Arsenal at Goodison on 28 January 2009.^[21]

On the 15 February, Cahill scored the third goal in a 3–1 win over Aston Villa and dedicated the goal to the victims of the 2009 Victorian bushfires.^[22] During the second half of the 2008–09 season, Cahill was used more as the "utility man" due to his versatility as Everton was plagued by injuries to playmaker Mikel Arteta as well as strikers Victor Anichebe and Yakubu and some other key players.

Due to Phil Neville sustaining a knee ligament injury early in the 2009–2010 season, Cahill was named as the replacement captain of Everton. Later in the season he scored his 50th goal for Everton, in a 3–1 defeat of Carlisle United in the Third Round of the FA Cup.

Everton fans have given him the nickname "Tiny Tim" after the Charles Dickens character due to being slightly short and slim.^[23] He has made a corner flag goal celebration his "trademark". The celebration, where Cahill pretends to trade punches with the corner flag while putting the Everton badge between his teeth, was first seen in the 2005–2006 season. On 2 March 2008, Cahill celebrated his goal in the 3–1 home victory of Portsmouth by crossing his wrists as if he had been handcuffed. This was in reference to the recent jailing of his brother, Sean, for Grevious Bodily Harm. The potentially controversial action was defended by Everton, though Cahill has since apologised.^[24] Cahill dedicated his winning goal in a Europa League game against BATE Borisov to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Samoa, miming rowing a canoe after scoring in the second half of the match in Belarus.^[25]

Cahill scored two goals against Aston Villa on 14 April 2010 both coming from headers to move his goal tally for the season to nine goals all coming from his head. Three days later against Blackburn, Cahill scored a 90th minute winner, to give Everton a 3–2 victory. This was Cahill's 10th goal of the season and first goal since December 2008 to be scored with his feet rather than his head.

Cahill made his 200th appearance for Everton on 25 April 2010 in a 2–1 against Fulham.

On the 18 May 2010 Cahill signed a new four year contract with the Everton.^[26]

On the 31 July 2010, Cahill scored a hat-trick for the club in a pre-season friendly against Norwich City.^[27]

International career

Cahill warming up before a World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Brisbane.

Cahill made his début for the Australian national team in 2004. Having represented Samoa at under-17 level at the age of 14,^[3] he was not eligible to play for Australia under FIFA rules then in place. In 2002, Cahill unsuccessfully sought to play for the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.^[28] FIFA changed its eligibilty rules in 2004, allowing players capped at junior levels to switch international allegiance, meaning that Cahill was then able to play for the country of his birth.

His first game for Australia was a friendly against South Africa on 30 March 2004 at Loftus Road, London.^[29] He then participated at the 2004 Olympic Games.^[30] Cahill was named Oceania Footballer of the Year for 2004. On 16 November 2005 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, Cahill played in the World Cup qualification match against Uruguay, where Australia qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after a penalty shoot-out.

2006 FIFA World Cup

Cahill played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and, in Australia's opening group game against Japan, became the first ever Australian to score a World Cup goal.^[31] Scoring a second goal in the same game, he also became the first Australian World Cup man of the match.

Cahill also played in the group game against Brazil, which Australia lost^[32] and a drawn group game against Croatia.^[33] Cahill played the entire "round of 16" match against eventual World Cup winners Italy, which Australia lost 0-1.^[34]

Asian Cup 2007

Cahill was on the Australian team which reached the quarter finals of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. As he was recovering from injury, Cahill was used as a substitute throughout the tournament.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Cahill was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, scoring goals in crucial matches against Qatar and Japan. At this time, former Australian coach Rale Rasic described Cahill as the best Australian footballer he had seen in his lifetime.^[35]

Despite earlier injury concerns,^[36] Cahill played in Australia's opening group game at the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Germany where he controversially^[37] received a straight red card in the 56th minute,^[38] which meant he missed the group match against Ghana in Rustenburg.^[39] Bastian Schweinsteiger, the German player against whom the alleged foul was committed, stated that the foul decision was erroneous.^[40]

Cahill played in the final group match against Serbia, where he scored in the 69th minute.^[41] After the tournament, Cahill had scored a total of three FIFA World Cup goals, which is a national record.^[42]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Result	Competition
1	31 May 2004	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia	Tahiti	Won	9–0	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
2
3	2 June 2004	Marden Sports Complex, Adelaide	Fiji	Won	6–1	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
4
5
6	6 June 2004	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide	Solomon Islands	Draw	2–2	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
7	16 November 2004	Craven Cottage, London	Norway	Draw	2–2	Friendly
8	3 September 2005	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Solomon Islands	Win	7–0	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
9	4 June 2006	Feijenoord Stadion, Rotterdam	Netherlands	Draw	1–1	Friendly
10	12 June 2006	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany	Japan	Won	3–1	2006 FIFA World Cup
11
12	8 July 2007	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Oman	Draw	1–1	2007 Asian Cup
13	6 February 2008	Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia	Qatar	Won	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qual.
14	15 October 2008	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia	Qatar	Won	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qual.
15	17 June 2009	MCG, Melbourne, Australia	Japan	Won	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup Qual.
16
17	12 August 2009	Thomond Park, Limerick, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	Won	3–0	Friendly
18
19	14 October 2009	Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, Australia	Oman	Won	1–0	2011 AFC Asian Cup Qual.
20	5 June 2010	Ruimsig Stadium, Roodepoort, South Africa	United States	Loss	1–3	Friendly
21	23 June 2010	Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit, South Africa	Serbia	Won	2-1	2010 FIFA World Cup

Football academy

Cahill in his Bugatti Veyron

Cahill became involved with two football academies in 2009, one based in Wollongong, Australia in partnership with Wollongong Police and Community Youth Club,^[43] and another in partnership with 'Elite Sporting Academy' in Dubai.^[44]

Cahill is heavily involved with the Unicef children's charity.^[45]

Career statistics

Honours

Individual

• Oceania Footballer of the Year: 2004
• Australian Professional Football Association Player of the Year: 2009^[46]
• PFA Team of the Year: 2004
• Second Division: 2000–01

Achievements

• Nominated for Ballon d'Or 2006
• First Australian to score at the World Cup Finals;
• First Australian to score at the Asian Cup Finals;
• Most Goals by an Australian at the World Cup Finals
• First Everton player since Dixie Dean in 1931 to score in three separate Merseyside derbies at Anfield.

See also

• Tim Cahill: The Unseen Journey

References

External links

• Tim Cahill's Official website including personal journal
• Tim Cahill profile at the Everton website
• Tim Cahill - FIFA competition record
• Tim Cahill career stats at Soccerbase
• Tim Cahill at the Internet Movie Database

Australia Squads Australia squad – 2004 Summer Olympics 1 Jones • 2 North • 3 Cansdell-Sherriff • 4 Moore • 5 McKain • 6 Madaschi • 7 Elrich • 8 Wilkshire • 9 Aloisi • 10 Cahill • 11 Brosque • 12 Tarka • 13 Valeri • 14 Holman • 15 Danze • 16 Dilevski • 17 Griffiths • 18 Galeković • Coach: Farina Australia squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Muscat • 3 Moore • 4 Neill • 5 T. Vidmar • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Cahill • 11 Chipperfield • 12 Petkovic • 13 Wilkshire • 14 Colosimo • 15 Aloisi • 16 Zdrilic • 17 McKain • 18 Kalac • 19 Čulina • 20 Miličević • 21 Elrich • 22 Thompson • 23 Sterjovski • Coach: Farina Australia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Culina • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka (c) • 10 Kewell • 11 Lazaridis • 12 Čović • 13 Grella • 14 Chipperfield • 15 Aloisi • 16 Beauchamp • 17 Thompson • 18 Kalac • 19 Kennedy • 20 Wilkshire • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Hiddink Australia squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Kisnorbo • 4 Cahill • 5 Culina • 6 Beauchamp • 7 Emerton • 8 Wilkshire • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Thompson • 12 Jones • 13 Grella • 14 Holman • 15 Aloisi • 16 Thwaite • 17 Valeri • 18 Petkovic • 19 Carle • 20 Carney • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Arnold Australia squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill (c) • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Culina • 6 Beauchamp • 7 Emerton • 8 Wilkshire • 9 Kennedy • 10 Kewell • 11 Chipperfield • 12 Federici • 13 Grella • 14 Holman • 15 Jedinak • 16 Valeri • 17 Rukavytsya • 18 Galeković • 19 Garcia • 20 Milligan • 21 Carney • 22 Vidošić • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Verbeek