Tim Cahill

Lore & Background

Cahill was born in Sydney, Australia, the third of four children. His father is of English and Irish descent, his mother primarily of Samoan ancestry. He left Sydney for England in 1997 and was signed by Millwall on a free transfer from Sydney United. He was part of the Millwall side that won the Football League Second Division title in 2000–01 and was central to Millwall's run to the 2004 FA Cup Final. Before the 2004–05 season, he was transferred to Premier League club Everton. He was named both Everton Player of the Season and Everton Players' Player of the Season in his debut season. In the following year he was named as one of 50 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, becoming the first Everton player in 11 years to be nominated. He was part of the Everton side that reached the 2008–09 FA Cup final. After leaving Everton in 2012, he played for New York Red Bulls, Shanghai Shenhua, Hangzhou Greentown, Melbourne City, Millwall again, and ended his career with Jamshedpur in the Indian Super League.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Goodison hummed. It was a February evening, the kind where the air sits heavy and the crowd noise rolls in waves. Cahill collected the ball just inside the halfway line, shoulders squared, eyes scanning. He saw the gap — a sliver of space between the central defenders. Without looking up, he wound his right leg back, the boot connecting with the ball in that sweet, low arc just above the laces. The sound was a crack, like a whip breaking. The ball sailed, dipping, curving, and the goalkeeper's hands stretched and stretched and were not enough. The net rippled. The stadium detonated. Cahill pointed both arms skyward, chest heaving, and the blue and white tide around him roared as if the ground itself had exhaled a decade of belief in a single, thunderous breath.

Reader's Guide

Cahill is known for his adept heading ability and high vertical leap, having scored many of his goals with his head. He is famous for his regular goal celebration of shadow boxing around the corner flag. He was the first Australian to score at a FIFA World Cup, scored in three World Cups (2006, 2010, and 2014), and has scored the most goals by any Australian in the men's World Cup with five goals. In 2007, he became the first Australian player to score at an AFC Asian Cup.

Did You Know?

• Cahill scored the winning goal in the 2004 FA Cup semi-final for Millwall against Sunderland.
• He polled over 100,000 votes to win the FA Cup 'Player of the Round' award for his performance in that semi-final.
• Cahill's mother, Sisifo, took on two jobs to support the family after his father suffered a hip injury.