- For other people named Tim Cahill, see Tim Cahill (disambiguation).
Timothy Cahill (born December 6, 1979 in Sydney) is a midfield player and is widely regarded as one of the brightest rising stars in Australian football (soccer). Born to a Samoan mother and English father, he was encouraged to play Soccer, instead of more popular sports like rugby league or Aussie Rules. In 1997, he begged his parents to take him to England to play professionally. In the 2003-2004 season, Tim Cahill was the workhorse in Millwall's heroic campaign which led Millwall to the FA Cup final for the first time in their history and a UEFA Cup place. Cahill made 250 appearances for The Lions, scoring 57 goals. Before the start of the 2004-2005 season, Cahill signed for Everton, (after a move to Millwall's south London rivals Crystal Palace fell through, when Palace Chairman Simon Jordan refused to pay his agent's fee), for whom he has become a top player and earned respect throughout the Premiership.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Timothy j Cahill | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Everton | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 12 2006 | |||
The midfielder only made his debut for the Australian national team, in 2004, as a result of his having played for Samoa at Under-20 level at the age of 14. His debut was against South Africa in June of that year. He participated at the 2004 Olympic Games. Tim was named Oceania Footballer of the Year for 2004, joining Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Brett Emerton, Christian Karembeu and Mark Bosnich among some of the past winners of the award, which has existed since 1988. On 16 November 2005 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, Cahill played a full-game as the Socceroos defeated Uruguay and qualified for the 2006 World Cup in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. He scored Australia's first ever goal in the World Cup Finals with a goal against Japan on June 12, 2006, before adding a second in a 3-1 win.
Cahill's transition into the Premiership was seamless. In his first season Cahill scored 13 goals from midfield, an excellent return from a player who had been totally untested in the Premership, let alone at Everton, before. What is more remarkable is that all of his goals game from midfield. He finished the 2004/5 campaign as fan's favourite and top scorer, capping off a wonderful season by being named the official player and players' player of the season at Everton for the 2004/2005. He was renowed for his late surging runs, ghosting headers, and willingless to run and work for the team. He also scored a superb volley against nearest rivals Liverpool, in a match Everton unfortunately lost 2-1. In August 2005 Cahill's contract at Everton was extended on improved terms reflecting the impact he had made at the club.
On the 18th of January 2006, Cahill had the good grace not to celebrate his winning goal for Everton against Millwall in the 3rd round replay of the FA Cup, stating, "They gave me my big break, it would have been like kicking them in the teeth."
Career stats
| Club | Season | FA Premier League & Football League Championship & Football League One |
FA Cup | League Cup | European Competition | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Everton F.C. | 05-06 | 31 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 38 | 8 |
| 04-05 | 33 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 12 | |
| Total | 64 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 76 | 20 | |
| Millwall F.C. | 03-04 | 40 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 12 |
| 02-03 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | |
| 01-02 | 43 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 13 | |
| 00-01 | 41 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 10 | |
| 99-00 | 45 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 12 | |
| 98-99 | 37 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 6 | |
| 97-98 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 218 | 52 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 239 | 56 | |
| Career Totals | 282 | 69 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 315 | 76 | |
Cahill scored two in his first world cup match. And also, these two goals were the first two in socceroos FIFA_World_Cup history.
Trivia
Tim has recently become the new face of Sanitarium's Weetbix. The new advertisement shows Cahill scoring a goal, with fellow Socceroos player Lucas Neill asking "How many do you do?", referring to the amount of weetbix he has every morning. The advertisement was filmed while the Australian national team were in the Netherlands.