Four World Cup campaigns, three Asian Cups, 107 caps for his country and 50 International goals.. A very impressive CV for any player in the world, but these stats belong to arguably the best player to wear the green and gold for Australia in International football, we speak of Tim Cahill.
On Tuesday night at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Tim Cahill will farewell football fans for the final time at International level, in front of his home crowd as the Qantas Socceroos take on Lebanon in a friendly. The ‘go-to’ man that fans have relied on for over a decade looks set to start the game on the bench with one last opportunity to score for his country and celebrate with his famous trademark boxing corner flag.
Cahill earned his first Socceroo cap in Australia’s 1-0 win over South Africa in 2004 at Loftus Road in London. Without doubt his finest moment was when he came off the bench for Australia against Japan in the 2006 World Cup group game in Kaiserslautern. Australia were trailing 1-0 and time was running out. Cahill stepped onto the pitch, scored the equaliser and then netted the winner, creating history in a famous victory. The goals continued to flow throughout his career, an amazing strike timed to perfection against the Netherlands in 2014, his bicycle kick in 2015 against China and his most recent, a header against Syria in October 2017. He was the man you could always rely on to score and rescue Australia when they needed him most.
The critics will say he was a sloppy tackler, an ordinary passer of the ball, but he always worked his backside off. Cahill’s work rate, determination, toughness, commitment and professionalism offset his perceived lack of technique, but he had x-factor, something you cannot teach. Tim Cahill was surrounded by talented players, with the likes of Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, John Aloisi and Ned Zelic making it tough competition for spots, all of those mentioned previously playing at the highest level.
Consistency was another key attribute of Cahill, only 61 players have scored more than 50 goals and only 37 players have ever played at four World Cups. Cahill can be grouped with the likes of Maradona, Baggio, Klinsmann, Suarez and Platini. Cahill scored goals against 29 different countries with only 13 of his 50 in friendlies, when it mattered Cahill was always there rising to the occasion.
Lebanon will be attempting to spoil the farewell party. Selected to take on the Australian’s because of their similarities with Syria, Jordan and Palestine, all teams Australia will face in the upcoming group stage of the Asian Cup. The Socceroos had plenty of opportunities in their most recent game against South Korea. Some great keeping from Matt Ryan and a last gasp goal from Massimo Luongo helped salvage a 1-1 draw. Players will be out to impress new coach Graham Arnold as he fine tunes his squad ahead of their next campaign.
Cahill’s presence in the penalty area will be sorely missed. With arms, legs and elbows flying, Tim Cahill was always airborne, for a player under six-foot tall, his vertical leap was phenomenal and dangerous.
Every minute of game time, every cheer for adoring fans Cahill receives in his swansong is deserved. Congratulations Tim Cahill on a stellar International Football career, our greatest ever Socceroo.
Video – Tim Cahill’s greatest goals
