Only once was he thwarted and it came late in his career, at the hands of an unperturbed teenager. Back at home playing for Melbourne City in Australia’s A-League, Tim Cahill did what he tended to do, score.
Off he raced to do what always followed next, the trademark shadow boxing routine that had intimidated corner posts the world over. Only this time, on the road against the Central Coast, there was an alert ball-boy present who quickly swooped in to remove the post from its base and away from a bemused Cahill before he could strike.
Hailing from the western suburbs of Sydney, Cahill grew up in one of the golden ages of Australian boxing, with world champions Jeff ‘Hit Man’ Harding, Anthony Mundine, Kostya Tszyu and Jeff Fenech all either native to or fighting out of the city. It would have been little surprise then if that was the earth in which the seeds of his later pugilist performance was sown.
As Cahill recounts though it was a different sporting discipline from which it sprung and courtesy of the man who holds the record for the most goals scored in a single international match, as he explained to Australian outlet Optus Sport.
“The celebration originated from my dear brother Archie Thompson because he did the kung fu and the karate kick and all those kinds of things. All I did was choreograph it better!”
Thompson, who bagged 13 goals in Australia’s world-record 31-0 rout of American Samoa during the qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, expanded on just where the Cahill routine was born.
“He was injured at the time and we were playing a game against Jamaica at Craven Cottage and I scored a goal and I went over to celebrate it at the corner flag.
“I don’t know what it did to him but straight after the match he said, ‘Archie, that was cool bro, can we do that together?’
“All of a sudden he goes to the Premier League and just lights it up and starts scoring for Everton. Then he starts doing the punches and I became very distant in his memory about where it started, but I must admit I like the way he punches!”
A staple during his goal-laden eight-year spell with the Toffees, as well as at later stops in the USA, China PR and India, Cahill also made sure the punches were flying at international level.
Having scored Australia’s first-ever World Cup goal, in a 3-1 win over Japan at Germany 2006, the corner flag at Kaiserslautern’s Fritz-Walter Stadion stood stoic as Cahill bobbed and weaved in front of it, as did those in Nelspruit, Cuiaba and Porto Alegre.
Australia’s all-time record scorer and the only Socceroo to find the back of the net at three editions of the global finals, Cahill is a national icon. The last of his five World Cup goals is not only the finest of that quintet but one of the best his nation has ever conjured up.
Just a minute after Arjen Robben handed the Netherlands the lead in the nations’ second Group B encounter at Brazil 2014, Cahill struck. A lofted cross from Ryan McGowan flew a full 42 metres, with Cahill never losing sight of the adidas Brazuca before unleashing a dipping volley that rifled past Jasper Cillessen and into the far corner.
Moments later, amid a flurry of jabs and a powerful left hook, the corner flag was down for the count. Just as the fluttering strip of yellow nylon soon recovered, so too did the Dutch as they went on to win 3-2 en route to a third-place finish.
On the global stage, it was the final time that Cahill would jab, cross, hook and uppercut an unsuspecting corner post; a move that, as he noted, became synonymous with his goals.
“It’s iconic, from when it first started to being everywhere. At World Cups, Asian Cups, England, MLS, Chinese Super League, A-League and India. It just fitted naturally and everyone came to expect it and it happened quite a lot which was fantastic.”
