Player Profile

How better than to secure your place in your country’s footballing folklore than by scoring their first-ever goals at a World Cup finals? It’s an honour Cahill enjoys for Australia after his double strike against Japan in Germany in 2006.

Fans of the English Premier League were long aware of his goalscoring prowess as he has been one of the most prolific midfielders over the last six seasons. Since signing for Everton in 2004, he has scored an impressive 56 goals in 209 appearances and recently signed a contract extension to 2014.

Despite being just 5ft 10in tall, he is remarkably proficient in the air and boasts a prodigious leap - the first seven goals he scored this season all came via his head.

Prior to Goodison Park, his first port of call in England was at Millwall who he moved to from Sydney United in 1997 and helped reach the 2004 FA Cup final. His international career for Australia was held up in red tape caused by an appearance he made for Western Samoa’s Under-20 team as a 14-year-old.

Because he played in a Fifa under-age tournament he was then ineligible to represent the land of his birth. Australian officials used his case to lobby Fifa to change their rules and eventually in 2004 they relented, allowing him to finally make his debut.

Following his exploits for the national side and for Everton in 2006, he was one of the 50 nominees for the Ballon D’Or. His famous corner flag punching goal celebration was spawned from a similar routine performed by Archie Thompson, his good friend and former Socceroo.

As a youth he was a reluctant footballer and his mum had to physically drag him on to the pitch to play. A big family man, the intricate tattoo on his left arm is of his Samoan family heritage and he had it done after the death of his grandmother.