Cahill has the extraordinary honor of being the first Australian ever to score in a World Cup and had at least one goal in three different editions of the tournament: Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014. Furthermore, he is the top-scorer for Australia in World Cup history with five total goals.

Prior to Tim Cahill’s arrival, Australia had just played one World Cup in 1974. With him, the Socceroos played in four consecutive editions: 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. That’s why for thousands of fans around the world, the striker will be one of the biggestnames missing in Qatar.

Why is Tim Cahill missing the Qatar 2022 World Cup?

In the final stretch of the AFC Qualifiers for Russia 2018, Tim Cahill was crucial for Australia. First, on October 2017 during the fourth round, Cahill scored the winning goal in overtime during the second leg of that home-away series at Sydney to eliminate Syria and clinch a berth in the inter-confederation playoffs for the World Cup.

Then, one month later, Tim Cahill was part of the team which beat Honduras on another home-away series to get the ticket for Russia. The first leg ended 0-0 in San Pedro Sula and Australia won 3-1 the second leg at Sydney. Cahill was a starter on thatgame and then was called to the 2018 World Cup in which Australia was eliminated in Group C against France, Denmark and Peru.

A few weeks after that World Cup, Tim Cahiill announced his international retirement and that’s why he won’t play for Australia in Qatar 2022. In Qatar 2022, the Socceroos will play withFrance, Denmark and Tunisia. Use our World Cup Predictor to find out all the possible combinations in Group D.