The stat that shows how hard Cahill's volley was to execute

On June 18 in 2014, Tim Cahill blew highlight reels out of the water with his spectacular volley goal against the Netherlands in Australia’s second game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign.

He’d already placed his name on the scoring register for a third consecutive FIFA World Cup after scoring Australia’s lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Chile in their opening fixture, but it was this iconic strike against the Oranje that would headline the Australian campaign.

Tim Cahill’s strike on the end of a long ball from Ryan McGowan had an Expected Goals value of just 0.05 – meaning that the average player would have been expected to score this goal just five times in every 100 that it occurred.

It was the seventh least likely open play goal to be scored from inside the box throughout the entire 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign and the second-least likely of any such goal strike by the left boot.

Get-On-Side-Aus-Bid-Countdown

Goals - Lowest xG (Open Play Inside Box)

Date

Minute

Player

Team

Opposition

How

xG

15/06/2014

66

Gervinho

Côte d'Ivoire

Japan

Head

0.04

26/06/2014

6

Kokorin

Russia

Algeria

Head

0.04

25/06/2014

4

Musa

Nigeria

Argentina

Right

0.05

25/06/2014

83

Vrsajevic

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Iran

Right

0.05

05/07/2014

8

Higuaín

Argentina

Belgium

Right

0.05

08/07/2014

24

Kroos

Germany

Brazil

Left

0.05

18/06/2014

21

Cahill

Australia

Netherlands

Left

0.05

19/06/2014

85

Suárez

Uruguay

England

Right

0.06

01/07/2014

118

Di María

Argentina

Switzerland

Left

0.06

23/06/2014

34

Neymar

Brazil

Cameroon

Right

0.06

 

The 2014 edition of the tournament was statistically the best of Tim Cahill’s decorated career in the Socceroos’ jersey. It saw him take his career goal tally at World Cups to five, finding the back of the net twice in just two appearances.

Tim Cahill at World Cups

Season

Games

Goals

Total Shots

Passes

Passing Accuracy

Shooting Accuracy

Shot Conversion

2006

4

2

8

116

76%

50%

25%

2010

2

1

7

39

82%

33%

14%

2014

2

2

7

37

86%

43%

29%

2018

1

0

2

8

50%

0%

0%

 

Furthermore, he finished the competition with an 86% passing accuracy, a 43% shooting accuracy, and a 29% shot conversion rate – all the highest he has ever managed in any one of his four FIFA World Cup campaigns.

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