Photo by Brad Penner/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
Tim Cahill’s time with the New York Red Bulls has officially and unsurprisingly come to an end.
The Red Bulls announced Monday that Cahill has left the club, with the two parties mutually agreeing to terminate the Australian’s contract. Cahill had one more year on his deal, and leaves New York after two-and-a-half seasons.
“This decision was not made lightly, and it is the result of many conversations between our staff, Tim, and his agent,” said Red Bulls Sporting Director Ali Curtis. “After much deliberation, we have agreed that this decision is best for all involved. We thank Tim for his service to the organization.
“He positively impacted the growth of the beautiful game in the United States, MLS and for the Red Bulls. We are pleased that Tim will continue to be an ambassador for Red Bull moving forward.”
Cahill is reportedly nearing a move to China’s Shanghai Shenhua, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, in a deal worth a reported $3 million.
The 35-year-old attacker – who just led Australia to an Asia Cup championship – scored two goals for the Red Bulls in 23 appearances this past season, 18 of which were starts.
In total, Cahill scored 14 goals and had 10 assists in 62 regular-season appearances for New York. He also helped the club win the 2013 Supporters’ Shield, the Red Bulls’ first significant trophy.
“I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time at the Red Bulls and leave with great memories,” said Cahill in the same statement. “I joined with the ambition of helping to grow and positively affect soccer in the U.S. and I feel immensely proud of what we achieved as a team during my time in the MLS.
“Winning the Supporter’s Shield, was without doubt, one of the best moments I have experienced in my career and I am now looking forward to my next chapter, of which I will announce in due course.”
—
What do you think of Cahill’s departure? How will you remember his time with the Red Bulls? Would he have best been served to stay in New York for the 2015 season?
Share your thoughts below.
Slow left is correct and perhaps I should clarify…..they also won’t lose less than 15 games.
With all respect to Cahill, I’m totally fine with this. With MLS having signed an incredible amount of overseas talent in recent months, I’m feeling more confident that this league is becoming a proving ground where the Cahills of the world need to earn their PT, not an elephant graveyard.
SUPERMAN wears tim cahill PJamas. There is only 1 tim cahill. The mls is a poor league and a player of his quality couldnt shine because the rest of the average players in nyrb. Would of liked to see him back at everton but good luck tim. COYB
Haha, yes, average players like Henry.
says the clueless Everton supporter…
I said it before and happy to repeat it now; I promised Iwould EAT my RB shirt if Ali got Cahill to stay.. Well clearly that did not happen, so now I will simply give it away to a local bum.
Ali is a moron & is backstabber Marsh will find RB supporters calling for his head after oh about 6 games when their record is 0-1-4 Hopefully they fire Ali at that time as well?
2) The D is an absolute nightmare waiting to implode
3) Last time I checked you can’t win games with just a great Mid and a hungry goal scorer
4) Sasha is OK but hardly worth trading Uyongo for. Remember Sasha “barely” makes the US Team
5) The smart moves after Henry and now Cahill left would have been to get Steve J , keep Petke, and re negotiate with Cahill as he and BVP up front could have been great Also I would trade Sasha for Mix in a NY minute.. Just saying.. but all those ships sailed and RB will finish last this year..
I guarantee you that their record will not be 0-1-4 after 6 games!
Will you eat additional articles of clothing every time RBNY win a game with Marsch at the helm? Are you actually hoping for an utter collapse so you will be proven correct?
nice. i was not looking forward to kljestan, felipe, dax, and sam feeding cahill and bwp all year.
No transfer fee? Cahill should go around 500k.
When I read something about china being connected to red bull, I thought red bull was being bought but it’s Cahill not red bull 🙁
But in reality red bull looks like a cheap team more and more, if you knew Henry and Cahill would walk away, then why not offer a 2 year contract to Donovan and also get jozy and maybe even bocanegra. (Is bocanegra retired)
That would have been pretty sweet for red bull fans.
But now the best is to sell the team and get real dps for your fans.
So signing a bunch of retired players would have been sweet? While they’re at it, let’s see if Zidane or the original Ronaldo are interested.
Too bad DiStefano died
Don’t forget Sam in mid.we are two players away from playoff team. Maybe zizzo can fill one of those spots.Good job so far Ali C.Don’t listen to all those nasty comments.
If you think the defenders he signed constitute a good job you need to elevate your standards.
NYRB won’t win more than 15 games this year, that’s probably being generous. I’ve been there to see games, spent money on their apparel, live 400 miles away……utterly disappointed right now.
Only 6 teams in MLS won 15 games last year so I think you’re probably right.
Grateful for his 2013 season. Shame his attitude during 2014 was so negative. No transfer fee for a player with that much demand in Asia though? Oh well. Time to turn the page.
Haha, NJ is going to be awful. Last place here we come
Fortunately our new local rivals play in a baseball stadium, are owned by a human rights abuser and have contract free DPs that come and go as they please.
The Red Bulls have a lot of holes to address. But a central midfield of Felipe, Dax, and Kljestan is going to win you some games in MLS.
I will take the other side of that.
They will NOT win “some” games in MLS as they stand now. I guess if you are saying 1 or more, I will agree…double digit wins ? No way.
For every win they have this year over 9, you should be required to refrain from posting for a week.
Amen
You clearly have no idea how decent that midfield actually is… players do not have to be “exciting” to win matches…
That’s a good midfield especially if you include Lloyd Sam in there as well but with that backline they are going to have trouble. Duvall-Zubar-Baptiste/Miazga-Miller is not exactly a world beating defense and there is little depth beyond those guys. I do think they will win at least 10 games but a playoff place might be too much to ask even with Garber’s new diluted playoff format.
tim was never played correctly. But in red bulls defense he is at the tail of his career so good luck cashing checks in China. Should have gone to Australia and should retire from international play. Thanks for one solid year. im sure after a magical year I wasn’t the only one that expected more from Tim though.
Good by.don’t need him. Choose country over team for a bunch of friendlies.
” Choose country over team for a bunch of friendlies.” I am seeing this comment a lot. Funny when an American player chooses country over club it’s a good thing and when they choose club over country it’s a bad thing. But when it’s a foreign player in MLS all of a sudden the opposite is true. I suppose it’s too much to ask for consistency in values.
Apparently, you missed the “friendles” part of Big al’s message.
USMNT respects MLS and does not call up MLS players for meaningless friendlies during critical parts of the season.
Reason people are chapped at Cahill is he blew off his club at a key time to fly across the world for friendlies. That’s all. They’d be upset if his was a Yank also, guaranteed.
Cahill cares about two things, making as much money as possible and promoting himself. best of luck in China.
Unlike all the other soccer players.
They only care about making Emilio happy.
Ten million
NYRB committed more than $1million to him….
People, he went to China because nobody else wants him more than maybe $1million. He was a joke last year and showed no loyalty to NYRB, who committed well over $1million to him. Just once, I’d like to see a player say his club making the playoffs is more important than an international friendly. Good riddance. Let’s go get another good player now Ali.
I find it odd that since he has so much devotion to his national team and is at the end of his career, that he wouldn’t be playing in the a-league
He was definitely important contributor to the 2013 Supporters’ Shield winning side but it always felt like he didn’t quite fit at RBNY. They bought him at a time that they really needed/wanted an attacking mid and then basically insisted on playing him in midfield for most of his time at the club even though that’s not really his strength. We saw over the past few months with Australia that if he’s played in his proper position, he’s still a good player.
Wonder what RBNY will do with all the money they saved? Actually no I don’t because we all know they will pocket it. This team has now lost Henry, Cahill and Olave from last year’s team and haven’t done anything to replace him other than sign some low-level center backs and Kljestan.
Some positivity? Be thankful. There were plenty of good Cahill moments, not least in his last game for New York – a fairly nasty, and important, goal. Anyone giving less than 110% effort doesn’t score that. And those who didn’t thoroughly enjoy that match are lying.
He was a big part of the two best Metro years ever.
In my opinion a lot of the blame for his sub-par 2014 should be placed on MLS, which still inconceivably schedules league games on or very near international fixture dates.
Surprised he didn’t go to the a league as a markee player.
Australian fans absolutely adore him (I saw a video clip from Sunday singing some song about “we wish we had a tea of Tim Cahills”), so I think it’s kind of nasty of him to go to US first and now to China instead of coming to Australia finally to help grow the game there. I can only imagine how I would feel if Dempsey went from Tottenham to Australia first and then to China.
Yeah, I know what you mean. But its hard to stay grumpy about it if he just won you the Asian Cup.
I though he really wanted to go home.
Last chance to make some $$. I’m sure he’ll play a season in Australia right before he retires.
Last season I could not wait for Cahill to leave, in light of his decision to prioritize his national team over the club. With the change in command at RBNY, though, as well as his fine form at the Asian Cup, I was hopeful that he could find his way back into the fold and be given a role commensurate with his talent and experience. Alas, we’ll never see that, but his decision to go to a Chinese club will only contribute to my suspicion that his main post-EPL goal was to prolong his club career to keep his national team hopes alive.
they couldn’t have negotiated SOME sort of a transfer with a club offering him $3mil?
.. a dolla & some envelopes? nothin??
Given the circumstances, what would he fetch, 500K-750K? of that the league would keep most, so for RB to be able to shed is large salary, a small transfer fee wasnt worth it.
Agreed. I’m surprised that after his performance at the Asian Cup he wouldn’t have garnered some interest including a transfer fee.
To me, Cahill wasn’t a failure or a success. But I do think he was played differently in NY than he was for Everton and that affected his ability to make his stamp in MLS. He and Henry clashed in responsibilities, and there was only going to be one winner there…
I both agree and disagree with your view. I agree with the point that he was nor a success nor a failure, but I lean toward the success part.
He added a presence to the league and although he didn’t play his favorite position, perhaps with the advancement of age, the way NYRB utilized him was fair. I don’t really agree with the point that Henry and Cahill could not coexist. They both found their place at Red Bull. For Cahill it was not necessarily on the scoresheet.