Celebrating 50 caps for England: Gary Cahill’s top three moments
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Gary Cahill has been a key figure for the England senior team since he made his first appearance for the Three Lions back in 2010. And last time out against Slovakia, the Chelsea defender reached a level of appearances that most players can only dream of. He’s now represented his country on 50 occasions, joining a list of just 57 other men.
And as the official betting partner of the FA, we thought we’d revisit three of the greatest moments in an England shirt for Gary Cahill.
And our journey begins in 2010, where the defender made his first appearance for the Three Lions.
England 4-0 Bulgaria (September 3, 2010)
Cahill’s first involvement with the senior team actually came in 2009, although it was a year until the then-Bolton Wanderers man made his debut.
It was 1-0 to the home side when Cahill was called upon for the first time by Fabio Capello. He replaced Michael Dawson in the 57th minute of the game, and put in a solid performance as England went on to win 4-0.
Not a bad way to start your international career…
Bulgaria 0-3 England (September 2, 2011)
Almost a year to the day since he made his debut for the England senior team, Cahill found himself starting a match for his country for the first time, against the same opponents where it all began.
At club level, the defender was continuing to impress and attract the interest of some of the Premier League’s best teams.
And although this was a significant campaign for Cahill in that Chelsea made a bid for him in the January transfer window, perhaps a more memorable moment for him was this fixture, as he scored his first ever goal for England.
And he took it like all good strikers, too.
Gareth Barry chipped the ball into the box towards the direction of Cahill, who’d broken free of his marker and chested the ball down to perfection, before slotting it into the bottom corner of the net.
In scoring that goal, he also became the first Bolton player to find the net for England in 52 years, while no Trotters player has managed to do that since.
Germany 2-3 England (March 26, 2016)
As a nation, we’ve had some real clashes with Die Mannschaft over the years. But when it comes to bragging rights, it doesn’t get much better than the victory over one of our most fierce rivals back in the spring.
We were on the verge of making it three consecutive defeats against the Germans, and it looked like being the case after 57 minutes, when Mario Gomez netted his first and Germany’s second with England yet to threaten.
But Cahill and co got their act together in the remaining 30 minutes, going on to win the game 3-2.
It’s safe to say we haven’t had all that much to cheer about in the last few years as England fans, but this win was right up there with one of the best since Cahill has been a part of the set-up.
Up next for the Three Lions is another huge fixture against one of their oldest enemies, Scotland, at Wembley. The home side are 4/11 to take all three points and maintain their unbeaten start to the World Cup 2018 Qualifying campaign, while 25/1 says Cahill opens the scoring.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
