Short Memories Um, anyone remember Edmilson's sideways, twisting overhead volley recently??? (Brazil v Costa Rica)
Of all of the spectacular goals referenced on this thread, the most significant and least appreciated has to be the Maradona goal against Belgium in the '86 WC semifinal. He beat a triple-team 35 meters out, beat a fourth defender, then with the outside of his left foot, as he was falling left, he bent a brilliant shot concave to the goalkeeper inside the far right post. In under 10 seconds he demoralized one of the best teams in the world, sealing their defeat. That goal clinched Argentina's ultimately winning trip to the finals that year. The game was effectively over after that goal. At that stage of a WC, under that kind of pressure, that brilliant a goal is one of the pieces of magic that set Maradona apart from everyone else.
My own memory of Basile Boli is of he and a french team mate going after Stuart Pearce, can't remember who else it was but he grabbed Pearce from behind and Boli headbutted him, it was a peach. However, Boli obviously underated Pearce cos as Pearce was recovering Boli could be seen struggling to recover himself. The moral of the story is, you dirty French should never mess with Psycho. You need to see it yourself to appreciate it. Anyway, there are too many goals to choose from. Weahs goal for AC Milan when he ran from his own box, Van Bastens overhead for Ajax v Groningen and his goal in 88.
1980, NK u16 v W. Warwick u16. I took a free kick from about 30 yards out, bent it around the wall and went far post, upper 90. Sweetest goal ever!! I was actually trying to put it about 6 yards out for two guys who were making far post runs.....But I tell everyone that I had a feeling the keeper was out of position and could be had far post! My NK team won 2-0!
We Americans have always known Englishmen can't speak the language named for their country. Triple team means three defenders were guarding him. Concave means, the following parenthesis is concave to this line: ) It allowed me to say in one word what would have taken you three.
Oh yeah that was a wonder strike. Nothing sloppy or fortunate about it at all. It's hard to be sarcastic in writing, isn't it? Oh yeah, and Roker (joker if you must) has been a housing estate for 5 years now.
Re: Re: Best ever goal? Good for you. Is it just that you can't come up with a witty name for the Stadium of Light? At least you haven't gone down the typical Mag route of the Stadium of Sh**e, so credit for that. Maybe you aren't as bad as I thought.
Damn, I guess I don't want to piss a baggie off. I didn't know anyone knew of the person I was talking about.
-Pelé's first goal in the final of 58' in which he received the ball in the air back to goal on his thight, kicked it over his and the opponenets shoulder, and then beat another opponent to the ball and smashed home the volley -Maradona, the feet of god 1986. Nothing really to say about this one.....everyone has heard the story a bazillion times. -Dennis Bergkamp 1998 against Argentina. I had lost hope rooting for Holland. It seemed destined for pk's which Holland never wins. Frank De Boer put in a 50-yard pass into the box which Bergkamp controlled and then scored brilliantly. That goal made him the top-scorer in dutch history. -Pelé's famous header in the 1970 World Cup.
The best goal I ever saw live was this summer. De Rosario of San Jose with a flying side volley about five feet off the ground from maybe 12-15 yards away that went upper 90 in a blink against the MN Thunder. Unreal. Second best was the EPL goal of the year two years ago. Chelsea had a slavic midfielder who juggled the ball three times on his knee on the run and then cracked a vicious shot from 30 yards out.
I agree! You had to see it to believe. Guess what, I was at the game, and I still couldn't believe my eyes. At the time, he was playing for the SJ Earthquakes of the NASL... Although, I still like Pele's flick over the Swedish defender in the 1958 (?) WC. Compared to other players at that time, it just seemed such an incredibly creative goal.
That would be Mario Stanic against West Ham on his debut. That wasn't goal of the year by the way (not on any poll I saw). I think it came 3rd actually. One interesting point though is that a great (ie good enough to come into contention for goal of the season) goal always seems to be scored on opening weekend, as this one was.
Maradona Maradonas 1986 goal agianst england is by far one of the most if not the most beautiful gaol ever. nuff said
Speaking of great goals from the NASL days, does anyone remember the "tricycle kick" that Robert Cabanas scored in '83? It was the 1983 NASL goal of the year. A picture of the acrobatic feat can be found here: http://home.att.net/~naslpics/actionpics/cabanas_83GOTY.jpg In his article for The New York Times (July 17, 1983), Alex Yannis described it this way: The goal by Cabanas, the team's second of the game, was so spectacular that it was the talk of the locker room afterward. It came 47 minutes 29 seconds into the game and had everyone raving about the way Cabanas put the ball in the net after a pass by Angelo DiBernardo. Julio Mazzei, the coach of the Cosmos, said: ''I never saw a goal like that - and I have seen a lot of goals in my life. I have spent 20 years in soccer and I never saw a goal like that. It was the type of goal that every spectator should go to the ticket window and buy two more tickets for the game and season tickets for next year. That's how much the goal was worth.'' The play started with a cross from the left side by Romero. The pass reached DiBernardo slightly to the right side about 8 yards from the goal, and DiBernardo headed it toward Cabanas in the middle. With his back to the goal, Cabanas leaped, his body parallel to the ground, and flicked the ball, with the heel of his right foot, barely under the crossbar for his 14th of the season. ''I don't believe that goal,'' Cabanas exclaimed in front of his locker after the game. ''Angelo told me in Spanish to wait for the ball. I didn't see it go in, but I heard the people scream and I knew. Then I saw it on the replay on the scoreboard. I have had goals by scissor kicks in Paraguay, but nothing like this.''
everyone knows it's roberto carlos vs france. or that bergkamp with that touch on to himself around that man. unreal baller. there are tons so you cant just say one.