Probably the greatest goal I have ever seen was Italia '90 between Netherlands and West Germany. Hans van Breukelen made a spectacular save off a header, jumping backwards and doing a quarter twist to pluck the ball away from a certain goal. He kicked the ball back into play, and the Germans got the ball, took it upfield, where the winger (can't remember who) did two lovely step over moves, poked the ball to the byline, and slid in on the ball, making the cross inches before the ball was out of bounds. The cross stayed low to the ground where the German striker touched the ball at the near post with his knee, sending the ball just inside the far post, right past a helpless van Breukelen.
What about Henry's goal against Man Utd. I thought it was great, but it came in second after Stanic's goal that season.
Michael Owen scored an amusing one recently... home vs. West Ham, Smicer sent him through with a fine pass, he rounds the goalkeeper but slips on the wet grass as he shoots. The ball is rolling, ever so slowly, toward goal; a defender slides by it, unable to stop on the wet turf, as it trickles across the line just before a couple bodies slide in (and knock it in further.)
Oh, and back to great goals, Paolo DiCanio's flying volley which was goal of the year in 2000... A cross comes in from the right, DiCanio jumps up, swinging his left foot for balance before his right foot smashes the ball out of mid-air and straight into the corner...
I agree with this if its the free kick that I am thinking of. He was about 22 yard out close to the right post of the goal. Somehow, he bent the ball with the outside of his left foot to curve out of the reach of the wall (which had two players..maybe 1 and a half past the post) to score just inside the post. It wasn't just the goal that was so brilliant, it was how he could put so much bend on a ball in such short space. Even after I saw it, I can't figure out how it was possible.
What about Archie Gemmill in the 78 Cup? Amazing goal, people in Britain consider that one right along side Maradona's and Owen's
Keith Houchen off a pass from David Bennett for Coventry City in the 1987 FA Cup Final against Spurs.
World Cup '02: I forget who the player's name was but he took a knee high cross from inside the top of the box and blasted a volley past a very good world class keeper... ...wait, that was Agoos scoring on Friedel
If you watch the replay from behind the goal, you can see the ball-boy actually start to move to his left as he goes to collect the ball - only to remain rooted to the spot in amazement (much as Fabien Barthez was) as the ball bends back round in the other direction and flies inside the post. Phenomenal strike. P.S. That occurred in 'Le Tournoi' in 1997, a preparation tournament for the 1998 WC - won by England
here's a great one i've just found from not long ago http://spysports.net and go to Roger Garcia from his own half (about 1/4 of the way down) amazing
a new contender... How about Maccabi Haifa's goal from Raimondas Zutautas against ManU in Champs League Matchday 5? Best left-footed shot during the run of play I have ever seen. A lot of times people say "no goalkeeper in the world would have stopped it." In this case, I think that is probably true. An absolute missile into the darkest reaches of the upper 90. Nasty. http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/UCL/FixturesResults/Round=1636/match=1036505/index.html (look under video on right side of page)
When Robbie Fowler was still playing for Liverpool, they were playing Brann Bergen in Norway in a UEFA Cup match. Running full speed down the left side, in stride Fowler took a long pass out of the air by flicking it up with the outside of his right foot, the picked it off out of thin air and nailed it from 25-30 yards out in the upper-right corner of the goal. Stunning.
That was a great goal... the best goal has to go to Giggs.. against Arse in the FA Cup in 99... The best goal I have ever seen live was scored by Terry St. Louis.. no u dont know him... It was Trinidad vs. Martinique in a friendly around 97 I think... Terry came on as a sub in the second half and picked a blade of grass from the sideline to make the sign of the cross with as he stepped onto the field.. before the grass hit the... the grass! he got a pass on the left of the center circle... spotting a player streaking down the left wing he raises his arm as some players do before shooting or making long passes and fakes the pass... scooping it over the head of a defender who was about to challenge for the ball.. collecting with his right foot and moving forward still to the left and just in front of the center circle he performed what is called a "spanner" in Trinidad and is what you guys call the elastico, flip-flap or double contact and in Trinidad its not that big of a deal becasuse we love to dribble and well, its just not as uncommon as it is in Europe... so, he performed the spanner rounding another defender and then took 2 more strides and unleashed a shot that was rising when it crashed into the top right hand corner, the goalie dove, had no chance... it was from probably 38m or so and absolutely fantastic... Terry was not actually a mainstay of the team though... he played the same position as Russell Latapy who is God with a football...
My vote would be for Hagi Vs. Columbia in the 1994 WC but if i wasn't romanian i would pick Maradona vs England '86.
It was the game Eintracht Frankfurt - Karlsruher SC and it was really a fantastic goal. But my favorite is Maradonas goal against England 86 because it was on high level (World Cup/Quarterfinal???), a fantastic goal and by the best player on this tournament.
I agree 100% Marco Van Bastens overhead kick off a cross against Den Bosch which went top corner, couldn't ask for a more neatly taken and acrobatic goal
okocha plaied for frankfurt and against karlsruhe... Oliver Kahn was still there at the time, and both teams still were pretty good... think it was about 94... the reporter plaied it like 15 times and saied it was teh best goal of the millenium... [link=http://eintrachtfans.de/sounds.php]link[/link] just klick on one of the two links were it saies "Jay Jay Zaubertor gegen den KSC"
1990 World Cup, Spain v South Korea. Spanish guy scores a hat-trick (I'm blanking on his name at the moment) and Spain wins 3 - 1. But with the score 1 - 0 South Korea gets a free kick 30 yards out. Hyongbo Kim hits it harder than I've ever seen a kick before. For those of you who might have read Hot Shot Hamish as a kid, this was a hot-shot... Val