This covers a lot of ground. It isn't limited to on-field achievements either. It could be as literal as scoring a match-winning goal, refereeing a quality contest, meeting a famous footballer or even being in the crowd at a breath-taking game. Personally my greatest footballing moment was meeting Pelè at St George Stadium when he visited Australia in (I think) 1992. I got to shake that legend's hand. I also remember getting my football signed by Gary Lineker at Marconi Stadium - my mum ended up cleaning that ball and wiped the signature off, not knowing what it was, a few years later!
Holland v Germany at Euro 88 is my best international football moment. I was there with my brother and my dad and the tension was unbelievable both on the pitch and on the stands from the very first to the very last minute. This wasn't just about football, it was about 14 years of bitterness about a lost world cup final and about much more. Anyone who's Dutch will understand the significance of the winning Van Basten goal for all of us - a real grown men crying moment. On the club level, FC Twente v PSV Dutch cup final 2001. The 50,000 capacity stadium was filled with 35,000 Twente fans - at 50 passengers per Twente fans carrying bus, you can imagine that the 300 kilometre drive from Twente fans to the stadium alone was a sight to behold. Twente took the much fancied PSV side to the penalty shoot-out, PSV took the lead in that shoot-out, and then the PSV keeper wanted glory and had the arrogance to take a penalty - and missed. The rest is history and I won't bore you with stories about the massive party that ensued in my hometown.
Belting a shot at a five-a-side that I thought was destined for the top corner but it glided over and smashed a woman in the face knocking both her ice creams out of her hands and her out cold. Magic.
In football manager 2005.... I won the world cup twice with USA and the premiership & champions league with Reading & Wolves. As an actual player... scored a handful of golazos for various high school, youth clubs, company/local teams, etc. that are embedded deep in my memory. Can't say I went as far as I could/should have though. As a spectator I'd say the biggest game I ever went to in the flesh would be World Cup 1994 semifinal Brazil v Sweden. Can't say it was the best game I ever saw but it was certainly the biggest.
Eh... did u actually play in the match? Go to it? Watch it on telly??? I remember that game though.. I was about 16 years old and had and English IB (high school International Bacheloria) exam the next day.. but stayed up until something like 2 am watching the game and still aced the exam! Kluivert getting the goal at the depth. That was a talented Ajax team.
As a player? Keeping a clean sheet in a 4-0 win against the Sons of Italy restaurant team in an ATL rec league years ago. As a live fan? Watching my college team defeat its crosstown rival 8-0. On TV? Watching Brasil end a miserable 24-year drought at USA'94.
I predicted that Cameroon would beat Argentina at the opening match of WC 1990. In fact, I was so sure that I did not bother to rush home for the match. During Copa America 2001, I called up my friend and told him that Honduas could upset Brazil the very next day. On the very next day, Honduras beat Brazil 2-0 in the semi-final. So my friend called me and asked me how much money I bet on Honduras to win. Well, I picked Honduras to win, but I bet on Brazil to win instead. I also threw more money than normal as well. Right before WC 2002, I looked around the group matchups and picked one group that looked the most certain for me. That group happened to be Korea, the USA, Portugal and Poland. I was so certain that Portugal and Poland were no match for the US and Korea. Some friend thought that group was the most certain too with Portugal and Poland going through. I placed a USD10 bet for Korea and the US to finish 1st and 2nd. Well, I won USD 3000 for it. For the Portugal-USA match, I was so certain that the USA would score on a header from a corner-kicker. I actually posted here in bigsoccer a few weeks before the game and even named McBride as the scorer. In fact, I told my wife to rush to the TV on the first US corner. The USA did score, but it was a McBride header and then a O'Brien rebound, but I still took credit. That was also my best WC. I predicted a strong run for the USA, Turkey, Senegal and Korea. I correctly predicted the WC winner for 1986, 1990, 1994, 2002 and 2006. I don't do well in Euros. I got the Spain-Germany Final correct last summer, but I picked Germany as the winner. I only picked the correct winner in 1996, but that was easier.
Scoring 8 goals in an indoor game. Final score was 8 x 8. We were winning 8 x 7 till the final 30 secs. Pulling off this Riquelme dribble in a game ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6PT8e3_8RM But I really want to do this ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURDDSXOFHs&feature=related
As a player the 4 goals I scored for my team Atlas (Ipanema's) in the 5-a-side final game of a tournament against Majestic (Copacabana) in Rio. We won 6 x 4 at the adversary's territory and of course I (without false modesty) owned the game. I was 13. As an off-field rooter, the day Pelé played for Flamengo side-by-side with Zico. Tickets sold out, thousands were recorded climbing like ants on their unknown fellow fanatic rooters shoulders the 3 to 4-meter high Maracanã wall. Some of them the police and stadium officials caught. They were unable though to stop the great majority (just too many). I was one of those lucky ones. Impossible to forget the sensation of jumping the walls of one of the biggest stadiums of the world in a legendary game!... As an in-field rooter at club level, the 1980 Brz championship final Flamengo 3 x 2 Atlético Mineiro in Maracanã Stadium (I was behind the goal where Nunes scored the decisive 3rd goal with 5 minutes to go (tie would give title to Atlético). Unforgettable the carnival in the 3 kilometer Rebouças tunnel were thousands of cars got stuck in a gigantic traffic jam. All of them honking and people shouting & dancing on top of their cars. As an in-field rooter at NT level, the show Romário & Bebeto performed in the 1989 Copa América semifinal Brazil 2 x 0 Argentina, when Maradona took a magnificent ball under the legs by Romário, and Bebeto scored one of the most beautiful goals in Maracanã history. As a player & a rooter at once, the historical Brazil 2 x 1 Spain game at the 1962 World Cup (I was 15). While that day me and my Atlas mates played barefoot on the asphalt our habitual 10-a-side Sunday 3-hour-long street game (1st side who scored 10 goals would win the game), the whole neighbourhood had their radios in the maximum volume and watched US from their windows. We on our turn listened and...played 'the game'. For the beholders (aunts, uncles, parents) we were the Brazilian team actually scoring the Brazilian goals which in virtue of the inexistence of TV broadcast they couldn't see. We were the link between theory and practice. While we scored 'real' goals, we commemorated with the whole city the 'virtual' ones happening in Chile ...
Playing against Uruguayan powerhouse Nacional in Montevideo several years ago (even though we were pounded 5-1.) Scoring against Real Madrid's C team in Spain's third division with my old club Rayo Majadahonda, and being able to meet Fernando Torres who showed up at one of our practices a few days later.
As a football lover I play for my college football team once in a year or so because of the lack of time. But my greatest footballing moment is related to football live match between Chelsea and Bordesx
Me too. In a high school game, took a free kick from behind the half line over near the left touch line, hit it well, and it went upper left hand corner. As a back, that was the best goal I ever scored. Or in a youth playoff game, when the ref came up to me and congratulated me on the best individual effort he had seen all year. This from a man who had given me multiple yellows over the years.
This occured like three weeks ago... we were losing 2-3, there where missing 18 minutes more or less, I was in the bencha and the only one that hadnt played, it was a semifinal, I entered as a forward (my natural position). I made a goal like 5 minutes after I entered, 3-3, five minutes later I made another goal, 4-3!! and missing 3 minutes I made another one, 5-3! hattrick for me and a pass to the final, I felt like a hero, my best footballing moment in my life... we lost the final 4-2 btw.. but that semifinal I will never forget it.
As a player: Several very good moments, but the 2 greatest were years apart: 1. As a 10 year old AM picking up the ball at the edge of our area and dribbling the length of the pitch past several defenders and faking the shot twice before finding the net. Didn't stop smiling for a week. 2. Against perhaps our toughest opponent in my time at University on the road, we lost 3 nil with me in goal, but I saved a pen, a pt blnk indirect fk and more shots than I can remember. Got carried off the field after the match despite the result. Watching: I saw T&T qualify for WC 2006 beating Bahrain - the entire hex was probably my favourite set of matches that I've watched. Live: Probably a nil-nil draw at Highbury, the last United/Arsenal match to be played there. Also saw T&T fail to make 90 world cup by 1 pt with the loss to USA - a match that changed my life as a fan. Not football: Interviewing/meeting Russel Latapy.