Soccer has always been known for its extravagant and choreographed celebrations. However, in a country where professional sport celebrations are slowly becoming extinct because of the numerous fines and penalties (thanks "other football" leagues) it is nice to see that World Cup players have not disappointed. Even though the most popular soccer celebration (the immediate stripping of the jersey by a player) has been cracked down upon through yellow cards, there still seems to be room for creativity.
The Wall Street Journal recently made an infographic tallying the amount of times a certain celebration was done. It seems that the “arms-out run” was the most popular celebration with a tally of 38 out of the 171 goals during the World Cup. Lionel Messi comes to mind as the poster-boy for this celebration since you can immediately picture him sprinting to the corner flag, grinning from ear-to-ear, and with his arms out completely parallel to the ground. It is one of the classiest and most heart-warming celebrations. While, we at the18 love class, we also love the creativity and emotion of different celebrations. So we decided to count down the top 5 goal celebrations of this year’s World Cup.
5. Miroslav Klose’s Flip Celebration
Even though Klose didn’t fully land the flip, he is the only one brave enough to pull it off after scoring a goal. So we have to give credit where it's due, especially considering this is the man who has now scored the most goals in World Cup history
4. John Brook’s Pure Shock Celebration
This may not be the most creative or funniest celebration, but just to see the immediate shock and gratification John Brooks shows is amazing. After scoring the game-winning goal to lead USA to their first win of the World Cup, Brooks slowly got down to his knees and literally soaked it all in.
3. Daniel Sturridge’s Swag Celebration
We have to always respect the creativity of dances and we may have two dancing celebrations on this list, but this one is number three because of the seriousness on Sturridge’s face. He put his all into this dance and he must have known immediately this was coming out when he had the chance.
2. Joel Campbell’s Ball as Prop Celebration
Costa Rica’s Campbell pretending to be pregnant celebration was one of the weirdest, but most creative celebrations of the World Cup. Immediately after he tied the game up against Uruguay he grabbed the ball and put it in his shirt and… well he simply just pretended to be pregnant. We are not sure what the "message" of this particular celebration was, but we loved it anyway.
1. Colombia Team Choreographed Dance Celebration
Nothing beats a full team celebration especially when the substitutes are involved. Watching James Rodriguez run straight to the bench and lead the whole team in a beautiful salsa dance was great to watch. Especially considering James Rodriguez may have been the top performer with his feet (and his hips) of the World Cup.
Honorable Mention: Mexico manager, Miguel Herrera’s Celebrations
Even though he is a manager and did not physically score a goal in the World Cup, the honorable mention goes to him for being the most emotional coach of the World Cup. Nothing was better than watching “El Piojo” trying to keep it cool for a second, before finally absolutely losing his mind. No one celebrates as hard as Miguel Herrera!
Maybe just one more for fun.
You can find The18 writer Andrew Young at @Atyoung0608 on Twitter.
