Unlike American football, kicking off is an advantage in soccer. At least, it’s supposed to be. You can pass to a teammate and start an attack or just lump the ball forward and run after it in the opponent’s end. Regardless, you shouldn’t give up the fastest goal ever scored when you kick off. But CS Sfaxien didn't get the memo.
Crossbar challenges are good fun, a nice way to show off soccer skills. But Jean-Philippe Gbamin is taking the idea a bit too far. The Mainz center back launched a 60-yard lob off the post on Saturday — during a Bundesliga match against Freiburg.
A magnificent Jamie Vardy goal put the Foxes in front early in Leicester City’s match against Tottenham on Tuesday. Less than 13 minutes into the match, Vardy first-timed a lobbed pass over Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris in impressive fashion.
Vardy apparently does not care about level of difficulty. He just wants to score. Vardy entered Tuesday with a five-match scoreless streak and he ended it in style.
While the rest of the world watched the playoff between Denmark and Ireland, the tail end of qualifying in Africa or one of Saturday’s more glamorous friendlies, Macedonia (the world’s 85th ranked side) defeated Norway (58) 2-0 in a friendly with goals coming from Goran Pandev and Kire Markoski.
The first, finished by Genoa forward Pandev, was made possible following a wonderful assist from Ezgjan Alioski, a 25-year-old winger who plays for Leeds United.