What's better than long range goals? Long range goals by 18-year-olds, that's what. And boy did Benfica youngster, Renato Sanches score a beauty this past weekend. The lad from Lisbon's first goal was a memorable one, when he unloaded from 35 yards out, to secure Benfica's 3-0 victory over Academica De Coimbra.
It's hard to pick the greatest goal of Cristiano Ronaldo's career. I mean, the guy has scored over 500 goals over his 13 year career, so picking just one of them as the best is a tall task. But this long range rip against Porto back in 2009 has to be right atop the list. The younger CR7 has the onions to even attempt this shot, let alone pull it off. It almost makes you sad, because now as the quantity of his goals goes up, it feels like the quality has gone down. Yeah, i know the game is about putting the ball in the back of the net, but I can still be bummed about it.
The goal of the week from the Premier League this weekend came from an unlikely suspect. Bournemouth defender Adam Smith scored an absolute beaut of a goal to spur his clubs comeback 3-3 tie with Everton. The 24-year-old from England only has 5 career goals in 100+ appearances, but the substitute gave Bournemouth fans a lasting memory for a squad who is in a tight relegation battle. Smith's curler was so filthy, not even Tim Howard had a shot at saving it, and even Tim knows that. This goal just bleeds beauty, it has everything.
He's not Messi, but this Lucas Melano Messi-like goal would make La Pulga proud. The fellow Argentine went beast mode en route to a ridiculous goal that sealed the Timbers spot in the MLS final. Melano received a pass cutting into the box and proceeded to fake out not only FC Dallas defender Matt Hedges, but also goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez. The fake passes we're executed perfectly which gave Melano just enough room to flick home the golazo. We're starting to think that Melano should be getting more minutes, because he obviously has the potential to play like his countryman Lionel Messi.
An old soccer adage tells us that all goals count the same. A howitzer from 40-yards, a rabona from the corner or an own goal off the defender’s ass, each will be rewarded with a solitary point. Soccer doesn’t discriminate. Unless you’re on the training ground. In that case, training ground goals don’t really count for anything.
The eyes were on Lionel Messi ahead of Barcelona's Champions League match vs Roma. And of course, La Pulga delivered. Scoring the second of Barcelona's 3 first half goals with a classic chip over the goalkeeper. But the person who continued his perfect form? Lucho Suarez. The Uruguayan not only assisted Messi's goal, but he also gave fans a volley for the ages, when he wound up from just inside the box, and curled a left to right rip past the goalkeeper.
He's baaaaaaaack. In his first start since injurying his knee back on September 26th, Lionel Messi found the back of the net with a classic chip over the goalkeeper. The Messi goal vs Roma came after 29 straight touches from Barcelona, with the final 6 coming in no surprising fashion: Neymar-Messi-Neymar-Messi-Suarez-Messi-GOAL. Neymar and Suarez were already in perfect form while Messi was gone, combining for 21 goals and 10 assists.
If you watched the Liverpool-Manchester City match on Saturday, the one thing you were probably thinking was, "what is going on?" A Kompnay-less Manchester City defense was shredded by Jurgen Klopp's bunch en rout to a 4-1 victory in the Etihad. All of Liverpool's goals vs Manchester City were beauties aside from the own-goal by Mangala. The Brazilian's for Liverpool were who stole the show though. Philipe Coutinho and Roberto Firminho each registered a goal and an assist to one another.
James Rodriguez led his Colombia squad through an epic keepy-uppy bin challenge ahead of their World Cup qualifying clash against Argentina on Tuesday. If you haven't seen one of these challenge videos before, it's a pretty simple concept.
A group of players move the ball in an orderly fashion, never letting it touch the ground, using only their heads. After everyone in the rotation has headed the ball, the final player must head the ball into an empty waste bin.
Jesus “Tecatito” Corona and Jurgen Damm have been on our radar for quite some time. They are 22 and 23 respectively, and are the future of the Mexican national team; it’s hard to not get excited about them, especially Corona. Against Honduras in a World Cup Qualifier, the young Mexican stars justified our excitement.