A moment of real inspiration is hard to come by. The factors that go into making your mind light up and burn with the energy of a new idea or realization are so enigmatic that people spend their entire lives searching for them; the driving thought being that eternal success has at its heart the ability to be constantly inspired. This chase is as present in soccer as it is in any other vocation.
I wonder what was going through the mind of ADO goal keeper Martin Hansen before his teammate swung in a free kick in the 95th minute of ADO vs PSV. Was he thinking of glory? Maybe he was just hoping dearly that the ball wouldn’t fly anywhere close to him — actually scratch that. There is absolutely no way Hansen does what you are about to witness if he is thinking, “Oh God, please just not me.”
Martin Hansen just scored the front runner for the goal of the year, and he did it in stoppage time to tie the game, as a goal keeper…with a flying back heel.
Philippe Coutinho seems to defy the laws of physics whenever he scores. That might not make sense if he was another player, but he’s not; he’s Philippe Coutinho: the man who cannot score an average goal.
Honestly, last year he made a habit of scoring from the other side of nowhere, and this year he’s just doing more of the glorious same.
A few months ago, Crystal Dunn of the Washington Spirit was left off of the USWNT, and she hasn’t let anyone forget about it since. She currently is the highest scorer in the NWSl with 12 goals in 14 games, and she showed she thoroughly deserved that being in that position with her performance against the Houston Dash this past weekend.
Haris Vuckic, for a moment, ascended Mt. Olympus and became a god when he score this goal. As in he could have scored it, walked off the field, told the first person he saw “I’m not a footballer,” and left shattered souls in his wake because people had a feeling that somewhere out there someone like him existed, and now that they met him they are caught somewhere between hating and needing him and pondering where it all went wrong for them.
Nothing screams athletic ability like the Caucasian male. In his natural habitat, he is a thing to behold, wonder at, and pontificate greatly about with one’s peers.
I’m sorry, I had to. I had to show that video in order to make you appreciate, in all seriousness, just how truly exceptional of a player Peter Beardsley was.
Guys, Raheem Sterling might be a stone cold gangster.
We always say that soccer can bring the truth out of people. If someone feels bad, or guilty, or if a crowd is really getting to them, then they tend to play bad too. It’s not exactly scientific. It can be quietly frankly wrong, but it just makes a certain kind of sense. If a player screws over a fan base and then proceeds to play poorly, or get injured, we tend to say to ourselves, “Good.” It’s as if some kind of universal balance is being maintained.
Pele is a legend, the first player to be known around the world as the greatest to ever live. His status as the greatest of all time is up for debate today, but there is no denying his accomplishments.
So, if you call yourself a soccer fan, then you better know who he is. If you aren’t a soccer fan and you find yourself reading these words, then congratulations you are about to see a snapshot of what this guy was all about: goals.
When it comes to describing Luis Suarez, Gerrard Pique said it best.
“He is a different style of player to those we had before. Xavi and Iniesta are really sweet and you enjoy watching them with the ball. With Luis Suárez it is the other side: he fights.”
A lot of you probably think beach soccer is a wannabe sport for wannabe athletes.
I’m here to tell you that you are wrong.
First of all, the sport relies on bicycle kicks and volleys for its scoring, which means that goals that might happen once every couple of weeks in “grass-ball” happen multiple times per game in beach soccer. Four words: bicycle kick hat-trick; that’s a real thing.