For all the attacking talent on display in the Manchester Derby, defensive blunders decided the outcome between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday. And when the snow settled, City defeated United 2-1 to set the English Premier League record for consecutive wins at 14.
We here at The18 do not like goal GIFs. OK, maybe we like some of them. But mostly, we don’t like them. We, like you, have been burned too many times on Twitter, expecting to see a great replay of a goal only to get a stupid GIF merely telling us what we already knew, that soandso scored for suchandsuch team.
It was one of those matches where you wondered if the manager would get away with resting some of his big stars on the bench. It was one of those matches where you always felt the team in the lead would regret not adding a second or third. It was one of those matches where you weren’t shocked at all to see the road underdog score an equalizer to steal a point.
Let’s get straight to it. You’ve seen a goal like this before; it’s definitely Marco van Basten-esque. Seasoned Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe utilized nearly 20 years of professional experience to produce the work of a master goalscorer on Saturday, hitting this instinctive but technically perfect half-volley against Crystal Palace in Premier League play.
Evolution does not stand still, unlike these Almeria defenders. Evolution moves inexorably forward, like Granada’s Darwin Machís. In a Spanish Segunda División match on Friday, Machís showed the next step forward in evolution with a thrilling solo goal.
Machís fooled one defender, took a ride on the HMS Beagle for about 20 yards and curled in a beautiful finish to double Granada’s lead early in the second half against Almeria, the goal nestling into the back of the net by the width of a finch beak.