There’s nothing quite like watching an amazing goal as a kid.
Whereas adults are inclined to praise the sensational skill and unbelievable audacity of what they’ve just seen, kids have that priceless innocence of youth that tells them: You can do that.
We’ve all been there. After watching a sensational finish or wonderful piece of skill, your first instinct was always to grab a ball and give it a go yourself. Here’s some of the classic goals we all tried (and failed) to nail in the yard…
Gheorghe Hagi – Romania (vs. Colombia), 1994
One goal that didn’t require a ‘But did he mean it?’ debate. This was pure genius from Hagi at the very highest level of the game – a World Cup no less. When attempting this, it was mandatory to add your own shout of ‘HAGIIII!’, before letting fly – high and wide over the school gates…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMS_nevdon8
Paolo Di Canio – West Ham (vs. Wimbledon), 2000
This is one of those goals that seems like it was scored in slow-motion – unfortunately jumping a yard up in the air and scissor-kicking a volley sweetly into the net happens very quickly in real life. More often than not you wouldn’t even make contact – and end up doing your hammy…
Karel Poborsky – Czech Republic (vs. Portugal), 1996
Ah Karel Poborsky. For many of us, this was the goal that first introduced us to the bohemian winger. It was a wonderfully cheeky effort from an otherwise unassuming player. Doing this was similar to attempting a ‘panenka’ penalty, i.e. a tepid effort into the keeper’s grateful hands…
David Platt – England (vs. Belgium), 1990
The David Platt is more for the slightly older amongst us. It was such a vital goal in such an important goal that it’s a wonder young Platty had the composure to pull it off. This exact scenario hardly ever happened in a real kickabout, so you had to stage it with a (very) patient mate…
Gianfranco Zola – Chelsea (vs. Norwich City), 2002
Although this is a class goal for all sorts of reasons, as a kid it seemed far more straight-forward than it actually was. ‘So I just let the cross go through my legs and then flick it into goal? Easy peasy!’ – not easy peasy. Your effort usually resulted in you going arse over tit onto the gravel below…
