Greetings, reader!
Football Month continues, as today I rank my favorite individual football/soccer moments of all time.
Here are my honorable mentions:
- Lionel Messi finally wins the Copa America
- Frank Lampard scores in his mother's memory
- Luka Modric carries Croatia to a World Cup final, proceeds to win Ballon D'Or
- The world of football unites to stop the Super League from ruining football
- Robert Lewandowski scores five goals in nine minutes
- Joe Hart's iconic running save
- Landon Donovan sends the USA to the World Cup knockout stage in the dying minutes
10. Alexander Lacazette versus racism
I've never been emotionally invested in iconic English club Arsenal F.C., but when they faced Slavia Prague in last year's Europa League quarter-finals, I was 110 per cent rooting for Arsenal to beat them. You see, in a short period of time, Slavia Prague had proved themselves to be an incredibly racist club on multiple levels - firstly, they were one of the few top-level European teams whose players refused to kneel in solidarity against racism before a match begins (and they defended this with pride), and secondly, there was the incident during the previous knockout round where one of their players shouted a racial slur at Finnish Celtic star Glen Kamara (and this asshole's teammates defended said asshole after the incident). So naturally, the thought of this team going ahead in the Europa League had my blood boiling.
Before the match starts, the whistle is blown so that the players can show their solidarity against racism by kneeling. As expected, the Prague pricks proudly stand together to signify how on-the-wrong-side-of-history they are, while Arsenal's players kneel in solidarity - and their striker Alexander Lacazette, who is Black himself, takes a few steps forward to the halfway line and kneels right in front of the Prague players, coldly staring at them. After this badass move, as the game begins, Arsenal proceeds to kick the living shit out of Racism F.C. with a 4-0 victory, with Lacazette himself scoring two of the goals.
9. England breaks their penalty curse
Like the rest of my family, I'm a big fan of the English football team. It's easy to root for them, as their long history of bad luck and dramatic failures make them into a team that would just really, really deserve to win every now and then. My Mom said it best: "England are always the underdog, even when they're the overdog".
In the English team's long history of disappointments (I mean, really, when the country that the sport is from and takes it perhaps the most seriously has only won 1 World Cup and 0 EURO championships, there's some dark magic going on), penalty shoot-outs have played a massive role: for decades, the national team had lost every single penalty shoot-out they were in. The Three Lions were knocked out of the 1990 World Cup, the 1996 Euros, the 1998 World Cup, the 2004 Euros, the 2006 World Cup and the 2014 Euros in six equally heartbreaking penalty shoot-outs. So naturally, when the quarter-final of the 2018 World Cup between England and Colombia went to penalties, the world knew what to expect.
Things looked especially dire when third kicker Jordan Henderson missed, after Colombia had put all of their first three in the net: after three full rounds, Los Cafeteros were 3-2 ahead. But then, lo and behold, a miraculous turn of events: Colombia's Uribe hits the crossbar, England's Trippier puts one in the bag, Jordan Pickford defies decades of precedent by heroically saving Bacca's shot, and finally, unlikely hero Eric Dier scores to put an end to the penalty curse for once and for all. Exhilarating.
8. "Here's Hogg...DEENEY!"
This is a peculiar one, as Leicester City (one of my favorite teams) is the "bad guy" in this particular narrative, while Watford (a club I don't particularly care for) are the heroes. But as an individual moment, when looking back on this particular match, one can't help but root for the Hornets.
The context: the semi-final of the 2012/13 Championship play-off, with Watford facing Leicester as both clubs are fighting for promotion to the Premier League. In the dying minutes, as the score is tied, Leicester are awarded an admittedly bullshit penalty kick - remember, this was before VAR, so occasionally a player could dive himself into a penalty without a foul being committed. Watford fans and players are furious at the unjust call that might end their season, as Leicester's Anthony Knockaert (the guy who shamelessly dove to get the penalty) steps up to the spot.
But then, Watford's goalie saves the penalty shot as well as the rebound, and the club proceeds to perform the greatest counter-attack in football history.
I've watched this clip many, many times, and I can never get over the excitement and shock in the commentators' voices, as Watford's blistering counter-attack comes to a close with Troy Deeney's brilliant match-winning strike. The ecstatic striker runs straight into the crowd to celebrate, as the fans are delirious from the emotional rollercoaster they just experienced. Can't make this stuff up, man.
7. Alisson's heroic header sends Liverpool to the Champions League
I actually didn't see this epic moment live when it happened - the stream I had been watching went down when there were about 10 minutes left of the match, and I had to follow the ending via push notifications on the Premier League app - but somehow this made the experience even more cathartic. It was near the end of the 2020/21 season, and my favorite team Liverpool F.C. faced a tough situation - in order to finish in the top four and thus qualify for the next year's UEFA Champions League, they had to win all of their remaining games. So, when they were seemingly stuck in a 1-1 deadlock against West Bromwich Albion in the final minutes, their chances of qualifying for the UCL seemed dead and buried.
When my phone rang with a notification at 90+5 minutes, I just assumed that it was a notification for the game being over. But then I looked at the screen, and it took me several seconds to comprehend what I had read: "GOAL for Liverpool, scored by Alisson Becker, at 90+5 minutes, score 2-1 for Liverpool". For those who don't know, Alisson Becker is their goalkeeper.
Later I learned just what had gone down - as we've seen many times when a team is desperate to score in the final moments, the goalie had come up to join the attack in a corner kick situation. All the times I had seen this hail-Mary tactic used, it had never lead to a goal (except maybe for the other team, if they manage a counter-attack towards the empty goal). But this time, when Liverpool needed it the most, Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner found Alisson's head and the keeper scored the winning goal that sent us into the Champions League.
6. "AGUEROOOOO!"
I'm very much not a Manchester City fan, but on this particular day in 2012, my brother and I couldn't help but be all for them. You see, the title race in the Premier League had been left open until the very final round, which would determine whether the title would go to Manchester United (a club we liked even less, and who have won the Premier League more than any other team) or Manchester City (a club who, at that time, had never won the Premier League). So, naturally, we were hoping for City to win. Both Manchester clubs were playing their decisive matches at the same time, and we kept switching channels to see what was going on in both games.
City played against QPR, who were fighting against relegation and therefore really giving their everything - so much so, that when 90 minutes were on the clock, City were 1-2 down (and they needed a win in order to win the league). Being not even tied but losing by a goal at 90 minutes, when you need a win, seemed like an impossible scenario to beat - but when Edin Dzeko scored in the first minutes of injury time, everything changed. There were three minutes left, and Man City were one goal away from winning their first-ever Premier League. The context was so dramatic, as the Premier League title race almost never goes all the way to the final round, and now for the first time ever, it was to be decided not just in the final round but in the very final minutes.
And then, at 90+3 minutes, Sergio Aguero (or, as commentator Martin Tyler famously put it in that situation, "AGUEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!") scored another. Manchester City had come back from a 1-2 loss to a 3-2 victory during the five minutes of extra time, and thus grabbed the league title from their #1 rivals in the very last moments. As much as one might hate Manchester City, an empathetic person can't help but feel elated when watching footage of the players' and fans' reactions in the aftermath of that stunning Aguero goal.
5. Finland qualifies for EURO2020
There's something deeply masochistic about the fact that I, as a half-American half-Finn, choose to follow football instead of ice hockey. I mean, when a sport exists where both of my homelands are among the world's top tier, why would my favorite sport be the one where both of my homelands struggle to qualify for the major tournaments?
Anyways, before the fateful match against Liechtenstein in 2019, Finland had never made it to a World Cup or European Championship tournament, despite coming painfully close multiple times (so many that the word 'curse' had been thrown around a lot). So, when it finally happened, and the 3-0 victory sealed the qualification of the Huuhkajat for their first-ever European Championship tournament, it was a huge deal for every Finnish football fan. It felt special enough for me, having casually followed football for years and having watched that match from my laptop at home, so I can hardly imagine how it must've felt for my brother Ville, who actively played football for a large portion of his life and who saw the game live at the Olympiastadion!
4. Denmark's medical staff saves Christian Eriksen's life
It's weird to include this moment on the list, as watching the events take place was gripping and nerve-wracking. But, when you look at the end results, there's no way around it: what happened to Eriksen on the pitch was tragic, but the way in which he was saved due to quick thinking, top-notch professionalism and heroic actions, is just bigger than anything else in football. Teammate Simon Kjaer immediately giving him the proper preliminary CPR, while the medical staff rush onto the pitch to treat Eriksen, as his teammates form a circle around him to shelter the grim scenes from the cameras - it's all so powerful, especially knowing that Eriksen ended up pulling through.
After over half a year of recovery, the Danish star was even able to return to the sport, which many consider to be quite miraculous. I'm not sure which sight made me happier: watching Denmark subvert everyone's expectations by making it all the way to the EURO2020 semi-finals despite not having their biggest star on the pitch (though I'm sure he was on everyone's mind and a massive part of the team spirit), or watching Eriksen come on the pitch for Brentford FC last spring, for the first time since his cardiac arrest.
3. Chelsea's Barcelona Vengeance (and subsequent Champions League victory)
Chelsea FC has never been my favorite club, but I've always had a big soft spot for them - while my mother's Liverpool fandom was the first football loyalty to pass on to me, my brother's love for Chelsea has also made me very sympathetic for the London-based team. By 2012, I had grown to enjoy their stars Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and especially former Liverpool man Fernando Torres, and in that same time period, I had grown furious with FC Barcelona - the team may have had an important role in my journey to becoming interested in football, but in the early 2010's, their dominance in world football and often unsportsmanlike gameplay (not to mention the fact that the referees seemed to always be on their side) had made a young Veikko quite resentful.
And so was everyone in Chelsea, as the two teams had grown a large-scale international rivalry over the years - this had especially come to a head in the 2008/09 semi-final, where Barcelona won 1-0 after Chelsea had gotten robbed of not one, or two, or even three, but four clear penalties (God damn UEFAlona still makes my blood boil). So, when the teams met again in the 2011/12 Champions League semi-final, vengeance was on the mind of every Chelsea-sympathetic individual.
After an intense first leg, the second leg kicked off just as one might expect as Chelsea's captain and most important defender John Terry was awarded a very questionable red card. How on earth could the team face Barcelona with just 10 men? Some hope was given later in the game, as Ramires scored against Barca with a brilliant chip, but things were still uncertain due to the away goal rule (if the game had ended on that score, Chelsea would go to the final, but if Barcelona scored just one goal, they would go the final instead of it being a tie). Towards the match's end, Barca were given a penalty, with world's-best-player Lionel Messi stepping up to take it, as things seemed more hopeless than ever.
Well, the penalty hit the crossbar. Moments later, super-sub Fernando Torres (who had been called a flop all season) elegantly dribbled the ball past Victor Valdes and into the net, sealing Chelsea's win. A few weeks later, the team won their first-ever Champions League trophy after beating Bayern Munich in the final. Payback is sweet.
2. Leicester's Cinderella Story
There are many things that I like about British football - the heritage of the traditional clubs and rivalries, the banter, the tournament dynamics, the commentators et cetera. There are also many things I don't like about British football - the racism, sexism and homophobia that the idiot fans bring into the mix is definitely my biggest problem, while Pep Guardiola's Manchester City constantly outsmarting my favorite club Liverpool by bare margins is another less serious but still frustrating element I don't care for. Also one of my least favorite parts: the dominance of a certain few teams. Growing up, it was crystal-clear that in a Premier League season, 20 teams play 38 matches of football each, after which the title goes to Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea. And the next few spots go to Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. No matter what, those 'big six' clubs always finished above the others.
Enter a scrappy bunch of misfits including an optimistic Italian manager, a humble French midfielder, a young Algerian winger ready to show the world what he's made of, the son of legendary Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and of course, a 30-year-old Red-Bull-chugging cigarette-smoking wild-card oddball who no one has ever heard of.
For background, Leicester City had only been promoted to the Premier League from the Championship following the 2013/14 season. In 2014/15, a poor run of form saw them at 19th place with very little to go, but a brilliant run of wins towards the end of the season saw them barely escape relegation. And at the start of the 2015/16 season, the official betting odds for Leicester winning the Premier League were five thousand to one.
But the bastards did it.
In a feat nobody saw coming, Leicester City had a better season than Manchester United, Chelsea or any other British team, finishing first and getting their first-ever Premier League trophy in a miraculous cinderella story. By 2015/16, my following of football had become quite infrequent, but following Leicester scrap their way to a Premier League victory re-ignited my interest. The team was so fun to follow, and the heroes of that underdog bunch are still among my favorites - both the ones who have gone on to dominate world football in 'bigger' clubs, like Chelsea's Ngolo Kanté and Man City's Riyad Mahrez, and the ones who have loyally remained with the Foxes, like Kasper Schmeichel and especially Jamie Vardy.
1. The Miracle of Anfield
Let me set the scene. The players enter Liverpool FC's iconic home stadium Anfield, for the second leg of the Champions League semifinal. The traditional glory of UCL nights, with the Champions League anthem bursting as the players enter the field, feels a bit somber due to the game's context - FC Barcelona has one the 1st leg in a whopping 3-0 upset. Comebacks have been pulled off in 2nd legs before, but being three goals down feels overwhelmingly drastic. Especially when Liverpool's main star of the season, Mohamed Salah, is out with an injury. Still, glimpses of magic are in the air - the ever-loyal fans are cheering on in the stands, and Salah joins the audience while wearing a hoodie that says "NEVER GIVE UP" in large print. Go figure.
Just moments into the game, striker Divock Origi nets a goal to make it 3-1, and suddenly the whole dynamic has changed - being two goals behind seems not-totally-hopeless, albeit still being a huge stretch when playing against the likes of Messi and Suarez. Later footage has revealed that the Barca players were in full panic mode already during half-time, even though their team was two goals up - that's a massive testament to the atmosphere of Anfield, and the pressure that Liverpool had put on them.
In the second half, things are in deadlock until super-sub Gini Wijnaldum comes onto the pitch and scores a goal - quickly followed by another. Wijnaldum's celebration for the 3-3 goal is pure, untouchable passion, as is the reaction of his teammates and manager Jürgen Klopp. But a tie isn't enough - one more goal has to be scored.
Enter a 20-year-old defender, born and raised in Liverpool, who steps up to take a corner kick. In the most genius piece of out-of-the-box thinking I've seen in all of football, he doesn't go through the usual pre-corner rituals, as he sees that his striker Origi is all ready to go while the Barcelona defenders are still talking and looking for positions - and so the brilliant madman simply gives the corner quickly without taking any speed. And Origi puts the ball into the net, past a shell-shocked Barcelona defense just realizing what has hit them. And so Liverpool complete their comeback from a 3-0 loss to a 3-4 victory, making their way to the final that they would go on to win, and the key moment in this comeback is the delicious quick corner by young right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.
I like to imagine the scenes ten years from now, when veteran Liverpool captain Alexander-Arnold lifts the fifth Champions League trophy of his career after winning multiple Premier League titles and a World Cup with England (some have called me an optimist), and gets asked what the greatest moment of his career has been. And he's lying if his answer is anything but that goddamn corner kick against Barcelona on a cold Champions League night at Anfield.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for the final post of Football Month, as I rank my top 10 predictions for the 2022 World Cup.
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