Tricks

The decision to describe a goal as a candidate for the Puskas Award is frequently abused. There can only be 10 nominees in a given year, so you should choose your moments to describe a goal as Puskas worthy very carefully.

I’m going to go ahead and play one of my Puskas cards for the year on this unbelievable solo effort from Colombian Juan David Valencia. It’s a great goal, and it’s a great goal with many different layers and subtleties — this goal could win an Oscar.

This video is dope. Barcelona, the Camp Nou, pregame warmups before a game against Sevilla featuring Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez — this has all the right elements.

And then…absolutely nothing happens. But it’s still somehow really good. The slow motion, the song lyrics that match nicely with what’s going on (“reverse that!”) and three of the best players on the planet kicking a football. 

I don't even know the song, but it's stuck in my head now.

“When you’re lookin’ at me 

what you see is the best 

Djalminha was capped by Brazil only 14 times (still managing five goals). That's less than what Freddy Adu, Conor Casey, Break Shea, Chris Wondolowski, etc. have accumulated with the USMNT. It's with this realization that you begin to understand the enormity of the gulf in talent between Brazil and the United States. 

Djalminha was the precursor to Ronaldinho. He had a pretentious amount of skill, but he also made Ronaldinho’s, at times, questionable behavior look like grounds for canonization into sainthood.