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.
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.
Sean McConville of Accrington Stanley is the main culprit here. If this were a game of Clue, I’d suggest it was Sean McConville, all the way from the conservatory, with a lead pipe.
What we have here is a classic case of too much violence in the EFL Checkatrade Trophy. The Red Imps of Lincoln City were on the receiving end of this hit from McConville, but they still managed to comeback on two occasions and prevail 3-2.
It’s a goal every soccer player dreams of scoring. Ball comes in, chest it up into the air and bicycle kick it into the back of the net. But not even Branislav Ivanovic could believe it when he scored his incredible goal for Zenit St. Petersburg against Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday.
What do you do in life? How do you make the most out of life? I don’t know. Maybe the best advice comes from golfer John Daly: grip it, rip it and sip it. Konyaspor’s Mehdi Bourabia knows what I’m talking about.
Everton travelled to Cyprus to play Apollon Limassol in the last match of the Europa League group stage Thursday. They did so without most of the first team and new manager Sam Allardyce. Neither team had any chance of advancing, so Everton used the opportunity to hand debuts to some academy kids and prepare the first team for Sunday's Merseyside Derby.
Unlike American football, kicking off is an advantage in soccer. At least, it’s supposed to be. You can pass to a teammate and start an attack or just lump the ball forward and run after it in the opponent’s end. Regardless, you shouldn’t give up the fastest goal ever scored when you kick off. But CS Sfaxien didn't get the memo.