Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Last Week's Beautiful Goals

Not having posted regularly, or at all recently, there is just too much to actually cover. I could talk about how Wayne Rooney continues to lead Man U towards an historic fourth straight title and record breaking 19th overall, or how Leo Messi decided he was going to show all those Rooney lovers out there who is really the best player on the planet.

In fact, Messi has been on such a tear, not just scoring goals but regularly scoring absolutely stunning goals, that CNN got in on the discussion of debating whether Messi is better than Maradona.



Now, I think you can legitimately debate the merits on each player's technical ability, compare their stunning goals, and debate their overall dominance. However, when you really want to discuss who is greater, Maradona won Argentina a World Cup, while Messi has yet to produce that same form for his country. Will it change? Many hope so, but until then I think people are getting ahead of themselves. Let Messi play out his career a little first.

If you missed it, here is his hat trick against Zaragoza, including a stunning second (though again, let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's not as great as the famous Getafe goal). I even think I may like his shot against Stuttgart midweek a little more, also following:





His hat trick puts Messi at 34 goals in all competition, one more than Rooney's 33.

Speaking about fantastic goals, I'm sure you've seen the amazing goal by Clint Dempsey against Juventus. It was great on a number of levels. Technically, Dempsey's chip was perfect. But it was also beyond clutch, the game winner that completed a stunning comeback by Fulham against Juventus. The epic collapse by Juve, up 4-1 on aggregate after an early goal, was certainly helped by a sketchy red card against Fabio Cannavaro, but full credit to the Cottagers. Here's Dempsey's strike:



It's pretty amazing that Dempsey has now scored among the two biggest goals in the entire Fulham history. The first goal was his winner against Liverpool that saved Fulham from relegation in 2007 and now the match winner in what is widely being hailed as the most important and greatest victory in Fulham history. And when you consider the legendary status Brian McBride had at the club, with the Club even renaming a bar inside Craven Cottage "McBride's", that makes two Americans now strongly linked and associated with the oldest professional team in London.

There's a lot of other news worth covering that I may touch on later, such as the upcoming MLS season, thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement, the upcoming Champions League quarterfinals, and more.

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