Goals By Gods

Over the years and as I grew up watching FIFA World Cup matches, I realized that there are some players who are head and shoulders above others in that particular WC or in a particular team. 

These are the marquee players who in a moment of sheer magic and brilliance can singlehandedly change the course of an ongoing match and the resulting outcome. These are players who makes fans go wild with agony or ecstasy, leaves the biggest impact and thus makes the beautiful game so delightfully beautiful. 

These are players who are also Gods chosen and blessed ones and to their innumerable fans are the no less than Gods themselves...they are the gods of the game !!!

Interestingly, these players are the ones who makes the all important goals too and in manners which may not be there in the game rule book and these goals come to be known as God's Goal...Let me take you through some of the most famous God's Own Goals,,,

At the top of the list will be Maradona's "Hand of God" Goal Against England in the 1986 World Cup

     
   The second one is also accredited to the irrepressible Maradona who mesmerized the world with the second goal in the same match. For me those dancing and dribbling feet were of God ...So "Feet of God" goal is my No 2... i personally believe this is the greatest goal ever in the history of FIFA World Cup wherein Maradona starts from the midfield and one after another dribbles past seven English players enroute to scoring the most beautiful goal ever and lifts the beautiful game to another level

From 1986 till 2014 there were lesser 'God Goals' until yesterday June 24th 2014 ... in a do or die of a match  between Italy and Uruguay to qualify for the next round (Round of 16) at the FIFA 2014, God played his part again in ensuring that a goal happens to break the deadlock. Diego Godin, the hitherto quiet captain of Uruguay, came to the WC party and 'shouldered' a goal from a Uruguayan corner and ensured that the first ever world champs of the FIFA Cup gets another crack at the title to be champs again at the cost of 4-times FIFA Champs, Italy, who really would not have been a deserving team to advance at the expense of Uruguay. This sublime moment wherein the most elusive goal by Godin made him the God of Uruguay (even if for a day) and the ubiquitous shoulder push is what I would like to call the "Shoulder of God" goal

    
FIFA 2014 is reaching feverish peak now. We soon would be seeing teams getting knocked out either by a superior opponent or by a moment of sheer magic of a football maestro or by God himself who too, it seems, cannot resist a piece of action of the beautiful game ... so who are we to complain... we are only mortals still !!!

FIFA World Cup - The 4 Year Mad Ball Disease Due To The Beautiful Game

What is it about the beautiful game that makes the whole world go crazy and many like me and many of my football fanatic friends getting affected by what I call the 'mad ball disease'... To begin with this beautiful game becomes the biggest leveler of sorts when a much fancied side gets outgoaled and outsmarted by a seemingly innocuous and lesser known side... this beautiful game enables one to become a global household name and in many cases a global icon and dare I say that yes this beautiful game gives a nobody a chance to get his 15-minutes of global fame...no wonder the world recognizes it as the most beautiful game !!!

My first exposure to this madness and to this glorious festival of spirits and sports was way back in 1986 when a certain Diego Armando Maradona turned, twisted and traded towards a glorious triumph over the indomitable Germans...I am sure everybody from my time must still be recovering from Maradona's two goals in the semis against England...if the first one was from the 'hand of god' the second one definitely was from the 'feet of the god' ... a true wondergoal ... many pundits still refer to it as the 'goal of the century'  ... I am posting the link here for everybody's benefit and nostalgia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJnk7TCDS0

Over the years, I have been blessed to see some of the most beautiful games as my quest and desire to know more and not miss any aspect of the beautiful game grew by leaps and bounds. The beautiful game demands passion, precision and perfection from its performers and more so on the greatest stage of the game the FIFA World Cup (Somehow I always loved the previously named Jules Rimet Trophy more).

The great goals and the super saves are what makes a FIFA match worth its weight in platinum. The best player gets the Golden Ball Award while the highest scorer gets the Golden Boot Award and the best goalkeeper gets the Golden Glove Award and not necessarily the winners of the above awards belongs to the winning team. This just proves that while individual performances matter in a match, at the end, it is the best team that wins the holy grail and not the individual and many of the individual winners will gladly trade their individual trophies for the coveted and the elusive grand prize.

For fans like me every 4-years we immerse ourselves in the beautiful game, we take sides of our favorite teams and join our teams in their victories and defeats and for a month get happily afflicted with what I call the 'Mad Ball Disease'  ... viva the beautiful game !!!