Soccer’s all over YouTube. Here are some of the best highlights out there.
There are dozens of soccer leagues throughout the world and the coverage of these leagues is so intense that it’s inevitable that more soccer highlights (both past and present) make their way onto YouTube than any other sport. (I have no way to even begin to measure this, but I think it’s true, since soccer’s history increases exponentially due to how many leagues it includes).
That’s great, because though Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN, GOLTV, and Internet streaming sites have made World Soccer increasingly accessible in America, they can’t possibly capture everything. They also can’t make up for the time that was lost before America had access to world football. For example, in 2002, Kazaa’s landscape was so barren that finding Brazil/Nike’s Joga Bonito airport commercial in anticipation of that year’s World Cup was a major coup as a young soccer fan.
Times have changed. YouTube highlights from around the world (both past and present) are windows into the history of the sport that, ten or fifteen years ago, I flat out didn’t have access to.
When I watch some of the finest moments in the history of soccer, I feel more connected to the sport as a whole. Seeing Marco van Basten’s bicycle kicks for the first time is the 2011 equivalent of immersing myself in baseball’s history by poring over the stats of my older brother’s card collection in the ’90s, except my “older brother” in this scenario is someone halfway across the world who spends even more time on YouTube than I do.
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It’s one thing to know Roberto Baggio had one of the best mullets of all time and was good for a goal every other game, but being able to see how much of a monster he was is the difference between two dimensions and three, at least in terms of what he was capable of (as opposed to what he meant). Likewise, I might not know anything about George Weah beyond the first paragraph of his Wikipedia entry, but I know this goal is incredible.
There’s no better place on YouTube to start than the “Top 50 Best World Cup Goals” and “Top 50 Best Football (Soccer) Goals of All Time”. These lists are, like any on the Internet, totally subjective, debatable, and much better when viewed as a primer, greatest hits album, or jumping off point than as a complete discussion. I recommend muting both videos and using your own soundtrack.
The context surrounding the videos doesn’t matter as much as the fact that I’m able to see these relics of soccer’s past at all. Knowing that this goal was the second of two in a midseason match that Liverpool were roundly expected to win (and did) doesn’t lessen the wow factor of seeing Xabi Alonso’s 61-meter meteor for the first time. They’re spectacular goals and since I missed them live, I’m lucky to see them at all, because I never know when goals like that will come along again.
That’s where Calcio Plus, an Italian soccer blog, comes in. Put it through Google Translate and as this year’s European Soccer season starts up, they’ll provide a week-by-week rundown of all the goals from virtually all the top tier leagues in Europe and South America. Goal highlights are no replacement for watching the ebb and flow of a whole match, but the ability to see virtually every goal scored in a top league or competition is staggering, as is the knowledge that if something breathtaking happens pretty much anywhere in the world of soccer, you won’t miss it.
—Photo Ronnie Macdonald/Flickr
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Hi,
I’m the webmaster of http://calcioplus.blogspot.com
Many thanks for the quote about my site.
It’s a great satisfation for me.
Thanks again,
Andrea
See? This is what I’m talking about. Le Tissier is, for me, today’s Baggio, in that ten minutes ago, I had no idea he was such a beast. I said “Oooh!” at least four times during that video.
For me Thierry Henry will always be my favorite pure goalscorer. He had an, I don’t know, almost playful (in the cat playing with mouse sense) attitude about the things he was doing that I loved. Like seeing how many ankles he could break before scoring the goal was as important as the goal itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POJ_JpsvWPg
Some of my favorite goals:
Matthew Le Tissier’s top 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSsdfe4Z69g
Two great goals from Tony Yeboah: http://youtu.be/9KxdTwXa23k
Some 20 of Maradona’s best: http://youtu.be/xLqYiBjX6dk
Eric Cantona: http://youtu.be/WmDTh-hlL8A