------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject:Golazo of Day 1 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:10/6/1998 Morocco and Norway are tied 0-0. Norway sends a cross into the Moroccan area, which is cleared to Tahar. As the ball reaches Tahar, an opponent comes up hard to press him, and Tahar gets rid of him by stepping over the ball and giving it a high bounce in the direction where his marker was running from. At the first bounce, Tahar strikes a 50-meter pass with the outside of his foot to Mustafa Hadji--not Hagi, Hadji--who has open space in front of him as Eggen closes in on the left side of Norway's area. Hadji calmly stops the ball, steps over it with the right, taps it with the left past the dizzy Eggen and slams it with the right low into the opposite corner past the diving goalkeeper. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject:Golazo of Day 2 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:11/6/1998 Cameroun and Austria are tied 0-0. Cameroun recovers the ball on its half, circulates it back and forth through six players until it reaches Njanka Beaka, who takes it five meters behind the midline and to the left of the center circle. Njanka starts to accelerate with the ball, whilst the Austrian players stick to their preassigned positions. Somewhere around 15 meters outside of the area the Austrians realize that Njanka is not following the script and begin to converge on the gap that Njanka has discovered. Njanka is now going very fast and he cuts outside to pass one man, puts on the brakes and cuts inside to leave another by the wayside, and as Koncel comes out of the goal to block his foray, Njanka stops near the upper left corner of the area and lets out a hard low shot to the outside of Koncel and inside of an Austrian guarding the inside post, passing both as it hits the net on the fly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject:Golazo of Day 3 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:12/6/1998 Slim pickings today. France vs. South Africa, late in the game, France up 2-0. Corner kick for France from the left side sent out behind the midcircle, then deflected to Henry on the right side about 10 meters out of the penalty area. As Jackson comes out to stop him, Henry throws a caņo between Jackson's legs, strolls into the area, and as Vonk comes out to meet him, he neatly chips it over the outstretched keeper. As the ball floats towards the goal line, the strong Marseille wind slows it down enough for Issa to catch up to it, but not enough to allow him to do so with much control. So even though Issa manages to knock back the ball with his left foot before it crosses the line, he then knocks it back in with the trailing right foot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject:Golazo of Day 4 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:13/6/1998 Nigeria has just drawn the game at 2-2 against Espaņa, when a few minutes later Okocha throws the ball in from the left sideline near Espaņa's corner. Hierro intercepts the throw in flight and heads it well outside the area. Oliseh runs up to the ball and without letting it land, he strikes it very hard with his right foot--or maybe even his shin--straight ahead, where after a slight inward comba the ball ducks just far enough inside the inside post to brush against the hand of the diving Zubizarreta as it slams into the back of the net. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject:Golazo of Day 5 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:14/6/1998 Croatia and Jamaica are tied 1-1, 8 minutes into the 2nd half. Croatia gets a free kick near the upper left corner of Jamaica's area. Prosinecki taps the ball to a team mate standing next to him, who taps it right back while the defenders look on. Prosinecki strolls forward with the ball, parallel to the boundary of the area and about 2 meters away from it, and at about 10 meters from the goal line, he floats a shot over the goalkeeper that lands right under the crossbar and inside the far post. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject:Golazo of Day 6 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:15/6/1998 Romania playing against Colombia, injury time in the first half. Romania gets a free kick in the center circle and begins to work up the left sideline. The ball gets to Ilie, who taps it to Hagi and sprints diagonally towards Colombia's goal. Hagi taps it back to Ilie with a taquito that is somewhat defective in its execution as it bounces off the arm of his marker, Bermudez--but effective nonetheless as the bounce puts the ball right in Ilie's stride. Ilie is now just inside Colombia's area and as Serna runs onto Ilie's path, Ilie throws his shoulder forward to fix Serna and cuts inside to his left past him. As Ilie approaches the left corner of the little area Palacios comes out to meet him but Ilie fools him and the goalkeeper Mondragon as well by taking an off-stride shot with the outside of his right foot, floating the ball over Mondragon, under the crossbar and just inside the far post. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject:Golazo of Day 7 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:16/6/1998 Brasil leads 2-0 against Morocco a few minutes into the 2nd half when the Moroccan No. 2 (whose name we will mercifully forget) receives the ball on the sideline near his area, stumbles over it as he begins to run upfield, and leaves it sitting there for Ronaldo to scoop up. Ronaldo takes it into the area without being caught from behind, and as he is confronted by the defender that made the pass he makes his trademark stepover gambeta, cuts inside and as he draws out the goalkeeper he taps it to the oncoming Bebeto in front of the empty goal. Bebeto taps it in and celebrates loud enough to be heard by Dunga. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 8 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:17/6/1998 Chile is leading Austria 1-0, a minute into injury time, when Salas blows a golden three-on-two counterattack and Austria takes the ball back. Austria passes it around for the better part of a minute, launching the occasional pelotazo into Chile's area without any more success than they have had all game long, when Schopp receives another clearance about 10 meters in front of the midfield line and sends a diagonal pass to Wetl on his left. Wetl looks up, notices that the recent substitute Vastic is trotting along the semicircle unmarked, rolls him the ball, Vastic turns around to face the goal, and while the Chilean defenders busy themselves with the arrangements for the postgame celebrations Vastic calmly takes two steps forward and kicks a shot with his right foot from 21 meters out with comba to the upper corner of the opposite post. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 9 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:18/6/1998 South Africa trails Denmark 1-0 six minutes into the 2nd half. Fish throws the ball into Moshoeu, who turns, zigs and zags past his marker and another Dane. When he is surrounded by four opponents about 30 meters in front of the goal he crisply touches it to Bartlett, who stands on the semicircle with his back to the goal. Bartlett hits a taquito on the first touch down to McCarthy, who cuts inside his marker to take the ball and strikes a quick caņito between Schmeichel's legs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 10 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:19/6/1998 Not a great deal of a choice today, but nonetheless one of the best efforts of the tournament. Nigeria playing against Bulgaria, Babayaro has the ball on the left sideline and he strides forward from the midline to about 35 meters from Bulgaria's goal. As the defense closes in on Babayaro, he rolls it over to Okocha, standing about 10 meters away from the semicircle. Okocha cuts inside and forward a couple of steps, sees Ikpeba standing in front of him but sends it diagonally to Amokachi as he strolls into the semicircle. Amokachi receives the ball facing Okocha and without turning taps it first-time with the outside of his left foot to Ikpeba. Ikpeba changes direction as he receives the ball, rolling his foot over it to give it an extra bit of speed to get it past the last Bulgarian defender. As the defender contemplates the scene sitting on the penalty spot, Ikpeba closes in on the goalkeeper and calmly pokes it underneath him into the middle of the goal. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 11 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:20/6/1998 Netherlands leads South Korea 2-0, 25 minutes into the 2nd half. Eleven Dutchmen touch the ball before Winter sends it into Bergkamp, who is coming out of the Korean area to receive the ball in the semicircle with his back to the goal. Bergkamp and Lee arrive at the ball simultaneously, but Bergkamp steps on it with his left foot as he leans back, rolls the ball back and turns around leaving his first marker behind. Kim is two strides away and comes up in front of Bergkamp. Bergkamp's next step after rolling over the ball is with his left foot while he is turning around, tapping the ball slightly so as to keep it away from Kim; his third step taps the ball with the right foot in the opposite direction, leaving Kim behind, and his fourth step is to tap it forward with the left foot so as to face the goalkeeper all alone. This maneuver has taken place entirely within the semicircle. Bergkamp takes two quick steps and as a third defender closes in and the goalkeeper begins to come out of the goalmouth, Bergkamp strides into the ball with the outside of his right foot and taps it hard and low into the left--not the right--post, freezing the goalkeeper as the ball bounces in. The entire maneuver took place within a circle of radius of about 3 meters and a couple of seconds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 13 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:22/6/1998 Argentina and Jamaica are tied 0-0, 31 minutes into the game. Almeyda has the ball on the midline, and he rolls it to Veron who is retreating to receive the ball in the center about 40 meters in front of the Jamaican goal. Veron taps it further in front of him to create some space between himself and his marker, and as he turns to his right he sees Simeone and lays the ball off to him to make a pared. On the same line with Simeone and Veron stands Ortega, and as the ball goes to Simeone el Burrito begins his sprint forward. Simeone taps it right back to Veron, who nudges the ball past his marker and on the second touch he cuts a line between the remaining Jamaican defenders right into Ortega's stride. The 20 meter pass along the ground is timed so well that Ortega is not allowed to change his pace in order to meet the ball. There is something unfortunate about the geometry of the situation for Ortega in that the ball is placed right in his stride but in such a way that he cannot properly plant either leg while kicking the ball with the other. Ortega resolves this by turning his shoulders for stability and then simultaneously planting his right leg and chipping the ball with his right foot over and outside of the emerging goalkeeper, under the crossbar and into the middle of the goal--all without breaking his run throughout its 35 meters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 14 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:24/6/1998 Some good efforts from Roberto Baggio and Bassir, but the winner is from another game. Chile playing Cameroun, 21 minutes into the game, 0-0, and a foul gives Chile a free kick two meters outside of the Cameroun's area and about four strides to the right of the semicircle. Sierra glances at the wall, calmly takes two steps and kicks the ball with his left foot over the leaping defender, with perfect diagonal comba, into the upper corner on the inside post, 25 centimeters away from any wood. Songo'o flies towards the ball but is unable to get to it. The photograph of the ball entering into the goal past the flying Songo'o may be Foto Mundial '98. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 15 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:26/6/1998 Paraguay is tied 1-1 with Nigeria, 13 minutes into the 2nd half while Espaņa is killing Bulgaria. Paraguay needs a win to go on to the next round. TV showing a replay of Chilavert stopping a mano a mano with Yekini, nasty low shot to the outside post. Nigeria tries a long throw-in on the left side but Ayala outruns the Nigerian forward to the ball, does a pared with Gamarra and rolls it forward to Arce, who bounces it over another Nigerian to Paredes. Paredes gets past his marker by stepping on the ball, drawing it in and rolling it forward and off he goes. He runs 40 meters fast and no one can catch him until he reaches the Nigerian last line of three or four defenders on the edge of the area. From the right side almost in the area Paredes rolls the ball parallel to the goal line to Benitez. Benitez reverses the direction of the ball, reverses again, reverses a third time and he now has shaken off enough of his marker to have a clear shot at the goal. From 23 meters he unleashes a vicious stroke with the outside of his foot, the Nigerian goalkeeper Rufai gets his hand on it and deflects it into the underside of the crossbar, the ball slams off the crossbar into the ground inside the goal and back up smashes hard into the roof of the net and Paraguay is in the next round and Espaņa is eliminated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 16 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:26/6/1998 Mexico playing Netherlands and Belgium playing South Korea. Mexico is losing 2-1 and Belgium is tying 1-1; if Mexico ties they go through, otherwise if Belgium wins they go through. 49 minutes into the 2nd half and the Univision announcer is going crazy yelling at both games at once. The primary game is Mexico but in a little corner of the screen they are showing the Belgium game, too small to see the details but big enough to see that the Belgians keep trying to score. Mexico gets a gol but the linesman says offside by a nose and Ramon Ramirez is so angry that he gets a red card. Si se puede! Netherlands has a good shot from Davids miss by a meter at the 46th minute and 50 seconds later Winter blows a mano a mano and a minute later Campos stuffs Overmars in a mano a mano and a Belgian dives but no hay penal. Si se puede Mexico. Then as the Belgians press on near the Korean area the announce yells at the Koreans to hold on, that Mexico is going through, that Paris is what matters, ay ay ay hold on Korea si se puede while a Mexican defender kicks it 60 meters into the Dutch half, hold on Korea Mexico is in the next round you can do it as Pelaez gets his head on the pass over his marker, hold on Korea as Belgium wins a corner kick, hold on Korea as the linesman points his flag at the corner flagstick and the ball bounces forward off Pelaez' head, hold on Korea AHI VIENE LUIS VAMOS LUIS VAMOS LUIS LUIS LUIS GOL GOL GOL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL DE MEXICO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 17 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:27/6/1998 England leads Colombia 1-0 in the first half, in a game where Colombia needs a victory to advance while England only needs a draw or better. Free kick, direct, for England about 10 meters behind the upper left corner of Colombia's area. Mondragon sets up a wall and stands on the far post. Beckham strikes the ball with the right foot, with great force and reasonable comba over the wall and about a meter inside the near post. Mondragon dives and almost reaches the ball but cannot quite get to it. The replay shows the wall is not as good as it could have been, as Beckham's shot went in a gap that was formed between the heads of two defenders that did not seem particularly interested in stopping the shot in such a manner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 18 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:28/6/1998 Brasil leads 3-1 against Chile, 24 minutes into the 2nd half. Roberto Carlos has the ball on the left side near his area, and he gives it to Dunga. Dunga gives it to Denilson who cuts in from the left side about 10 meters behind the midfield line. Denilson begins to turn past his marker as he lays it back to Sampaio. Sampaio taps it hard about 20 meters straight ahead to Rivaldo, who receives the ball while Denilson is now running almost right at him and free of marking. With a slight turn of the foot Rivaldo deflects the pass from Sampaio straight into Denilson's running line. Denilson takes it in stride and runs hard at Chile's last defender. Once said defender is frozen in place, Denilson lays a diagonal pass to Ronaldo who comes into the area alone against the goalkeeper. Tapia comes out to block but it is hopeless as Ronaldo slams it low and hard about 2 meters inside the outside post. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 19 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:29/6/1998 France playing Paraguay, 114 minutes into the match. We have all heard of Blatter goals, but today we are watching Paraguay goals. A steady retreat has put Paraguay inside its small area for the last hour with the occasional counterattack that would be deadly if they had a decent pair of forwards. France has been knocking on the door with everything they have and nothing is working. 6 minutes before a penalty shootout that feels like a Chilavert coronation, Trezeguet receives a high ball in Paraguay's area on the penalty spot. He heads it over to the gap between two defenders, into which rushes Blanc. Blanc smashes a volley into the gap between Chilavert's arm and ribcage and into the net, thus rescuing the host from an 1/8th final exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 20 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:30/6/1998 Mexico playing Germany, 2 minutes into the 2nd half. Blanco receives the ball near the edge of the German area and runs towards the semicircle. At the top of it he threads the ball forward to Luis Hernandez, who receives it with his back to the goal. As he turns he sees Tarnat coming out at him so he taps the ball sideways and caresses it as he runs laterally past the diving Tarnat. As Koepke comes out and Woerns dives to him, Hernandez coolly loops the ball inside the far post. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [R] Golazo of Day 21 From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:30/6/1998 England playing Argentina, 15 minutes into the game and the score is already 1-1. Zanetti to Veron to El Piojo Lopez is almost a mano a mano when Ince reaches over El Piojo and takes the ball away. He glances upfield and passes it to Beckham on his second touch, and Beckham does likewise to Owen. Owen receives the ball in the front half of the midcircle and strikes it forward with his right foot about knee high in a roundhouse motion as he begins his run. Chamot is on him stride for stride at first with a bit of body contact but Owen begins to outrun him after about five strides. At the last lunge Chamot is able to touch the ball but it only rolls forward more conveniently for Owen, who leaves him behind as he approaches the Argentina area. Ayala is standing in the semicircle waiting and Owen freezes him by taking an exaggerated step towards the left then cutting right, all the while keeping the ball right in front of him. Ayala turns around but it is too late, Owen is past him and as Roa comes out to confront him Owen smashes the ball with his right foot into the opposite far corner. The timelapse from when Ince touches the ball to the golazo is 12 seconds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Golazo of Day 1 of Quarterfinals Subject:Golazo of Day 1 of Quarterfinals From:Ariel Mazzarelli Date:3/7/1998 Brasil trails Denmark 1-0 10 minutes into the game. Brasil is circulating the ball and Dunga receives it in the bottom central position about 15 meters behind the midline. The rotation of possessions has caused some confusion in the Danish defense, and when Ronaldo runs back into the midcircle to receive Dunga's pass, two defenders rush to press him and Bebeto's marker momentarily freezes. Ronaldo stops the ball and spins around, tapping the ball with his right foot as he does so to begin a diagonal run. Without fully facing forward, he sees Bebeto and with his third touch he threads a left-footed pass across his body, between three Danes and right into the stride of the unmarked Bebeto. Bebeto runs towards the goal, taps the ball forward and slightly outside once to set it up, and as a defender desperately races back he kicks the ball from the top of the semicircle with his right foot, rolling it hard past the diving Schmeichel, off the base of the inside post and into the net.