A moment of magic provided by a Nigerian in Hong-Kong inspired me to the following article - I've painstakingly whittled the list to my personal top 5 - and there have been some unbelievable crackers that have doubtless made it onto all the 'Football Blooper' DVD's!
5). Tony Popovic - Portsmouth v Crystal Palace - Aussie defender Popovic became a crucial cog in Palace's defence in the six years he was at Selhurst Park, even helping them game promotion to the Premier League in 2004/2005. It was at the very highest level that he saved his career highlight for. Trailing away 2-1 at Fratton Park, Popovic marvelously back-heeled an ariel Steve Stone cross up and over keeper Julian Speroni into the top corner. Tremendous technique any centre-half would be proud of.
4). Goran Rubil - Hadjuk Split v Lokomotiva - Croatian midfielder Rubil is the only one to make our list in terms of sheer power from outside the area. In a big Croatian derby with the two sides locked together in the table, Goran settled the matter by stopping a surging Lokomotiva run, by spanking an absolute jewel beyond his stricken goalkeeper with the whip and power and prime Roberto Carlos would've enjoyed. Surprisingly he moved onto Greece at the end of the season.
3). Inigo MartÃnez - Georgia u21's v Spain u21's - This promising young Spanish defender has a bit of the quirky enigma about him, at 20 already having the honour of hitting a magnificent effort from his own half he backed this up by hitting one of the best own goals of modern times. With his talented young side 6-0 up on a flailing Georgia team - Inigo decided to really stamp his authority on it by flicking a Georgian goalkeeper clearance over David De Gea's head from all of 40 yards - a thing of real beauty.
2). Chris Brass - Bury v Darlington - This was one particular effort that was drew to my attention by one of the festive Football blunder DVD's and surely one that will go down in English football history forever. In a hugely innocuous game at Gigg Lane Brass got himself what turned out the winner in an 'It shouldn't happen to a Footballer' poll. Trying to over-head clear a cross deep into the area - all poor Brass achieved was to smash the ball up onto his unsuspecting nose and straight past his stricken goalkeeper into the net. A beautifully sly 'rub of the nose' followed as he walked off, head hanging in disbelief and a trip to hospital required.
1). Festus Baise - Sun Hei v Citizen AA - The very goal mentioned at the opening of the article that inspired me here. This Nigerian centre-half (adeptly donning the #7 shirt) has spent his entire career in Hong-Kong and while the footballing nation had never threw out anything for the globe to get excited about - it has now. This tight game ended 3-2 but will only ever be remembered for one thing - THE own goal that made it into the daily UK Newspaper 'The Sun' and over 1,000,000 viral hits in under a week. Ironically it was an English player - Jack Sealy - that created the wonder. A run and cross from the right was heading to the edge of Citizen's area before a backtracking Baise flew into what's been branded world wide as a 'Reverse scorpion kick' and caught it fantastically before watching it fly into the top corner. A well-worthy winner and a goal we'll be seeing for a long, long time.
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