5 of football's best 'nearly goals'
- Amos Murphy
- Apr 9, 2019
- 4 min read
Everybody remembers the wonder goals: Bergkamp’s ridiculous finish vs Argentina in ’98, the Ronaldinho finish from a standing position vs Chelsea and that goal from Aguero vs QPR to win the league are all wonder strikes familiar to all.
But what if all of those brilliant goals had missed by just a few millimetres. Amos Murphy has scrawled through YouTube and uncovered 5 of the best ‘nearly goals’.
5) Pele vs Uruguay, 1970 World Cup semi-final
He’s revered as the ‘greatest of all time’ by many and considered one of Brazil’s favourite sons, but by the time the 1970 World Cup came around, Pele was on his way out of the international game and the stage was set for him to shine on the biggest platform yet again.
Brazil had topped their group, seeing off World Champions England – a game which saw *that* save from Gordon Banks - and trundled past a plucky Peruvian side in the quarter-finals, before coming face-to-face with fellow South American giants Uruguay in the semis.
With the game finely poised at 1-1, a defence splitting pass from Tostao put Pele through one-on-one, with only Uruguayan goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz to beat.
Without touching the ball, Pele sprinted towards the onrushing goalkeeper, dropped a shoulder, sitting the goalkeeper down in the process, before turning on his heels and taking a shot with his first touch at an open goal, ultimately missing the far post by a matter of inches.
In the end it didn’t matter as they went onto win the match 3-1 and Pele was back amongst the goals as Brazil strolled past Italy in the final, but even forty years later, that particular move is considered one of Pele’s most iconic moments (even if it didn’t lead to a goal).
4) Demba Ba vs Arsenal, 2014
Demba Ba is will go down in the history books for being the player that crushed Liverpool’s title hopes after capitalising on Steven Gerrard’s slip back in 2014. But had this audacious effort hit the back of the net, it would undoubtedly be remembered as the Senegalese striker’s greatest goal ever.
Demba was shipped out to Turkish side Besiktas in the 2014/15 transfer window as part of a close season clear out at Chelsea, with one of the first games for his new outfit coming against ex-London rivals Arsenal in an early season Champions League qualifier.
Straight from kick-off, Demba Ba took one touch and wellied the ball towards the Arsenal goal. Now, we’ve all tried this before and come nowhere near, but boy was this a good effort.
Arsenal players could only watch on in amazement as the ball looped over their heads, only being stopped by the scrambling hands of Wojciech Szczęsny. Can you imagine the scenes on Arsenal Fan TV if that had gone in?
3) Luis Suarez vs Arsenal, 2014
Sticking with the Arsenal theme for number 8 and this entry comes from a match where Liverpool were still pushing for the league title, before the whole ‘slippy Steve’ thing.
Suarez was scoring for fun back in the 2013/14 season and with Liverpool already two goals to the good against the gunners, Luis was in the mood for fun.
Flicking up the ball straight from a driven corner to the edge of the box, the Uruguayan took one look-up before thwacking the ball on the half-volley.
Much to the Liverpool strikers’ disappointment, his shot fired back off the crossbar, meaning the footballing world was starved of one of the greatest goals of all time.
To make things worse for El Pistolero, the rebounded shot fell straight to teammate and internet meme sensation, Kolo Toure, who skewed his shot well wide of an open net. There is no need to be upset - right Luis?
2) Andrea Pirlo vs England, 2014
Joe Hart had only just got over Andrea Pirlo’s Panenka in the Euro 2012 quarter-final shoot-out when the two were drawn against each other again for the opening game of the 2014 World Cup.
Entering the final minute of added time, Italy were 2-1 up and Pirlo had been at the heart of everything good for the Azzurri. But there was still time for the little midfield-maestro to toy with England’s number one just one last time.
Electing to shoot from a seemingly impossible distance, Pirlo struck his free-kick with such technique that the ball swerved from left to right in the air, leaving Joe Hart left stranded.
Fortunately for the England goalkeeper, the ball pinged off the top of the crossbar, meaning he wouldn’t spend the next two years waking up in a puddle of his own sweat from a nightmare about Pirlo.
Saying that, Joe Hart’s career went downhill from there didn’t it? No Pirlo, no party.
1) Lionel Messi vs Atletico Madrid, 2009
It’s no secret that Lionel Messi is an alien sent from the gods to bless us with footballing artistry, but as rare as they might be, there does too come a time when even the Argentinian superstar falls short of the mark.
With his team already cruising 5-0 in the dying embers of a big La Liga clash against Atletico Madrid, a fresh faced, but already world renowned Lionel Messi wanted to show us all what the fuss around him was about.
Picking up the ball well inside his own half, the Flea ghosted past the Atleti midfield and meandered in-and-out of the remaining defenders, before lobbing the ball over a marooned goalkeeper with the most audacious of audacious chips.
90,000 people inside the Camp Nou watched on with expectant anticipation, hoping to see the ball hit the back of the net for what would have been one of Leo’s greatest of all time.
They were left disappointed. The ball trickled painfully past the post and Lionel didn’t get to add another wondergoal to his *checks records* very, very, very long list.
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