At the World Cup in 1986, the most famous Argentine soccer player ever, Diego Maradona, scored a goal using his hand. Behold Exhibit A.
Despite the obvious rule breaking that this was, the refs did not call the penalty and the goal stood. This has been referred to as “The Hand of God” goal ever since. It’s famous. Really famous. Fast forward to last Saturday when the US played England. England is a soccer powerhouse. The US is, well, not a soccer powerhouse. No one expected us to beat them. (But then again, does anyone ever expect the US to win on the world stage when it comes to soccer? Um, no.) However, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, and it was all thanks to a colossal mistake by the England goalie. Here it is, so you can wince for yourself:
All I could think about after that happened, was
a. The US got so lucky
b. Hey, sometimes you need a little luck
c. That goalie might be found dead in his hotel room by the next morning
And that is no joke! Other countries take the World Cup very seriously. In some countries players have wound up dead after blowing a huge game. Luckily, the goalie is still alive. (so far) Benched, but still alive. However, I knew that the English press would have a field day at this poor guy’s expense and they did not disappoint with their awesome headline the next day:
Ouch! But they get major cool points for tying in another legendary soccer headline while at the same time using the word "clod." That word is awesome and way underused in our society. Let's bring it back. Whattayasay? Do it! Don't be a clod!
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