Anatomy of a wonder goal

One of the great World Cup strikes took just five touches and eight seconds to score

1There were just 15 minutes played in England’s secondround tie with Argentina in St-etienne when Michael Owen set off on his brilliant run. The score was 1-1 when England intercepted the ball in an Argentina attack and Paul Ince found David Beckham. He, in turn, looked up and played the ball to Owen in a pocket of space in the centre circle.

2Owen was tightly marked but his first touch, with the outside of his boot, was perfect.

It took him past Jose Chamot, the Argentina defender, and gave him space to run into. With Owen’s pace, Argentina had a problem.

3Owen stormed past Chamot but the Argentine tried to bring him down, with the picture to the left showing how he grabbed the Englishman’s shoulder, with Owen doing brilliantly to retain his balance and continue his run.

4That left Roberto Ayala, standing almost inexplicably deep on the edge of the Argentina penalty area. That could partly be explained by the fact he had just given away a penalty for a foul on Owen and Ayala simply stood his ground, making little attempt to challenge. Owen just dropped a shoulder, went to the defender’s left and was in on goal.

5Despite Owen doing the hard work, the onrushing Paul Scholes was actually in a far better position to score. Instead, Owen – who was running away from goal – took it first time, firing his effort across Carlos Roa and into the top corner. Just eight seconds after winning the ball back, and after only five touches from Owen, England had scored.