Galactic goals
Every once in a while a goal is scored that completely changes the fortunes of a player or his team, a strike that alters history and sets individuals and clubs on a new path for the better. These goals are rare, but KICK OFF picks a few that turned out t
Momentous goals that shaped history
ANDY KING (LEICESTER CITY VS WEST HAM )
A year before Leicester City created arguably the greatest story sport has ever seen by being crowned English Premier League champions, they were basically dead and buried at the foot of the table and on their way to the second-tier. The side had won only two of their previous 24 Premier League matches, losing 17 of those, and had not won a game for over two months. Manager Nigel Pearson was told to prepare for the Championship. Then came a home game against West Ham United and it looked like another match without a win as the game meandered to a conclusion at 1-1. But four minutes from time midfielder Andy King headed in Jamie Vardy’s skew shot and Leicester claimed a 2-1 win. Their remaining eight league matches produced six wins, a draw and a single defeat as they miraculously escaped the drop by a comfortable six points. Claudio Ranieri, nonetheless, replaced Pearson. But most people expected another relegation battle the next season. It proved anything but as Leicester, with essentially the same group of players, took the Premier League by storm and were crowned champions nine months later. Would they have even been in the Premier League had King not scored that late winner? One thinks not.
KATLEGO MPHELA (SOUTH AFRICA VS SPAIN)
Katlego Mphela’s international career for South Africa can be separated into two distinct parts – prior to June 28, 2009 and post June 28, 2009. The forward was always a player of much promise, having had a spell in France with Strasbourg and Reims while still a teenager. He returned to South Africa in 2006 and played for SuperSport United, making finishing look easy at times, a rarity for a Premier Soccer League striker. But his career was rather bumbling along with his huge potential going unfulfilled, despite a move later to Mamelodi Sundowns. When Bafana Bafana played Spain in the third-place play-off at the 2009 Confederations Cup tournament on home soil, he was by no means a regular in the team despite his 13 caps. He netted the opener, but two goals in quick succession from Dani Güiza put the Europeans in front in the third minute of injury-time. South Africa won a free-kick 35 yards out though, and Mphela stepped up to blast the ball home, showing great technique and skill, and beating a keeper of the quality of Iker Casillas from that range. It was a goal that would ignite the career of Mphela and in his next 30 international starts he scored another 17 goals. He finished his international career with 23 goals in 52 games, joint third on the alltime scorers list with Bernard Parker, and for a while was so crucial for the national team that he was often asked to play despite injury.
ANTHONY LAFFOR (MAMELODI SUNDOWNS VS AJAX CAPE TOWN)
Mamelodi Sundowns have enjoyed incredible success over the past 18 months, but just prior to that they were a team in some turmoil and the position of coach Pitso Mosimane was under scrutiny as fan protests against him threatened to turn violent. An indifferent start to the 2015/16 campaign saw them knocked out of the the MTN8 quarter-finals by Bloemfontein Celtic, with their first four league games yielding just four points. There was unrest among the supporters and they aimed their frustration at Mosimane, with the coach needing a police escort after a 2-1 loss at Lamontville Golden Arrows, which had followed a 1-0 defeat by Mpumalanga Black Aces. The atmosphere in the stands was toxic the day they hosted Ajax Cape Town in Atteridgeville on September 23, 2015, as fans chanted and held placards calling for Mosimane’s dismissal. With the anger threatening to boil over, and the score tied at 2-2 in injury time, up stepped Liberian forward Anthony Laffor to score a brilliant winner, blasting the ball home from the edge of the box in the first minute of injury time to secure a 3-2 victory for The Brazilians. That goal would spark a remarkable run of form for the team, as they won 19 and drew three of their next 22 domestic matches, and over the next year and a half, would go on to be crowned Premier League champions, win the Telkom Knockout, and claim the African Champions League and Super Cup titles.
JOHN BARNES (ENGLAND VS BRAZIL)
John Barnes would go on to become an England and Liverpool legend, but in the early stages of his national team career, there were few signs this would be the case. Born in Jamaica, he moved to England at the age of 12 and was seen as a promising prospect at top-flight side Watford, making his national team debut in 1983. A year later, in June 1984, England went on what was termed at the time a “Suicide Mission” – a friendly international against Brazil at the famous Maracanã. The side had just lost 2-0 to USSR and there were even calls for the team to pull out of the game in Brazil to avoid embarrassment, but coach Bobby Robson was having nothing if it. “If we pull out,” he said, “we will never know what might have happened.” Robson started the 20-year-old Barnes and it would be a game to take the winger to global fame. Picking the ball up 35 metres from goal, Barnes went on a mesmerising run, beating five Brazilian defenders and the goalkeeper to score. He “out-Braziled” Brazil. England won 2-0 and Barnes would go on to win 79 England caps, the last in 1995, and lift eight trophies with his club side Liverpool.
MARK ROBINS (MANCHESTER UNITED VS NOTTINGHAM FOREST)
Long before Sir Alex Ferguson was a Knight of the Realm, he faced the sack at Manchester United after a dark winter in the 1989/90 English season. Eight games without a win saw United struggling at the wrong end of the table, with Ferguson admitting their FA Cup sixth round fixture against Nottingham Forest was make-or-break for him. Defeat and he would be sacked after three-and-a-half years in the job at Old Trafford had produced no trophies. Forest were a force at the time and United rode their luck for much of the game, before Mark Robins scored what proved to be the decisive goal in the second half from a Mark Hughes pass. United were through, and although they faltered in the next few league games, Ferguson was safe. It would be a turning point as they defeated Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final that season and over the next 23 years, Ferguson would go on to become the most successful British manager of all time, claiming 28 trophies during his memorable tenure.
ADRIAN HEATH (EVERTON VS OXFORD UNITED)
Adrian Heath is not a name that will be familiar to South African football fans, but he sparked one of the greatest turnarounds in English football history for Merseyside club Everton. All was not well at the club in January 1984 when they visited lower league Oxford United for a League Cup quarterfinal, as they sat 16th in the league. Facing relegation, fans were calling for coach Howard Kendall’s head, with flyers handed out demanding his sacking. Defeat to lowly Oxford would have been tickets for the coach. And things looked even more dire as the side trailed 1-0 into the second half. But then came a moment that would change the fortunes of the club in a dramatic fashion. Oxford midfielder Kevin Brock attempted a back-pass to his goalkeeper, but it was latched onto by nippy forward Heath, who equalised for the Toffees. Everton won the replay and went on to lift the FA Cup, beating Watford 2-0 in the final, paving the way to future success. In a little over a year they won the league and also claimed the European Cup Winners’ Cup. They reached three FA Cup finals in a row and won the league for a second time in 1987 in the most successful period in the club’s history.
TOTO SCHILLACI (ITALY VS AUSTRIA)
Think of the World Cup in Italy in 1990 and it will surely conjure memories of diminutive home forward Salvatore Schillaci, who burst onto the global stage from seemingly nowhere to finish topscorer at the competition. Having spent most of his career in the lower leagues in Italy, the then 25-yearold had signed for Juventus at a time when the club was in some turmoil. He then won a place in the Italy squad for the World Cup, but was not first choice, having only made his debut months before, and came on as a substitute against Austria in the Azzurri’s opening game. He netted the team’s winning goal, and would follow that up with strikes against Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Republic of Ireland, Argentina and England as Italy finished third. This little known forward not only won the Golden Boot, but also the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player. He was suddenly the toast of world football, having played in Italy’s second tier just a year earlier. Injuries would hamper his career afterwards, though he played two more seasons at Juventus before joining Inter Milan and eventually Japanese side Júbilo Iwata in 1994. Steven Pienaar’s nickname “Schillo” was given to him by childhood friends after the exploits of Schillaci at the 1990 World Cup.