The 10 candidates for FIFA's goal of the year

[alkis21]

Well, 9 actually as there is no YouTube link for the first goal of the World Cup by S. Africa. It wasn't as good as the rest anyway.

The first one by Hamit Altıntop is my favorite.

[Robert]

1) Linus Hallenius - outstanding
2) Nasri
3) Robben

I still believe that the van Bronckhorst one was a mis-hit attempt at a cross.

[alkis21]

I still believe that the van Bronckhorst one was a mis-hit attempt at a cross.

Okay.. I disagree. Anyway, that's a perfect example of the "outswinger" we were discussing a while ago.

[Kostas O]

Burrows and Robben my favorites.

[Panayotis7]

I still believe that the van Bronckhorst one was a mis-hit attempt at a cross.

Look carefully at 0:57 and 1:05. If THAT was a cross attempt, then van Bronckhorst needs to quit football and take up knitting instead...

In order of preference: 2, 1, 3

[Freshmaker]

1 - Linus Hallenius. Simply a cracker. Wow does he hit that ball!!!

2 - Arjen Robben. Fucking hell, can that dude run!!! Such a solo-effort is simply amazing. Show of pure skills concerning ball-control, speed, agility. Amazing.

3 - Burrows. Lucky shot, but just so friggin beautiful.

[gdh82]

Thanks for posting, Alkis. Do you know when they choose a winner?

Fantastic selection but Hallenius stands out for me too.

[gdh82]

You probably already know but the winner was announced this week - and Alkis was right!

However, the 'most beautiful goal of the year' as voted for on FIFA.com by over one million fans went to Turkey’s Altintop for his fantastic goal in the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying match between Kazakhstan and Turkey played in Astana on 3 September 2010. Altintop received the FIFA Puskás Award trophy at the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala on Monday 10 January 2010, with his name engraved upon it.

[Steve Camber]

So the winner is a cheesy shot from outside the box? Disgusting!

[alkis21]

That makes absolute sense to me. Unlike all the other goals, it satisfied all of my criteria for a great goal:

1) He totally meant to do it (not the usual "I put my head down, kick the ball with all my strength and hope for the best").

2) It's insanely difficult: perfect body balance and precise connection with a ball that was coming his way at 80 miles per hour. Most of these shots end up in the stands IF the player gets to touch the ball at all.

3) It's extremely rare. You hardly ever see such a move. Goals such as Nasri's or van Bronckhorst's may be beautiful but we see variations of them every week.