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Terry Allen
Most Unbelievable Moment
Terry's Comment:
He called it the "Scorpion kick". I can't think of a more spectacular, but insane thing to do during a game of this magnitude.
OK, so it wasn't the World Cup, but once you understand the context of his action, Rene Higuita becomes either the bravest footballer alive or the biggest fool.
It's 1995 at Wembley. England and Columbia are playing a friendly. Only 20,038 were present to see it, but they witnessed a spectacle later voted one of the 100 greatest sporting moments of all time in England. It's nil all and England's Jamie Redknapp pokes an innocuous ball in the air towards the Colombian goal, but instead of simply catching it, Higuita jumps in the air, brings both feet up behind his back until he is horizontal and kicks the ball away with the studs on his boots from behind his head.
It's as brilliant as it is crazy. England legend Gordon Banks was watching & said afterwards "Bobby Moore would have had a quiet word and Jack Charlton would have punched him on the nose".
England went on to win the game thanks to a Michael Owen hat trick, but who cares? Higuita's famous moment is made even more astounding when you realise it came only 12 months after team mate Andres Escobar was gunned down for his infamous own goal which cause defeat at the hands of the USA and forced Colombia out of the 1994 World Cup after the first round.
So, Escobar gets gunned down for an own goal and a year later Higuita thinks "I know, I'll do the Scorpion kick at Wembley!" Thankfully he made it. A gold medal for you Rene, you are a true mad hatter.
Best Save
Terry's Comment: It's no surprise that this should get my vote for best save of all time. Everyone thinks the same. It's hard to imagine there will ever be a better save on a more important occasion than this.
Brazil vs England in their first round match of the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, June 1970. Pele is the world's greatest striker and Gordon Banks the world's greatest goalkeeper. Both are in their final World Cup.
Brazil move the ball down the right flank where new captain Carlos Alberto finds Jairzinho who taps the ball around England defender Terry Cooper and just before it goes over the goal line hits as perfect a cross as you would ever hope to see.
Pele, standing on the far post, leaps over England defender Tommy Wright to head the ball into the ground about a metre from goal. The great man shouts "Goal!" as it heads for the net only to see Banks dive from the right post to slap the ball upwards and over the bar.
Pele later said "He came from nowhere. One moment he was by the right-hand post as I headed down, the next moment, no, the same moment, he was by the left-hand post and he had saved it. It was, in my opinion, the most spectacular save of the tournament, an impossible play - but Banks made it."
Banks was more modest. He said in his autobiography that he thought the ball went in after he'd touched it. It was only after he looked for it he realised what a save he'd made.
In July of this year (2008), Pele will be on hand to unveil a statue of Banks at Britannia Stadium, Stoke City where the keeper played between 1967 and 1972. A nice touch, but not as nice as the touches this pair gave the world that day in 1970.
Worst Save
Terry's Comment:
Actually, this is not strictly the "worst save" but rather the worst piece of goalkeeping I've ever seen. I'll keep the true worst saves for the comedy section. It's not really football at all but legalized thuggery and it's hard to know whether to blame the keeper or the referee more.
I'm referring to the infamous collision between German keeper Harald Schumacher on France's Patrick Battiston in a semi-final clash at the 1982 World Cup. Battiston had only come off the bench in the second half ten minutes before the incident. He pounced onto a through ball by France legend (and current UEFA President) Michel Platini. As Battiston got to the top of the penalty box it was him, the ball and the keeper.
He shot wide but Schumacher leapt into the air, twisting his body as he jumped. His hip collided with Battiston's face in just about the ugliest collision you will ever see. Battiston flopped onto the pitch like a rag doll unconscious, with damaged vertebrae and teeth knocked out. He later fell into a coma. Paramedics had to give him oxygen on the pitch. Platini later said he though Battiston was dead.
The referee did not even give a foul and after they gathered all of Battiston's body parts, Schumacher was allowed to take the goal kick to restart play. The score was 3-3 after extra time, and Germany won the match on penalties.
Biggest brain snap
Terry's Comment:
In one of the most bizarre incidents ever seen on or off the football pitch, Manchester United's Eric Cantona gave a Crystal Palace fan a free kick he was not expecting when the two teams met at Selhurst Park in January 1995.
Cantona was always a hot head. In 1987 he punched his own team's goalkeeper at Auxerre, leaving him with a black eye. He was also suspended by Marseille for kicking a ball into the crowd and throwing his shirt at the referee after being substituted.
On this day Cantona claimed the fan, Matthew Simmons, shouted racial insults and threw a missile at him as he walked off the pitch after being given a red card for kicking another player during a tackle.
The Red Devils put the Frenchman on the bench for nine months and the F.A. fined him £20,000. Then he was charged for the assault and initially sentenced to two weeks in prison which was reduced on appeal to 120 hours community service.
Finally, Cantona was stripped of his captaincy of the French national team and he lost his place in the side.
All of this was capped off by his comedy monologue at the press conference which followed where Cantona said calmly "When the seagulls follow a trawler it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much".
And with that he was off. No one to this day really knows what he meant, but it is assumed he was talking about the notorious British press and their stamina for chasing down a story even if it causes injuries worse than Cantona himself could inflict.
Crystal Palace also withdrew the fans' season ticket for breaking ground rules. Obviously no one is allowed to touch the boots of a Manchester United player, even if it's with your teeth.
Favourite Football Moment
Terry's Comment:
Any favourite moment is bound to be subjective so all I can do is explain why this one is special to me.
It's 1988 and Australia is celebrating its Bicentenary by having a football tournament known as The Bicentennial Gold Cup. Australia's opponents were up and comers Saudi Arabia and the two heavyweights Brazil & Argentina.
No one really expected anything other than a Brazil v Argentina final, but Australia surprised us all.
The Aussies only lost 1-nil to Brazil in the opening game and then beat Saudi Arabia 3-nil. The third match therefore was against reigning World Cup holders Argentina. We bought our tickets when the tournament was announced thinking we would see Maradona, but his Royal Highness did not even come to Australia.
In fact as we scanned the players running onto the pitch that night of July 14th, the only players to take the field who were also in the team which beat Germany in the 1986 World Cup Final were midfielder Sergio Batista & defender Oscar Ruggeri. There were two others who were in the full squad of 1986; Oscar Garre had played in the pool matches & goalkeeper Luis Islas had sat on the bench for the entire tournament as a backup keeper, but never actually played a minute. It didn't bother us too much apart from the fact that we thought the Aussies would go down to a second string Argentinian team. How wrong we were!
What I experienced that night was my favourite live sports event. Australia beat Argentina 4-1. It was comprehensive, it was exhilarating, it was nuts. But within that great sports event belongs my favourite football moment; the free kick taken by Captain Charlie Yankos.
What a goal. Paul Wade had scored in the fourth minute and Ruggeri equalized in the 31st. So it was one all just before half time when Australia was awarded a free kick about 30 metres out. Yankos stepped up to the mark as Argentina settled on a three man wall. The ball thundered past the wall at about head height, swerved to the right post & hit the net clean. We went into hysterics. Me and the other 18,000 people who thought it worth the trip. My best football moment at my all time favourite live sports event. By the way, we lost the final to Brazil 2-nil.
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