OK.... It's hard not to get psyched for the Czech Republic/Portugal match today. Both teams won their first games in Euro 2008 in less-than-convincing fashion -- and need to impress us. And there's a bit of history here as well dating back to 1996, when the Czechs gave Portugal and its fans some serious heartbreak as the Czechs made their way to the final -- and some heartbreak of their own -- against Germany.The goal that broke Portugal's back in the quarterfinal on June 23, 1996 at Villa Park in Birmingham was this audacious lob from Karel Poborsky -- shown at right in an ad from French star Thierry Henry's 2005 anti-racism campaign. (And, yes, this video also replays that other great Czech lob in soccer history -- Antonin Panenka's penalty in the 1976 final in Belgrade -- discussed in detail here and here.)
Poborsky's classic goal was recently voted the "Best Solo Strike" in European Championship history in an online poll at UEFA's website. It is pretty freaking amazing.
3 comments:
A win for Portugal. Ronaldo to break his duck today! :)
Let's see around 8pm! :)
Congrats, goalcentre. You were indeed correct. Richard
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