Artistry and Celebration of Sport

The last clip in this video the way Waldner just stands there, sets Liu Gouliang up and puts him away, and that expression on his face:



Made me think of this video of Eric Cantona's goal:



Which WiWa kindly posted for me. I love this goal and I also love Cantona's celebration after.


WiWa also posted this video:



Which demonstrates amazing finesse and control.

Go ahead and post some of your favorite goals from football or points from table tennis or any other sport and lets have fun with this thread.

Originally Posted by WiWa

Gotta love this

Wow, those are three great passes and a lot of really fast running to get to them, and the play Van Persie makes on that ball in the air is pretty cool: lefty. Thanks WiWa. I am going to watch it again.

Jan Ove Waldner, Eric Cantona, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ronaldo... Fantastic athletes in different sports. Gotta love 'em!

Here is a vid of 2OLEGEND btw

Originally Posted by yurybarquero

Nice that you started this thread.
This is the video that I previously posted...

and some others

Awesome videos yurybarquero. I was hoping you would find this. Really good footage you posted. I am also glad you put that video from the other thread here.

I realized in that thread about blocking and Waldner, I did not want people to get upset but those videos you guys posted are great and I wanted more. I love seeing good footage of football.

Originally Posted by Anders

Jan Ove Waldner, Eric Cantona, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ronaldo... Fantastic athletes in different sports. Gotta love 'em!

Here is a vid of 2OLEGEND btw

The Babyfaced Assassin, I love it Anders.

What great control these guys in these videos show. I wish I could play football like that. Amazing.

Iknow.. He's from Norway you know, haha I met 2OLEGEND in Norway last year, he signed my Man Utd. jersey and shook my hand. I was just starstruck, haha

Ok, those are great clips. But here is a guy that may be not as famous and well known internationally as the others above. His name is Matt Le Tissier, played for Southampton in the 90's, and I never missed to watch him in action. The locals called him "Le God"...watch the video and you'll find out why (plus, check out his celebration!)



Exactly...what celebration? 80% of his goals were all spectacular. His passes and dribbling skills were just ridiculous. The English managers hardly ever picked him to play for England coz they all say that he's too lazy. hahaha

Too lazy to even celebrate

Originally Posted by Tadex

Too lazy to even celebrate

Hahahaha nice one buddy!! Didn't notice that! Yeah, he has that nonchalant character, but I must say he was one of the most under rated player to play the game.

Originally Posted by azlan

Hahahaha nice one buddy!! Didn't notice that! Yeah, he has that nonchalant character, but I must say he was one of the most under rated player to play the game.

He definitely has an eye for the goal. If he gets an opening he is going for that goal and it looks like he has a pretty powerful leg.

A friend of mine and I were talking, trying to sort out why football is not such a big spectator sport in the USA. Everywhere else in the world they seem to get it and in the states, the people who get it are usually from somewhere else originally. But middle America does not seem to understand or have the interest to watch it.

A couple of the things we looked at were some of the characteristics of the sports that are big in this country, from the media standpoint. All of them have stop and start action so that when something actually happens, they can show replays of it over and over again from every possible angle. Also, because there are lots of breaks where there is no action, they can put a lot of advertisements in and make money.

In baseball and American football I have noticed that games take longer than when I was younger because they actually have added more breaks for commercials than there used to be. In basketball they seem to stop over and over again as well.

So between the media wanting to make money through constant advertising and people not having the attention span to watch the actual tactics of the sport, so that, often when something does happen they were not paying attention to it, and if there are not enough replays they just missed it, most people in this country might never get to see how much talent and technique goes into a sport like football (soccer for us Americans). And, I have to say, it is really a shame.

But these clips you guys are posting are great to see.

You're spot on Carl...it's the commercial nowadays. And also the Americans are fanatical about statistics. Whenever the game stops, they will display the stats..

But in the olden days, American football and baseball has always been the top games. But back then there were no commercials.. But I think I know why these games are big. Americans are somehow hooked on big and powerful athletes.

In football, size matters. How hard you can hit your opponents enough to give them a concussion equivalent of being hit by a small truck is a big must, hence the paddings which makes them twice the size of what they're really are. Rest of the world has rugby (being hit by a small truck, without paddings while gasping for air)..and the actual World Cup, and the privilege to be called world champion hehe

In baseball..it has to be hitting out of the park, the home runs. The further you hit, the better. Break the bats, and the sponsors will give you more to break

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

He definitely has an eye for the goal. If he gets an opening he is going for that goal and it looks like he has a pretty powerful leg.

A friend of mine and I were talking, trying to sort out why football is not such a big spectator sport in the USA. Everywhere else in the world they seem to get it and in the states, the people who get it are usually from somewhere else originally. But middle America does not seem to understand or have the interest to watch it.

A couple of the things we looked at were some of the characteristics of the sports that are big in this country, from the media standpoint. All of them have stop and start action so that when something actually happens, they can show replays of it over and over again from every possible angle. Also, because there are lots of breaks where there is no action, they can put a lot of advertisements in and make money.

In baseball and American football I have noticed that games take longer than when I was younger because they actually have added more breaks for commercials than there used to be. In basketball they seem to stop over and over again as well.

So between the media wanting to make money through constant advertising and people not having the attention span to watch the actual tactics of the sport, so that, often when something does happen they were not paying attention to it, and if there are not enough replays they just missed it, most people in this country might never get to see how much talent and technique goes into a sport like football (soccer for us Americans). And, I have to say, it is really a shame.

But these clips you guys are posting are great to see.

I think that is the reason indeed. And I must say, it is true that when you watch a football match it is possible that just barely anything happens for 90 minutes. When something does happen it can be great and skillfull, and there will be replays of it. They just do the replays during the game because nothing is happening anyway :P But I think Americans are more comfortable with shorter pieces of action and more breaks in between.

Originally Posted by azlan

You're spot on Carl...it's the commercial nowadays. And also the Americans are fanatical about statistics. Whenever the game stops, they will display the stats..

But in the olden days, American football and baseball has always been the top games. But back then there were no commercials.. But I think I know why these games are big. Americans are somehow hooked on big and powerful athletes.

In football, size matters. How hard you can hit your opponents enough to give them a concussion equivalent of being hit by a small truck is a big must, hence the paddings which makes them twice the size of what they're really are. Rest of the world has rugby (being hit by a small truck, without paddings while gasping for air)..and the actual World Cup, and the privilege to be called world champion hehe

In baseball..it has to be hitting out of the park, the home runs. The further you hit, the better. Break the bats, and the sponsors will give you more to break

Those are good points Azlan. I agree. You have added something to it. Big, larger than life, brute power. Even slam dunks in basketball where everyone loved that guy Darrel Dawkins, who kept shattering the glass of the backboard, until they fixed it so the glass would not shatter.



I do think that if Americans got to see some of the kind of footage presented here in this thread, on a more consistent basis, they would start getting more into football (soccer). But it is too bad that it will not be "marketed" in the USA in a way where that will happen.

Originally Posted by WiWa

Lol amazing. He's just like: Sorry guys, but that goal is waaay to large.. I'm gonna score from 30-40 metres.. Not a challenge.. xD

Yep. I love it. I like that clip where he pops the ball up over the defender to himself and then kicks it in as well, but those long shots are pretty amazing how accurate he is.

It's a bit difficult to tempt the Americans to play TT. Imagine, we are playing with this tiny rackets, tiny balls and little tables. hehehe Like you said Carl, most of the people who play these sports like TT, badminton, soccer, rugby, even cricket (there's a club in LA formed by a west indian), they play these sports in the country they originated from. USA has a huge potential in these sports if somehow they're introduced and taught from the grass root level.

EDIT : MATT LE TISSIER = LE GOD Type his name on youtube to watch more of him.