World Cup 2006 - best goals

The 2006 World Cup saw a host of great goals, including a couple on the second last day of the tournament as Schweinsteiger and Germany provided two more crackers to go with the Lahm and Frings efforts from their first game against Costa Rica.

But choosing the best goal out of all of them is perhaps impossible.

Some of the best goals so far:

1. Philipp Lahm (Germany vs Costa Rica)
2. Torsten Frings (Germany vs Costa Rica)
3. Maxi Rodriguez (Argentina vs Mexico)
4. Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic vs USA (Goal #1))
5. Esteban Cambiasso (Argentina vs Serbia & Montenegro)
6. Joe Cole (England vs Sweden)
7. David Beckham (England vs Ecuador)
8. Fernando Torres (Spain vs Tunisia)
9. Kaka (Brazil vs Croatia)
10. Ronaldo (Brazil vs Japan)
11. Franck Ribery (France vs Spain)
12. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany vs Portugal (Goal #2))
13. Sergei Rebrov (Ukraine vs Saudi Arabia)
14. Deco (Portugal vs Iran)
15. Zidane (France vs Spain)

How the hell do you pick out the best goal from this list? I’ve already left out such gems as the Grosso / Del Piero double on Germany, or Podolski’s goal against Sweden (courtesy of an outrageous Ballack lob), Zambrotta’s strike against Ukraine, Cahill against Japan and even Ronaldo’s goal against Ghana (there are many more).

So instead of just picking one goal, I’m picking three - in three different categories.

Maxi Rodriguez - Argentina vs Mexico

You cannot fault a guy who takes a cross on his chest, and volleys the rebound into the top far corner from outside the penalty area, while turning in mid air. The entire thing took less than 5 seconds, but such is its brilliance that it should win the goal of the tournament award (although knowing FIFA the Cambiasso goal will probably edge it). Definitely the hardest goal to pull off.

Esteban Cambiasso - Argentina vs Serbia & Montenegro

24 passes, a backheel in the penalty area and low drilled shot to seal the deal. Has drawn parallels with Brazil’s wonder goal (finished off by Carlos Alberto) in the 1970 World Cup final. Even the replays would take a couple of minutes to capture all the passes.

Torsten Frings - Germany vs Costa Rica and Tomas Rosicky - Czech Republic vs USA

Yes, a tie. Frings put in an absolute blinder against Costa Rica - a shot that kept going and going, swerved left and then right, before finally beating the keeper and ending up in the net. But Rosicky’s goal can simply not be ignored - And were it not for the two Argentine goals, Rosicky would surely have the goal of the tournament award.