Somehow, for some reason, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa sees that the ball has stopped, sees that the goalkeeper is off his line (why wouldn't he be? The free kick is more than 50 yards away) and Maynor decides to take a poke. That's ballsy. But of course, it wouldn't be worth mentioning if he were ballsy and unsuccessful. Maynor was ballsy and very successful. And there can be no doubt about what he was trying to do--there's no one on his team anywhere near this ball. Maynor Figueroa looked up, saw the keeper four steps out of position, and gave this ball a crack. He was trying to do this. My brain wrinkles at the audacity.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Maynor Figueroa, That's Ballsy
So let me set this up a bit, because the video is from a British Football highlight show, and it starts in medias res. It's Stoke vs. Wigan in the Premiership, which is analogous to, I don't know--Cleveland vs. Kansas City in the NFL. These are two teams that are going nowhere. There is a foul at midfield, and the fouler has caused the ball to roll to a stop. The ball needs to be stopped for any free kick in soccer. As the commentator somewhat dickishly points out--there is a reason that soccer players, after giving up a foul, stand near the ball until the referee makes them step away--players do that to give their defense a few extra seconds to set up. Iffen you don't do that, crazy shit can happen.
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