Not only has Qatar ’22 offered up a rich vein of fantastic goals, there have also been an especially wide variety of them.
Amidst all of the upsets and the drama, we’ve been treated to thunder-blasts from distance, individual moments of magic, sublime set-pieces, and spectacular bicycle-kicks.
Well-constructed team goals have drawn gasps of admiration, in living rooms across the globe and on social media.
Curled efforts into the far corner have looked all-the-more aesthetically pleasing because they’ve only just eluded a goalkeeper’s fingertips.
Indeed, so diverse have been these litany of bangers that it makes an already difficult task in choosing the best of them an almost impossible act.
It’s like picking between a cute puppy and a Rolling Stones hit. A delicious bowl of spaghetti alle vongole and a sunrise.
And then the brief got even harder when Julian Alvarez ran fully 60 yards with the ball in Argentina’s semi-final against Croatia before nudging home from close range.
Never mind comparing the Manchester City striker’s solitary endeavour to others, it is problematic enough evaluating its own merits.
Was it a special goal? Or were there too many instances of good fortune involved to see it acclaimed, as Alvarez twice took heavy touches only to have the ball rebound back into his path.
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Memories of USA ’94 help us determine this, when Saudi Arabia’s Saeed Al-Owairan successfully took on half of a Belgium team single-handedly, without ever once having full control of the ball.
That has since gone down in lore as a great World Cup goal, and this one is too.
Far easier to place near the top shelf of tournament goals was another of Argentina’s 12 on route to the final, namely Enzo Fernandes’ effort against Mexico.
The 21-year-old’s debut strike for his country was a top-bins beauty that bended at pace.
Notable too was Nahuel Molina’s opener for La Albiceleste in their quarter-final victory over Holland. It was a routine finish all courtesy of a ridiculous blind pass from the irrepressible Lionel Messi.
As impressive as both of these goals were neither make it into our top five, and the same goes – spoiler alert – for all set-pieces. This despite one of them being a peerless example of the craft.
Marcus Rashford’s free-kick that downed Wales deserves to be mentioned in despatches, along with Wout Weghort’s 101st minute equaliser against Argentina that demanded not only clever thought but considerable nerve to pull off with Holland’s World Cup survival depending on it.
When Teun Koopmeiners lined up a free-kick with mere seconds remaining nobody expected him to pass it into the box, his ingenuity rewarded.
Luis Chavez’s immaculate set-piece for Mexico in the group stages however was a cut above the rest. By turns an Exocet missile and a bird of prey in flight, his 30-yard pearler was destined for the top corner from the moment it left his boot.
Even so, Chavez’s moment of perfection is not included in our fabulous five, and what’s the betting that your list is very different to the one below. Such is the way when a single tournament throws up a multitude of glorious goals.
5 - Neymar v Croatia
Struggling with an ankle injury throughout, Neymar dazzled and disappointed in equal measure in Qatar and the same was true when Brazil faced the Chequered Ones in a surprisingly scrappy last eight clash.
Anonymous for the most part, the PSG megastar suddenly came alive in extra-time, receiving the ball a mile from goal and lulling the Croatia defence into a false sense of security by adopting a languid pose.
A one-two with Rodrygo had him pick up the pace, and then another one-two ushered him into the box where he easily rode a challenge and rounded the keeper.
His finish was astute, fired high into the net so as to circumnavigate the desperate lunge of a last defender.
4 - Vincent Aboubaker v Serbia
The 30-year-old Cameroonian believed he was offside. That’s the key detail to Aboubaker’s artful lob after he found himself in acres of space with just the keeper to beat.
So he steadied himself, shrugged off a last-ditch tackle, then close up to Milinkovic-Savic the forward scooped the ball high and over the keeper, watching it bounce once before satisfyingly nestle in the net.
It was an audacious bit of foolery usually reserved for training, to make his team-mates laugh. Because he thought it wouldn’t count.
But here’s the thing. In years to come no-one will care about the VAR decision. All they’ll marvel at is the feat itself.
3 - Salem Al-Dawsari v Argentina
Al-Dawsari went to Qatar widely viewed as Saudi Arabia’s most talented star. A genuine threat if any opportunity arose.
He returned home having scored one of the most remarkable goals in the competition’s long history.
To bag a winner in an upset of such magnitude, against the two-time world champions, is in itself a life-goal.
To pluck the ball from the sky, somehow bewitch a modicum of space inside the area, then unleash a picturesque, fizzing effort beyond the grasping reach of the keeper? That’s the stuff of dreams.
2 - Richarlison v Serbia
Of course it’s the bicycle kick itself that most stands out.
With the ball above head-height the Spurs forward arcs his foot through the air, connecting powerfully and in the blink of an eye possibly the most spectacular World Cup goal since Manuel Negrete similarly pulled off aerial acrobatics at Mexico 1986, has been scored.
Of course it’s the bicycle kick.
Only then, on second glance we notice how Richarlison immediately adapts to his mis-control. There is no hesitation. No thought.
On seeing how the ball has spun upwards and seemingly beyond him, his instinct is to be brilliant.
1 - Julian Alvarez v Croatia
Having already established that Alvarez’s individual marauding constitutes a great goal, here’s precisely why.
It’s because he starts the move himself, half-cutting out a cross just beyond his own box.
It’s because he begins his trail of destruction inside his own half, charging fearlessly and directly at Croatia’s back-line. Who else does that, without resorting to trickery or assistance?
The scale of the occasion is also a consideration. An unforgettable moment achieved in a World Cup semi-final.
And lastly, and most pertinently, our collective response to it says a great deal. A billion eyes were widened in genuine shock and awe.
Argentina’s World Cup winner odds are short due to the majesty of Messi, and the x-factor of Alvarez.
