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SBI MLS Goal of the Week: Beckham’s long-range blast

In case you hadn’t heard, Chris Rolfe was awarded goal of the week by Major League Soccer.

No, I’m not kidding.

While Rolfe’s goal was nice, it can’t stand up to either of David Beckham’s two goals against Real Salt Lake.

So which goal really deserved goal of the week? The SBI award for this week goes to Beckham’s long-range free kick that tied the match bomb against RSL (yes, the SBI Mafia spoke and I listened. I’ll give the nod to the first Beckham goal):

If you haven’t seen Rolfe’s goal, watch it after the jump and see if you agree with the voters on MLSnet.com:

Nice turn and finish, but nowhere near as good as Beckham’s long-range blast, or this free kick equalizer:

Who do you think deserved goal of the week? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. petersons goal should have been nominated in favor of Beckham’s free kick. I’ll say it again. It’s a free kick. Great.

    Becks first blast probably deserved the award in terms of diffuculty and all that, but as others mentioned, the build up and execution of Rolfe’s goal were almost Barcelona (05-06 variety not current squad) like in it’s patient dissection of the defense. It’s a shame whoever cuts the highlights at MLSnet doesn’t know how to cut a proper highlight to show people in the review packages.

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  2. I don’t see what the big deal is with the first Beckham goal.

    Big deal, a long range shot that beats Nick Rimando high to the far post. Like we haven’t seen that 45 times before.

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  3. I agree with that Geach guy. It’s not called “the build-up to and then the goal” of the week. Rolfe’s is not bad, just not as good.

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  4. Beckham’s goal basically beat about 4/5 players in the box! and not one of them including the GK touching the ball. furthermore..the goal was a surprise as all of them, including the Galaxy players expected him to CROSS, instead..he chipped it straight to goal, beautifully! that my friend..was GOTW and so far Goal of the Season!

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  5. sorry, but the JACOB PETERSON goal sunday against United was the best goal of the week. it probably hurt him during the nomination process that the Rapids played on sunday. but that was the best strike of the week. c’mon, it was at full speed. beckham basically was standing still during both of his.

    George Tanner

    FC Rocky

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  6. Leaving the voting aside, what I liked most about Beckham’s first goal is that it was a great example of the value of taking a long range shot. Often, I feel that American players don’t do this enough. Yes, the success rate can be lower, and yes, most of your scoring success comes from working the ball into the box and then shooting or from crossing from the outside into the box. But when you start adding shots like Beckham’s to your reportoire you add a dangerous weapon to the mix. Dangerous for your opponent.

    For another example of the power of a shot from outside of the box, here’s the winning goal from the recent Manchester United vs. Barcelona match: http://www.soccerblog.com/2008/04/videopaul_scholes_makes_it_an.htm

    The goal is shown in the first 30 seconds of the clip.

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  7. The voting system is rigged every week. If there had been a decent Toronto goal it would have won easily regardless of the competition. Rolfe had a nice goal and I don’t see the need to diminish it just because Beckham’s goal did not win. The poor Galaxy fans had to choose one or the other and the split vote did not help. Also remember, if any of you guys who are complaining did not bother to vote – shut up.

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  8. Ok, I’ve scored goals like Rolfe, the defense just completely lapsed, the marking was horrible. Beckham’s run of play goal, now that’s a goal I’ve only dreamed of making.

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  9. Just because no one has.. there goes ives again always putting down the fire .. i swear he hates them .. way to be impartial.. i think i covered it

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  10. PeteK,

    I am schizophrenic. To clarify, Rolfe goal was a better buildup, but that Beckham goal was a good buildup followed by an exceptional strike

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  11. Geach – I was just with you, but now you make a case for buildup? In all honesty, did you see the entire Fire goal, or just the last two passes? At least the fans that voted on mlsnet got it right – as Simon Cowell says “it’s just my opinion”

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  12. I guess we can just agree to disagree. I love the buildup, creation of space, seperation, etc.. It is a preferance of what you enjoy – and you can vote as you choose. Let’s hope we have more of these debates. It is great to see the continued improvement in skill level.

    Let me say I am a Fire fan, but that never influences my pick for goal of the week.

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  13. One can only assume that the Bekham goals split the vote. Beckhams’s first goal should be a goal of the year canidate.

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  14. BTW, I just watched the entire buildup to Beckham’s goal, it goes like this.

    Franklin header to McDonald, McDonald lays off to Vanney. Vanny slots forward to Franchino, who passes to Randolph, who makes a couple of moves and toe pokes to Donovan. Donovan chips into the area to Gordon who lays it back to Beckham. Beckham’s man has to lay off as Klein is streaking down the flank. This gives Beckham the time to see the top right corner is uncovered. He lays a perfect ball over Rimando from 32 yards away (the only use for football lines). Of note, ball bends down more than to the left as usual.

    No how was that not a good all around build up goal?

    BTW that was 8 consecutive passes. Not too shabby

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  15. PeteK,

    I simply stated that the GOAL of the week should be that, the goal. The buildup is secondary. FC Dallas had a ton of great buildups last week, but no goals. It is not the buildup of the week.

    To those who say the defense was sitting back, it was because Chris Klein was making a run on his right and the defense had to respect the run. That is a big part of what made it such a great goal. Anyway, I am not trying to down Rolfe’s goal, but it was not of the same quality.

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  16. QUOTE “The mlsnet thing was stuffed by Fire supporters. The GOTW is not about buildup, it is about the goal.”

    What Geach? Then is it safe to say that you don’t think Maradona’s second goal against England in ’86 was that impressive – the goal was just barely a tap in? Please. Watch the games – not just the 5 seconds of SportsCenter highlights.

    Beckham’s goals were beautifully struck – but a keeper out of position, and a free kick we have seen 1000 times are not as extraordinary as you think. Tell me another time in MLS history a goal was scored after 12 consecutive passes.

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  17. Don’t forget that there were about 10 or 11 passes leading up to Rolfe’s goal, was a pretty nice, fluid move.

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  18. The defense on Becks’ goal was worse than lax, it was like they were afraid of him. After all, they probably would have been sent off if they had even attempted a tackle on his majesty (especially after he bumps the ball forward just before shooting). I’ll take Rolfe’s fluid, attacking style goal over that any day and it appears the fans agree.

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  19. Beckham’s first goal was clearly the best; he’s incredible. But Rolfe had two defenders coming in on him when he took his shot, and he also had to locate the goalkeeper, so that was no slouch goal and I can understand why MLS liked it.

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  20. at the risk of being contrarian, while Becks’ goal from the run of play was a fantastic finish, the defending was inexcusably lax – they just sat back and let him line up his shot. i bet he’d score in that situation 9 times out of 10.

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  21. The mlsnet thing was stuffed by Fire supporters. The GOTW is not about buildup, it is about the goal.

    Anyway, Rolfe’s shot was ordinary, Becks was extraordinary.

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  22. I still don’t even see what was so great about Rolfe’s goal. He’s a striker, he got the ball in the box, he managed to kick a ball straight and put it back in the net. WOW.

    I think the fuss tems from the fact that Chad Barrett plays on the team. Compared to his ability every goal looks like a goal of the week.

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  23. i think Beckham’s goal from the run of play is the goal of the season so far.. something strange is affoot at MLSnet.

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  24. I got to go with Jacob Peterson’s goal against DC United. An argument could be made for Beckham’s first goal. Rolfe’s goal as goal of the week, not a chance.

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  25. I’m confused, video 1 and video 3, aren’t they the same goal? I thought Becks’ first goal came from the run of play, not two free kicks.

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  26. It has been mentioned elsewhere, but Jacob Peterson’s goal against DC United was terrific. I can’t argue that both Beckham goals weren’t sweet, though.

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  27. Ives, why won’t you accept the results of a democratic process? Why do you hate America?

    🙂

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  28. PeteK has a good point. While the goal itself wasn’t the absolute best, the build up to the finish is something that should be recognized…

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  29. I think what people don’t see with Rolfe’s goal is the 12 – 14 consecutive passes made by Chicago – how often do you see that in MLS? That is the reason it got my vote.

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  30. Beckham’s run-of-play sinker was the best, but let’s chalk up Rolfe’s GOTW to the power of the Fire supporters on the www. Go Fire – Beat United.

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  31. that rolfe goal was pretty amazing, and by ‘amazing’ i mean ‘ordinary’. the only reason it looks impressive is b/c of a poor first touch.

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  32. Fair enough guys, I’ll go with the first goal, but while that goal is better on its own, the context of the equalizer is what made me go with that first (until I considered that it was still only the first half and not a 90th-minute strike or something like that.

    Either way, both Beckham goals were better than Rolfe’s. I think most of us can agree on that.

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  33. Ives sometimes you are so very right, and other times, like now…. well…

    It boggles my mind.

    I’m with you Dominghosa and James.

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  34. Golden Balls’ first goal was much better than these two shown here.

    To pick out a spot from that far away from that angle during the run of play and opposing players stepping up to you….

    that was a hell of a goal. Much more impressive than the free kick, which was more of Rimando’s doing than anyone else’s, and Rolfe’s.

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  35. Well clearly they split the Beckham vote by having both of his goals nominated. So the third best candidate won. Although I personally like the Beckham goal that came from the run of play better.

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