The only thing that would make that better is if it were the game winner against Houston, sending us through to the finals…..

Still – a thing of beauty.

I have been following your site for a while now and would first and foremost like to thank you for running the hands down best american soccer site. that said, in regard to cooper’s “golazo,” I find it to be quite absurd that people are calling this a potential goal of the season. While it was a tremendous strike and a display of good awareness, the goalkeeper most definitely should have saved it even with his poor positioning. Goals like this occur in European leagues often and they are forgotten a week later. I remember Xabi Alonso scoring a similar goal against Toon. It was talked about for the weekend, and forgotten. Obviously it was the first match of the season and thigsn were exaggerated, but i feel this is a sign of american football ignorance and how we would rather see a fluke goal that shows up on the sportscenter top 10 rather than a quality football match.

My negative comment aside, keep up the good work.

after watching arnaud’s goals this weekend, i would say his first goal was superior to coopers.

For what it is worth – this was not a fluke goal by Kenny – he has scored like this before and practices shots like this every week.

(By the way – the other time he scored like this was when he was playing for ManU Reserves )

please don’t get me wrong here. kenny’s goal was no doubt a quality finish and a mark of a true striker. my criticism is of the reaction to the goal. if this is what MLS fans consider a potential goal of the season, we need to have higher standards. watch a highlight film of any european leagues goals from any given weekend and i am sure you will find goals better than this.

Spurs,

I am certain that I watch as much European football as you do, and the reaction to Kenny’s goal is one of natural joy and understandable excitement from team supporters, and nothing else. Please relax with the condescending tone. ; )

One thing you may be missing here is the fact that this was the opening goal of the season, on a big opening day at home. This added a lot of additional emotion to the experience. Kenny has done this before in the middle of the season without the same level of exuberance and fan reaction.

As you know, some goals…even those that are less than sublime in their finish from a technical perspective, are much bigger and more important than others for a myriad of reasons. It is one thing that makes football the beautiful game…namely that said beauty is in the eye of the beholder….not in the eye of the self-proclaimed “experts.”

Spurs,
This isn’t Europe, it’s MLS. Go back to previous year GOTY candidates and tell me that Kenny’s goal doesn’t stand up. It clearly does. We don’t have Xabi Alonso playing at PHP or the HDC. We have Kenny Cooper and Landon Donovan. There is a different standard in play. Stop living in your European Poser Bubble and recognize that you live in the United States.

I am not sophisticated enough to reconcile the following two statements made by Spurs:

1. “i feel this is a sign of american football ignorance and how we would rather see a fluke goal that shows up on the sportscenter top 10 rather than a quality football match.”

2. “kenny’s goal was no doubt a quality finish and a mark of a true striker.”

And I wonder why those sophisticated Euros included Kenny’s goal in their weekend highlights.

If being “cultured” about the world’s game is as narrow as Spurs defines it (where you cannot even celebrate a great goal), let me be the ignorant American soccer fan. Ignorant enough to know that beautiful goals come in all flavors, and some of them are scored in places other than Europe.

Great retort Chamo! I just wanted to point out the fact that the video is exactly 33 seconds long!

oh that’s weird, it said 33 when it was over and now it shows 34, I spoke too soon. Would have been good if it was 33! Ha ha.

As much as it pains my soul (as an Arsenal fan) to defend anyone named Spurs…

I think he was only referring to the hype of it being the goal of the year. Michael Parkhurst had a goal like this a couple of years ago that didn’t win. Danny Cepero had one last year like this that didn’t win. I think he was just saying that it’s a little short-sighted to call it goal of the year.

It was a great strike, and we as Dallas fans should absolutely celebrate it (though quietly, since there were 3 goals after that didn’t exactly help our cause), but to expect everyone else to see it as some sort of brilliance is asking a little too much in my opinion.

Buzz has also brought up this SC top 10 mentality in American soccer coverage. I think he described it as showing the strike 100 times, but never showing the great 1-2 pass or the guy who makes a great play on defense then hustles forward to get involved in the attack.

chicks dig the long ball…..

Spurs and Aaron,
No one is saying that it deserves to win GOTY, just that it could very well be a contender. And coming 8 minutes into the season that’s pretty remarkable.

I know of the other goals you are refering to, and those were lobs over the GK’s head…this was not. It was a rocket blast, on a rope. To hit the ball with that accuracy and pace from that distance is incredible, and indicative of a higher level of skill than simply lobbing the ball up and hoping that it comes down under the crossbar.

tex, Bobby Rhine says at the beginning of the clip, “Can I call it GOTY right now?” just sayin’.

and I did vote for it for the week, everyone else should too, as many times as you can because he’s fallen behind Montero.

I know it won’t matter much to the U.S. soccer scene if Montero’s goal beats Cooper’s goal this week, but I will hate Seattle for a good year or so if it happens. That’s just blatant homerism.

I can accept people thinking the strikes by Arnaud and Pontius were better, but come on.

Oh well…if Bobby Rhine said it.

He’s a broadcaster trying to energize the broadcast. OMG!!! What a ridiculous thing to do!!!!

Eugene….I agree. We had the same problem when RSL started up. Their fans were so geeked up for their new team they would vote en mass for any of their players for any award. You can appreciate the enthusiasm, but it kinda sucked the meaning out of the award, IMO.

It does, tex, and what makes it worse is that if Cooper’s goal loses it won’t even be considered for Goal of the Year.

If Montero wins, maybe Cooper getting shafted will throw some good karma our way, who knows.

My initial comment was not of malicious intent and i apologize to those who are offended. I would like to point out that i did mention that it was the first goal of the season and that is to be taken into account, as well as mentioning that it was a quality goal. I would like to thank the arsenal fan for sticking up for me. I participated in the american soccer system for several years at a high level and want all of the best for it.

Eugene,
You are right that Kenny’s goal won’t be considered for GOTY, unless they change the format of that contest. I remember Carlos Ruiz winning Goal of the Decade when he failed to win Goal of the Year. That was pretty funny.