In the last block of voting:
With 54% of the vote, Marcelo’s goal against Mexico in 2011 became the first in the tournament to beat out a higher-seeded goal, even if Elano’s goal vs. Ecuador in 2007 was only one seed better than it:
With 67% of the vote, Josimar’s ICBM against Ireland in 1986 comfortably beat out Ronaldinho’s solo goal against Hungary in 2004:
Neymar’s volley against Japan in 2013 beat out Cafu’s half-volley against the Netherlands in 1999, with 64% of the vote:
And with 76% of the vote, Roberto Carlos’ trivela shot against Jamaica in 2003 beat out Juninho Pernambucano’s free kick against FC Lucerne in 2005.
Now for…
TODAY’S VOTING
If this were March Madness, this would be the first matchup featuring a number 1 seed. We have Ronaldinho’s first goal for Brazil, at the end of a 7-0 thrashing of Venezuela in the 1999 Copa América group stage…
…up against Paulinho’s game-winning goal from the 2017 U-17 World Cup quarterfinal against Germany.
Next up, a matchup between two goals featuring the dulcet tones of Luciano do Valle on the call. First, Júnior finishing off our 3-1 win against Argentina in the second group stage of the 1982 World Cup. The poor quality of the video is worth it in order to see the whole move:
It’s up against Josimar’s other goal for Brazil, which came in the game after his first one. Against Poland in the 1986 World Cup Round of 16, Alemão fed him the ball after a free kick broke down, and he did this:
(Here’s higher-quality footage with more angles of Júnior’s goal and Josimar’s goal, but without Luciano do Valle on the call and also unable to be embedded on YouTube.)
Adriano tied things up with the last kick of the game to send the 2004 Copa América final against Argentina to a penalty shootout, which we ended up winning.
Rivaldo scored this super-long-range effort against Thailand in the group stage of the King’s Cup, a friendly tournament, in 2000. This was a strange one—Brazil’s senior side played this game against the hosts, and won 7-0, but a U-17 side played in all the other other games, ultimately finishing third.
Two remarkable World Cup goals face off in our final matchup. First is Romário opening the scoring against the Netherlands in the 1994 quarterfinals:
Pelé’s goal against Mexico in the opening match in 1962 has been rather more forgotten—it wasn’t even on FIFA’s list of the 100 best Brazil goals at World Cups. But I think this solo effort, in which he somehow performed a meia lua around two players with one touch, surely ranks among his best goals.
It’s been difficult for me to stick to a hard-and-fast schedule with these, but I’m going to try and wrap up this round of voting by Monday night, so be sure you’ve got your votes in by then.
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