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After literal months of nominating, voting, and eliminating, we’ve finally whittled down our bracket of 68 goals down to two. It’s time, at long last, to choose the greatest goal in the history of the Brazil national football team.
Let’s meet our contestants, and relive the path each took on its way to the final.
Continue readingThe losers from the semifinal get one more chance in the spotlight, and for some added fun, I figured I’d throw in a few goals that could’ve made the final bracket but weren’t even nominated.
Continue readingReaders, it’s time to meet your Final Four.
Continue readingWe’ve finally narrowed down our 68-goal bracket to just eight glittering examples—an Elite Eight, if you will.
Continue readingIn the last round of voting…
Kaká’s solo goal against Argentina easily beat Ronaldinho’s solo goal against Haiti, with 79% of the vote.
Nelinho’s famous goal against Italy in 1978 thumped another Kaká goal, against Egypt in 2009, with 85% of the vote.
Despite my best efforts to convince you all to vote otherwise, Éder’s goal against the USSR in 1982 absolutely thrashed Oscar’s goal against Belarus in the 2012 Olympics, with 89% of the vote.
In a surprisingly close contest given how one-sided the other votes were this round, the team goal from the end of the 2005 Confederations Cup final beat Zico’s acrobatic goal against New Zealand in 1982 with 60% of the vote.
You can view the whole bracket here.
And now…
In the last round of voting…
Despite a vocal showing from the Jairzinho-vs-England-in-1970 fan club, Roberto Carlos’ free kick against France won easily with 78% of the vote.
Bebeto’s goal against the Netherlands in 1994 earned 89% of the votes over Elano’s smash against Portugal in 2008.
In the closest contest of the day, Pelé’s famous goal in the 1958 World Cup final got 69% of the vote over Sócrates’ famous goal in the 1982 World Cup opener. Nice.
Lastly, Ronaldinho’s free kick against England in the 2002 World Cup beat Júlio Baptista’s bicycle kick against Catalunya in 2004 with 88% of the vote.
You can view the whole bracket here.
And now…
In the first of the second-round votes…
Ronaldinho’s first goal for Brazil notched a routine win over Marcelo’s 2011 goal against Mexico, garnering 72% of the vote.
In a contest that wasn’t settled until the final hours of voting, Neymar’s opening goal at the 2013 Confederations Cup beat Josimar’s long-range shot against Ireland in 1986, with 56% of the vote.
Another very close contest saw Josimar’s goal in the following game against Poland win 54% of the vote over Roberto Carlos’ forgotten “banana shot” against Jamaica, which became the highest-seeded goal to be knocked out so far.
Lastly, and to my genuine surprise, Pelé’s forgotten goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup completely wiped the floor with Adriano’s goal in the 2004 Copa América final, with 73% of the vote. I nominated Pelé’s goal in the first place and have long thought it deserved more attention, and even so, I went with my gut and voted for Adriano’s strike, based on the combination of technique and last-second clutch-ness. Apparently, I was fairly alone on that call, but I’m not complaining—this was just one of the most unexpected results of the whole bracket so far.
You can view the whole bracket here.
And now…
At long last, we are done with the first round. In the last block of first-round voting…
Carlos Alberto’s legendary World Cup final goal advanced by unanimous consent over Oscar’s legendary U-20 World Cup final goal:
Edmilson’s bicycle kick against Costa Rica in 2002 beat Pelé’s goal from the 1970 World Cup final with 60% of the vote:
Bebeto’s volley against Argentina in the 1989 Copa América earned 88% of the vote over Cafu’s goal against Wales in 2000:
And Marta’s legendary goal against the USA at the 2007 World Cup garnered 92% of the vote over Cristiane’s overhead kick against Nigeria at the 2008 Olympics.
You can view the whole bracket so far here.
And now…
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