Readers, it’s time to meet your Final Four.
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We’ve finally narrowed down our 68-goal bracket to just eight glittering examples—an Elite Eight, if you will.
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In 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…
TODAY’S VOTING
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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…
TODAY’S VOTING
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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…
TODAY’S VOTING
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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…
TODAY’S VOTING
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On Romário Appreciation Day, only one of O Baixinho‘s goals made it through…
His goal against Israel in 1987 lost to Nelinho’s famous swerving shot in the 1978 World Cup third-place match, which won 61% of the vote:
His volley against Mexico in 1997 beat Pelé’s goal against Romania in the 1970 World Cup, earning 62% of the vote:
His backheel against Mexico in 2001 lost out to Careca’s famous goal against France in the 1986 World Cup, which won 60% of the vote:
And his goal against Italy in the 1997 Le Tournoi lost, just barely, to Marta’s solo goal against the USA in 2014, which squeaked by with 52% of the vote. Her win guarantees that we’ll have two goals from the women’s team in the round of 32.
You can view the whole bracket so far here.
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for…
TODAY’S VOTING
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In the last round of voting…
Kaká’s solo goal against Argentina in 2006 beat out Ronaldo’s U-23 goal against Denmark with 83% of the vote:
Also with 83% of the vote was Adriano’s second goal against Argentina in the 2005 Confederations Cup final, which beat Roberto Carlos’ goal in a 1999 friendly against the Netherlands…
With 71% of the votes, Zico’s scissor kick against New Zealand in 1982 upset Gabriel Jesus’ opener against Argentina in last summer’s Copa América semifinal…
And with, you guessed it, 83% of the vote, David Luiz’ free kick against Colombia in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinal beat Willian’s volley against them in a 2017 World Cup qualifier.
Now for…
TODAY’S VOTING
I noted earlier that in the process of compiling this bracket I gained a newfound appreciation for Romário’s incredible talents. With so many of his goals making the bracket, I’m taking this opportunity to present four matchups that each include a goal from O Baixinho, each showing a different facet of his remarkable abilities.
All these matchups begin with the higher-seeded goal, so Romário Appreciation Day in fact begins with Nelinho’s famous goal from the 1978 World Cup third-place game against Italy—fittingly for the day’s theme, scored with the outside of his boot.
It faces this elaborate team goal from a 4-0 friendly win over Brazil. There’s a lot to like here—Josimar’s dribble out from the back, Edu’s first-time outside-of-the-boot pass to Müller, Romário’s elegant takedown, slalom, and finish.
Our next matchup features Pelé’s free kick goal against Romania from the group stage of the 1970 World Cup.
This Romário goal is a stellar volley from a 1997 friendly against Mexico.
This time, the World Cup goal is against France—Careca finishing an elegantly constructed move in what ultimately ended up being a quarterfinal loss on penalties.
Romário’s contribution this time is a flying backheel that tied up a 2001 friendly against Mexico with almost the last kick of the game.
We finish off with a late Romário equalizer against Italy in the 1997 Le Tournoi, the same friendly tournament where Roberto Carlos scored his legendary free kick.
It’s up against a goal from one of Marta’s most iconic performances, a hat-trick on home soil in a come-from-behind 3-2 win against the USA in the 2014 International Women’s Football Tournament in Brasília. The goal in question is the solo run that leveled the scores:
This is also a great time to re-up this great SBNation video about how institutional sexism and apathy within Brazil’s football infrastructure killed Marta’s chances of winning the Women’s World Cup.
Let’s see if we can’t get this round of voting done by Tuesday night. After this, just one more round of voting before we move on to the round of 32!
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