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Tag: Jairzinho

The Greatest Seleção Goal of All Time: Second Round, Part 2

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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The Greatest Seleção Goal of All Time: First Round Voting, Part 3

The last block of voting saw several upset winners beating goals much higher-seeded in the bracket:

But one of those upset winners was not Paulinho’s winner against Germany in the 2017 U-17 World Cup quarterfinals, as Ronaldinho’s first goal for Brazil very comfortably beat it out with 75% of the vote.

Josimar’s goal against Poland in the 1986 World Cup round of 16 was a different story, earning 61% of the vote against Júnior’s higher-seeded strike against Argentina in the 1982 World Cup:

Less of a surprise was Adriano’s insanely clutch last-minute tying goal in the 2004 Copa América final beating out Rivaldo’s long-range strike in a 2000 friendly against Thailand with 69% of the vote.

And in the biggest upset so far, Pelé’s goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup group stage beat Romário’s opener against the Netherlands in 1994 with an impressive 78% of the vote:

And now…

TODAY’S VOTING

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