In an otherwise functional IFK Gothenburg starting XI, Andres Vasquez stood for finesse, creativity and the unexpected. Without doubt, the finest moment for Vasquez â then 19, now playing for BK Hacken, also in Sweden â was his rabona goal against Orebro, a display of teenage impudence and the most beautiful goal ever seen in the Allsvenskan. At least, he thinks so...
"Everything happened so fast that I barely had time to think about what I did. I won a duel with their captain, Joel Riddez, just outside the box and in the corner of my eye I saw that their goalie, Peter Westman, was pretty far out. We led 3-0 and the game had gone pretty well for me. I felt happy on the pitch, and thatâÂÂs when such things come into your mind.
"So I took a chance with a right-footed rabona and aimed for the far top corner. The shot seems difficult to do, but if youâÂÂre in good shape and your muscles are well stretched, itâÂÂs not difficult at all. The thing that made the shot difficult in that specific case was that the ball was in motion. You have to time it right if youâÂÂre going to hit the ball cleanly. IâÂÂve trained on exactly that type of shot with friends and the team over the years, so it was no great surprise to me that I succeeded with it in a game situation.
"Personally, I think it is one of the best-looking goals ever made. Several times I have seen Diego Maradona put in rabona crosses [the rabona is sometimes called a âÂÂMaradona chipâÂÂ] but never any that found the back of the net.
"It would have been nice to send a DVD of the goal to him...âÂÂ
And here's Vasquez proving that incredible rabona goal wasn't a total fluke, honest, by casually doing it again:
Interview: Daniel Eriksson. Illustration: German Aczel. From the April 2013 issue of FourFourTwo. Subscribe!
