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Journalism of Courage
When Bebeto did the famous cradle dance in the 1994 World Cup in Italy, people thought he was doing it for his new-born. But in effect, the celebration was for teammate Leonardo’s baby following his suspension. The gesture caught the imagination of fans worldwide and was probably one of the more creative ways of celebrating a goal. But, there’s more and some of them are as eye-catching.
Football’s world governing body FIFA outlawed the old favourite of removing the jersey to showcase various messages – some political – or worse, the bare torso, but players still managed to beat the system with some rather boisterous, and sometimes outrageous, modes of celebrations.
Some of the more athletic strikers like Ireland’s Robbie Keane and Germany’s Miroslav Klose resorted to the tumbling run, with a backflip finale. But Julius Aghahowa would beat everyone hands down in that form of celebration.
The Nigerian had a chance to show the world what goal-celebration is, when he opened the scoring for the West Africans against Sweden. After out-jumping the Swedish defence, the 20-year old still had enough energy to perform not one – but six – summersaults that would have done any circus acrobat proud.
The long knee-slide is also a popular form of celebration and Dutchman Andy Van Der Meyde has modified it by culminating with a gun salute.
Another forward with a very noticeable way of celebrating was German striker and current national team coach Juergen Klinsmann, who scored 11 World Cup goals in three tournaments. The former German captain celebrated some of his goals by diving on the field.
The corner flag is a favourite medium of celebration as some players rush to it and virtually try to uproot it from its foundation. Roger Milla danced the ’Makossa’ around the corner flag, swivelling his hips in joy after scoring in the 1990 Italy edition.
Although Nwankwo Kanu himself did not score at the France World Cup in 1998, his celebrations, during which he would shuffle across the sideline, became famous. Also memorable from France was the Brian Laudrup lounge after his goal against Brazil and Christian Vieri and Alessandro Del Piero’s cross-arm Indian stance.
Something that won’t be seen is the way French-based Pape Bouba Diop celebrated after opening the scoring for the African side in the first half. He tore off his shirt and threw it on the grass. No sooner had he done that then a group of teammates arrived and started performing a dance around the shirt.
