Republic of Ireland women's international Stephanie Roche has been named alongside world football superstars such as Diego Costa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, James Rodriguez and Robin van Persie in the shortlist for the Fifa Puskás Award for the best goal of the year.
The 25-year-old from Shankhill in Co Dublin, who is the only woman named in the 10-strong list, scored her wonder goal in the Women’s National League match between Peamount United and Wexford Youths in October 2013.
Luckily for Roche and football fans the world over, Wexford Youths manager Shane Gleeson was recording the goal and it went viral once it was uploaded on YouTube and is presently closing in on 2.5 million views.
Three of the other 10 goals came during this summer’s World Cup: Tim Cahill’s stunning volley in Australia’s game against the Netherlands; Robin van Persie’s flying header for the Dutch against Spain and James Rodriguez’ chest down and volley for Colombia against Uruguay.
Each of the 10 videos features a citation on the Fifa website, with the description of Roche’s effort reading: “When the ball came towards Peamount United forward Steph Roche against Wexford Youths, she had her back to goal, yet three touches later, without the ball touching the turf, it was in the back of the net. With her first she controlled it masterfully, before producing a dink over her marker’s head, spinning and unleashing a magnificent volley.”
Voting has opened today for the Fifa Puskás Award on Fifa.com and francefootball.fr and will close on December 1st. The top three at that stage will again be open to voting ahead of the announcement of the winning goal at the Fifa Ballon D’Or awards ceremony on January 12th in Zurich.
The ten goals are (in alphabetical order of the scorer’s names):
Tim Cahill – 18 June 2014, Australia v Netherlands, 2014 Fifa World Cup
Diego Costa – 23 November 2013, Atlético Madrid v Getafe, Primera División (Spain)
Marco Fabian – 15 February 2014, Cruz Azul v Puebla, 1a División 2014 Clausura (Mexico)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 19 October 2013, Paris St Germain v SC Bastia, Ligue 1 (France)
Pajtim Kasami – 21 October 2013, Crystal Palace v Fulham, Premier League (England)
Stephanie Roche -20 October 2013, Peamount United v Wexford Youths, BEWNL (Rep Ireland)
James Rodriguez – 28 June 2014, Colombia v Uruguay, 2014 Fifa World Cup
Camilo Sanvezzo – 6 October 2013, Vancouver Whitecaps v Portland Timbers, MLS (USA/Canada)
Hisato Sato – 8 March 2014, Sanfrecce Hiroshima v Kawasaki Frontale, J.League (Japan)
Robin van Persie – 13 June 2014, Spain v Netherlands, 2014 Fifa World Cup
