Lloyd’s magical midfield strike nearly a dream come true - FIFA PUSKAS AWARD
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| CopyHardNews / Reprodução |
Scoring a hat-trick in a FIFA Women’s World Cup™ Final is certainly no easy feat, despite what you may have thought after watching the first 15 minutes or so of USA’s 5-2 victory over Japan at BC Place in Vancouver on 5 July where the Americans lifted the Canada 2015 Trophy, their third world title.
Simply scoring a goal in a World Cup, let alone three in a final, surely can be considered a dream come true. However, for Carli Lloyd, her hat-trick heroics during the Women’s World Cup Final left her just short of turning her dreams into reality. Lloyd, the Stars and Stripes No10 who took home Canada 2015’s adidas Golden Ball and adidas Silver Boot, in fact dreamt of scoring four goals in the World Cup Final!
“I dreamed of playing in the World Cup Final and visualised scoring four goals,” Lloyd told reporters the day after capturing the Canada 2015 title. “It sounds pretty funny, but that’s what it’s all about. I think at the end of the day you can be physically strong, you can have all the tools out there, but if your mental state isn’t good enough, you can’t bring yourself to bigger and better things.”
Despite Lloyd’s lofty ambitions, dreams do not get much bigger nor much better than the goal that sealed her hat-trick in the Final, a miraculous midfield strike that has earned her a 2015 FIFA Puskas Award nomination. With the Stars and Stripes already ahead 3-0 less than a quarter-of-an-hour into the Final, Lloyd found herself alone in the centre circle driving towards goal.
Spotting Ayumi Kaihori several yards off of her line, Lloyd looked up and smashed a 50-yard drive on target, which the Japan goalkeeper could only get a fingertip to before the ball careered off the post and into the net, sending the largely American crowd into a frenzy. Before becoming a Puskas nominee, Lloyd’s long-range drive earned her Goal of the Tournament honours, which unsurprisingly came with few disagreements.
“I’ve dreamed of scoring a shot like that,” Lloyd said. “Very rarely do you just wind up and hit it. When you’re feeling good mentally and physically, those plays are just instincts and it just happens.”
Honored to be nominated for goal of the year. Would love to win this award as it is named after @coachgalanis former coach Ferenc Puskas.
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) 6 novembro 2015
When Lloyd and her team-mates were invited to the White House in October, United States President Barack Obama referenced Lloyd’s four-goal dream and Puskas nominee of a strike: “Carli was asked if she ever thought that she would score three goals in a World Cup Final. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I dreamed of scoring four.’… Although I do think that rocket from midfield (should be) a two-pointer! So it was almost like four.”
So, Lloyd did not quite live up to her own expectations, even despite unofficial approval from President Obama that her three-goal effort was on par with the four she dreamed of scoring. The USA No10 must now wait and see if her dream defying strike is selected among the final three candidates for the Puskas award.
And that can only be settled by you, the voters on FIFA.com and francefootball.fr. So, watch in awe as Lloyd dazzles the BC Place crowd with her mesmerising effort from midfield – along with nine other wonder goals – on FIFA.com and the FIFA YouTube Channel, then vote for your favourite.
The three that poll highest by 30 November 2015 will go to a final vote, with the winner lifting the trophy at the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala on 11 January 2016.