Everybody Poops (Themselves)

My youngest daughter's team split a pair of soccer matches yesterday, dropping a 1-0 decision in the morning before recovering from an early one-goal deficit to record a 3-1 win in an afternoon tilt. The goal that determined the outcome of the first match was a reasonably weak one, as gifted 10 year-old goalkeepers are a rare breed, indeed.

The loss in the first game came at the hands of a club that beat our squad, 4-1, in regular season play last Fall. One of those four tallies was an own goal off the foot of my daughter. She was playing an outside midfield position, and tracked back to defend her goal. As she sprinted towards the 6-yard box, a teammate cleared the ball off the end line, directly into her path. She hammered a gorgeous volley cleanly into the upper corner of her team's net.

She was distraught, breaking down in tears on the spot, even though her team was down 4-0 at the time. In the car on the way home, we talked about own goals, and how even the world's best players fall victim to the game's bad bounces. Her favorite professional player, Steven Gerrard, might've cost his team a Premiership championship with his own boner this month.

In her honor, and in an effort to bring good luck to her and her teammates as they take on a much better side this morning with a berth in the tournament semifinals on the line, a pair of videos detailing some of soccer's worst own goals. Because we all kick the ball off of our faces into the net in life every once in a while.