I watch a lot of American sports, but little soccer. I’ve noticed that in Baseball, basketball, and football, there is a very wide variety of player reactions and celebrations after doing something dramatic. While many players act the same, basically going nuts with excitement, many also act very calm and stoic after hitting a game winning home run or scoring a touchdown, Every time I’ve seen a soccer goal, the player has always gone for run after scoring a goal, and is then mobbed their teammates. Can anyone link me to a video of a player who scores an important goal and then stands still for a bit, or walks calmly away?
I doubt there is anyone who consistently declines to celebrate their goals, but is this one of Eric Cantona’s the type of thing you are after?
Yes that’s a good example, thanks. I think I prefer standing still than going running. They’ve already done the running. scored a goal, now stand and bask. not more running
I imagine that scoring is so sparse in soccer, that its sort of expected that you make a big deal about it. Its tradition at this point.
Of course, when I played in high school, whenever I scored I played it as nonchalantly as possible. No high fives, no running around. Just turned around and slowly walked away. You know, real badass style.
Mainly it was because I was too exhausted to do anything but shuffle back to my position. But these are merely extra details.
If you look back at footage from the 50’s and 60’s you’ll see the standard celebration is one of walking back to you won half (for the kick off) while giving the teammates you encounter a hand. Nowadays there are a 1001 ways of celebrating a goal. Some people run away, others do backflips and still others stand still like Cantona does. I think there is even an instance where Peter Crouch does the robot…
I’d like to see a soccer celebration where the scorer runs over pointing to the guy who made that great pass and the team mobs him.
That’s my favorite celebration.
It is common for a player who has just changed changed teams, especially after being in the former for several years, to not celebrate much
Rebound goal: “What’s all the cheering about? What? I scored?!”
Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXpF2v0Kgvk&NR=1
It only happens with those players who cared more about the shirt than the money, I’d guess.
I can’t think of a game winning touchdown or home run that wasn’t well celebrated. Home runs and touchdowns during the middle of the game, maybe. Any goal in soccer could well be the winning goal.
Another difference: in baseball, if you over celebrate, you will be thrown at in your next plate appearance. In football, excess celebration is a 15 yard penalty and could make you lose. In soccer, there can be a yellow card, although this is less often than you’d think, usually if the player removes his shirt, taunts the opposing teams’ fans, or goes into the crowd. So generally there is less of a penalty exacted.
If your team is down 4-0 in the second half and you score a goal, there’s not a whole lot of celebrating. The player’s not going to be standing there like a rock, he’ll get some high fives from team mates, but from team perspective there’s plenty of work still left to do.
It’s not easy to find these reactions on youtube since they’re not very noteworthy.
Hockey does about the same thing where the players on the ice all mob, and if it’s an overtime game winner, the whole bench empties for a dog pile in the corner.
I think it’s just part of the fact that goals are rare and worth celebrating.
My current favorite celebration from one player who’s usually calm after his goals, but wasn’t this weekend.
This does happen occasionally, when the scorer is not such an egotist (as they are all too often) that they see fit to acknowledge someone else’s contribution.
Typically, this is true only if the player scores against his former club. The most famous example is probably Denis Law scoring against Manchester United when playing for Manchester City (in 1976, I think) - his goal condemned Manchester United, the club where he was the second-highest all-time goalscorer and with whom he had won many trophies, to relegation from the First Division. Law hung his head and trudged back to the centre circle, knowing how much he had cost his former team.
Which is, of course, the goal that ivan linked to in this thread. 
I’m trying to find online clips of my nephew, who was the star of his high school team that were state champs his junior and senior year. I told him the (apocryphal?) story of the American football coach who chided his players to not celebrate getting into the end-zone, telling them, “act like you’ve been there before”.
He liked the story, and made it a point to just calmly saunter away after scoring a goal.
After looking at the video, I’m almost wondering whether he wasn’t just embarassed about not getting called for being offside?
- He’s not offside, although it’s not the easiest thing to tell from that camera angle.
- No player ever believes he was offside even when they are.
- That was a sweet touch past the keeper.
Apologies to ivan - not having access to Youtube at work, I didn’t realise it had already come up!