When goalkeepers turn to goal scorers

By Mike Owuor

In football, goalkeepers are supposed to stop opponents from scoring. But sometimes, by chance or skill, they teach strikers a thing or two by scoring for their teams. Since they are usually unexpected, such goals always hit the headlines. According to a recent report in UK newspaper, Daily Telegraph, a schoolgirl goalkeeper in the UK could be set for the record books after scoring twice in one match from her own penalty box during an under 15s match.

Emily Dickson, the 14-year-old goalkeeper, shocked players and fans with two huge drop kicks down the full-sized pitch. With both attempts, the ball bounced over the opposing keeper and into the net. Now, whether this was down to incompetence of her opposite number or Emily’s skill is for you to judge after watching the video on YouTube.

But that has not stopped the teenager from enjoying the limelight. The article says Emily, is now awaiting confirmation from Football Association officials, who believe her effort is a record.

"I’d never scored a goal from my goal before. So it was totally brilliant to get two in one match," said Emily, who plays for the Hoddesdon Owls Girls’ team. The two goals helped her side beat Stevenage Vixens 3-2.

Forget about the billionaire players in the English Premier League. According to Daily Telegraph, the FA’s official historian David Barber believes Emily could be the first keeper in the country to have scored twice on a full-sized pitch in a competitive match.

a second attempt

Emily said: "I was in a really bad mood because I’d just let in a goal. I took the ball and smashed it as hard as I could when it came to me. It bounced over the keeper and went in. I couldn’t believe it."

Apparently, her manager came onto the pitch afterwards and told her ‘double or quits’, prompting her into a second attempt. So when the ball came to her next, everyone shouted ‘shoot’. She did, and scored!

Although there have been such incidents in top-level football, most games scored by keepers are at a closer range than Emily’s. They could be through headers from corners, freekicks or goalmouth scrambles. When teams are desperate for a goal, and time is running out, it is not strange to see goalkeepers running to the opposing team’s goalmouth to try and score.

Last December, Reading goalkeeper, Adam Federici, hit the headlines for scoring a goal for his team from a corner against Cardiff in the English Championship league. The goal was even more crucial as it came five minutes into extra time and earned his team a draw.

According to The Sun, Cardiff had scored with a minute to go and thought they had taken all the points. But Federici came to the rescue. With that he joined a list of goalkeepers like Peter Schmeichel, Andres Palop, Paul Robinson and Paraguay’s Jose Luis Chilavert.

from a cornerkick

He is quoted saying: "I saw our bench signalling me to go up for a corner — but by then I was already halfway there! I got my head to Stephen Hunt’s corner but so did our defender Michael Duberry. We both fell over. I think Cardiff keeper Peter Enckelman parried the ball, but I jumped up and poked it in."

Chilaver’s story is especially intriguing, as he was known as a freekick specialist and penalty taker. According to wikipedia.com, he was once the all-time leading scorer among professional keepers until Brazilian RogÈrio Ceni surpassed him in 2006. Chilavert scored 62 goals in his professional career, many of them crucial, including eight in international matches.

Ceni, who plays for Brazilian club Sao Paulo, is the official record holder with 83 goals in his long career of more than 800 games. Perhaps some keepers could swap their gloves for the Number Nine jersey.

 

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