This weekend saw an early candidate for miss of the season when Carlos Tevez failed to find the empty net from 12 yards out when clean through on goal. The Manchester City striker’s embarrassment may have been tempered had he been at Villa Park just over an hour later to see Marc Albrighton spoon a similar effort into the Holte End. Either way thousands tuned in to Match of the Day 2 on Sunday evening and it seems there is no greater incentive to do so than the prospect of professional footballers looking like idiots in front of goal. Sport.co.uk looks at ten instances where it genuinely seemed easier to score.
Salomon Kalou
Perhaps the occasion got to him? Maybe the ball bounced up off the Wembley turf following Ashley Cole’s cut-back across goal? Only Salomon Kalou will know how he managed to shin the ball against the bar from inside the six-yard box in last season’s FA Cup final. On another day this could have cost Chelsea, particularly had Kevin Prince-Boateng converted a 54th minute penalty to give Portsmouth the lead. Less than a month earlier team-mate Florent Malouda looked to have already wrapped up miss of the season when he missed the ball completely from just a yard. Luckily it was all but forgotten amid Chelsea’s 7-0 demolition of Stoke that day, and it is Kalou’s Wembley horror show that proves more memorable.
Yakubu
Trailing 2-1, Nigeria needed a two-goal turnaround against South Korea to qualify for the knock-out stages of the 2010 World Cup. They must have thought they were halfway there when the ball rolled across the face of goal towards Yakubu, ahead of his marker in the centre of the six-yard box, but the Super Eagles star shockingly sidefooted wide. The Everton striker did atone for his error two minutes later from the penalty spot, making no mistake from 12 yards, but he may still wonder what could have been if he hadn’t missed from three.
Peter van Vossen
One goal up in the 1996 Old Firm derby, Rangers broke and found themselves two-on-one with Celtic ‘keeper Stewart Kerr. Jorg Albertz squared it for Van Vossen to roll into the empty net and double the advantage, but (“Oh my goodness”) the Dutchman instead ballooned the ball over the bar. At this point honourable mention should also go to Jean-Claude Darcheville whose horror miss from five yards out a decade later cost Rangers a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo
It seems even the best are susceptible to the odd howler. One of the greatest footballers of his generation failed to convert the simplest of chances in an FA Cup tie at Sheffield United, with the Portuguese winger spooning Ryan Giggs’ cross over the bar from inside the six-yard box. Giggs himself was guilty of an equally terrible miss in the same competition three years earlier against Arsenal when he failed to find the empty net albeit with his unfavoured right foot.
Diego Forlan
The Uruguayan star picked up the Golden Ball after his outstanding performances at the World Cup this summer, while his goals last season were integral to Atletico Madrid’s Europa League success. However it wasn’t long ago that he was something of a laughing stock at Old Trafford, as seen here with this shocking miss against Juventus. As the summariser says in the clip, “Put your head in the shame.”
Chris Iwelumo
With Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against Norway goalless midway through the second half, the stage was set for substitute Iwelumo to make an impact on his international debut. His opportunity arrived just minutes after coming on, finding himself through on goal with the simple task of sidefooting home from three yards. However with the empty net gaping, the Wolves striker somehowhooked the ball back across goal and wide of the post and can consider himself lucky to have ever represented his country again.
Kei Kamara
Just as Carlos Tevez’s ‘miss of the season’ is a little premature, the incident dubbed ‘miss of the century’ earlier this summer will take a while to be confirmed as thus. Swinging wildly at the ball as it bounced invitingly on the goal-line, the Kansas City Wizards man missed it completely, slipped and then proceeded to carry the ball into the net with his forearm. Had the linesman let him get away with it the goal would have been no more ridiculed than Javier Hernandez’s recent effort in the Community Shield, but instead Kamara will probably have to live with his ‘miss of the century’ for the rest of his career.
Ilija Sivonjic
Handball or otherwise, at least Kei Kamara managed to put the ball over the line. With a goalbound effort creeping into the bottom corner, Dinamo Zagreb’s Ilija Sivonjic decided to make sure. Even he will never know how he subsequently managed to stop the ball on the line and allow a defender to hook it clear. It won’t surprise you to know that the Croatian champions have since packed Sivonjic out on loan, but there should really be a clause in all footballers’ contracts allowing them to be terminated in the event of something like this.
Rocky Baptiste
It seems harsh to pick on the non-league footballer, but what occurred when the Harrow Borough striker found himself clean through on goal simply cannot be excused. No further description required, just watch the clip.
Ronny Rosenthal
The yardstick with which all appalling misses are measured, 38,000 at Villa Park were lucky enough to witness Liverpool’s (original) Israeli winger round goalkeeper Nigel Spink and even take a touch before inexplicably spooning his finish up onto the bar. Synonymous with the missed sitter, Rosenthal’s extraordinary gaffe seems to be cruelly referenced on every occasion a player has contrived to miss an open goal since. However each time commentators come to the conclusion that the howler in question still does not quite rival that memorable moment in September 1992.
These blunders barely scratch the surface of players’ ineptness in front of goal. Feel free to comment below and let us know what we’ve missed, but please no more references to the Diana Ross ‘penalty miss’ at the 1994 World Cup - we were sick of that footage over the summer.