Kemar Roofe’s goal is probably the best we’ve seen
Rangers won another game with an impressive display against Standard Liege last night, but all we want to talk about is Kemar Roofe’s goal…
Look, I know we haven’t even really talked about the game. There’s a whole 90 minutes plus stoppage time of discussion points, from Rangers being fantastic to the pitch being the polar opposite, to discuss. But I’m going to be real with you, I only really want to talk about Kemar Roofe’s goal.
I must have watched it 30 times, I stopped counting because it never seems to get old. What an absolute worldy, on another level. Kemar shrugs off three challenges through sheer strength and determination, skins a fourth then launches an absolute bomb from inside his own half over the hapless Standard Liege keeper.
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My first thought, after the disbelief, was that I’ve never seen a goal that good in my life. I remember watching pre-Premier League football as a kid when Liverpool dominated, then Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United came along and held the reigns for a seeming lifetime. Of course that was all well and good until Barcelona made the brave decision to promote their B team coach to the first team – Pep Guardiola’s Blaugrannes would become perhaps the best football team in history.
Watching all that, including the aforementioned Barcelona with prime Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, I can’t honestly remember watching a solo goal as good as what Kemar Roofe pulled off last night. At least not live. Seems I’m not alone in that either, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, who to be fair has seen a good bit more football than me, said much the same thing. As quoted by The Guardian;
"“None of my goals were in that league,” said Gerrard. “It was a moment of genius. I’ve been lucky enough to watch it five or six times since the end of the game and it’s the actual buildup and preparation before the strike.He knocks two people off the ball in the worst conditions I’ve seen. Then he manages to take someone on – and to then have the vision and audacity to try the strike in the first place … it’s probably the best goal I’ve seen live and I’ve been a professional since 1998.”"
The internet was equally glowing, and not just from Bears. On Reddit, the central football page r/soccer (ah, Americans) saw clips of the goal hit the top of the popular page, with 19 thousand up votes as of the time of writing. So popularly shared was Roofe’s goal, it managed to make the front page of Reddit itself, despite that whole election debate thing that happened last night. Certainly, watching Rangers is far more entertaining.
I think it’s safe to assume we’ve never seen a goal like this from the Light Blues, at least. Consider too the conditions that Kemar had to deal with. The pitch was an absolute bog, the ball was barely moving in it at all – this was probably the only way the Gers were going to nab a second and the sheer chutzpah he had to try it is beyond commendable.
Then, for good measure, he flashes the Anderlecht sign, refrencing Standard’s main rivals and the club from which Rangers signed him – leading to a bit of a how-do-you-do with the home team coach at full time. I absolutely love it.
Suffice it to say, I think Kemar has made a point. There was a lot of talk about his sketchy injury history, much the same as Cedric Itten in fact, having missed some 20 games in his short tenure at Anderlecht, but he’s clearly lethal. With Alfredo Morelos looking somewhat off the boil, a topic we should definitely look at further, it’s not unthinkable that he could move forward in the pecking order. If there’s more magic like that in his right boot, then let’s hope so.