Everton Goalie Makes 92-Yard Goal in Engand's Soccer Match
A goalkeeper made a spectacular goal from his end to the opponent's net with a single kick during a windy match in England's top soccer league on Wednesday.
American Tim Howard, 32, of Everton sent the ball flying 92 yards behind Bolton's players bouncing once but so high that goalie Adam Bogdan failed to block it. The ball was pushed by the wind into Bolton's net for Everton's first score in the Barclays Premier League, which is considered the world's top national soccer league. The amazing goal overshadowed the win of Bolton over Everton, 2-1, at the latter's home field Goodison Park in Liverpool.
Howard was not happy, though, as he felt shaming Bogdan. Nevertheless, he achieved two feats. First, he made his first ever professional goal in 250 games in the league. Second, he became the fourth goalkeeper to score in the same fashion in the league's 20-year history.
Watch the kick at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFskFNYyLBw.
American Brad Friedel, 40, now with the Tottenham Hotspur, scored a goal from a corner kick Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic in the 90th minute of the match on Feb. 21, 2004. Friedel's goal, which equalised the score at 2-2, made him the second goalkeeper in Premier League history to score from open play after Denmark's Peter Schmeichel for Aston Villa on Oct. 20, 2001. Despite Schmeichel's score against Everton, however, his team lost, 3-2.
England's Paul Robinson did it twice. In the 2003-04 season, he scored his first professional goal for Leeds United via a header from a cross against Swindon Town in the closing moments of a League Cup game, forcing extra time. His team eventually won the match via penalty shootout.
On March 17, 2007, Robinson, playing for Tottenham Hotspurs, took a free-kick from just outside of his own penalty area, 80 metres from the opposition goal and the ball bounced over the head of Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster, and into goal. That was his second goal of his professional career, in a Premier League game.