⚽️ Best Goals of 2023 ⚽️

Let's have a look at the 11 nominees for the 2023 Puskas Award.

Author

Arend Kahlau
October 10, 2023

Welcome to the Thunder Football Newsletter. #13
I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please forward this email to a friend.

What today’s email is all about:

  • The Best Goals of 2023 ⚽️

  • International Break 🌎

  • Goalkeeper Giroud 🧤

  • Memes 😂

The Best Goals of 2023

One of the awards at FIFA’s annual The Best Awards is the Puskas Award.

The Puskas Award is named after legendary Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskás, famed for his glorious individual strikes, and celebrates the most spectacular goal of the qualifying period – from 19 December 2022 to 20 August 2023.

There are 11 contenders for the award this year. All of which can be viewed on FIFA’s website.

It is open for the public to vote but you better hurry because the voting closes tonight!

We’ve carefully watched all of the goals and here are our Top 3:

#1 : Guilherme Madruga
Novorizontino v Botafogo FC-SP, 27 June 2023

Call me old-fashioned, but a bicycle kick from outside the box always gets me excited. Zlatan would be proud.

#2 : Álvaro Barreal
FC Cincinnati v Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 6 June 2023

An outside-foot volley from outside the box directly from a corner kick, what’s not to love? Reminds me of Hamit Altintop’s strike that won him the Puskas Award in 2011.

#3 : Julio Enciso
Brighton v Manchester City, 24 May 2023

The fact that Brighton outplayed one of the best clubs in the world in the build-up to this goal makes it special. And the finish is sublime!

The Headlines

International Break

Yes, it’s quite sad that we have to wait another 10 days for club football to return. But, there are a few big matches during this October international break. Here’s our top 5:
(South African Standard Time)

  • 5️⃣: South Africa 🇿🇦 - Eswatini 🇸🇿

    • 13 October; 18:00

    • International Friendly

  • 4️⃣: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - Italy 🇮🇹

    • 17 October; 20:45

    • UEFA EURO’s qualifier

  • 3️⃣: USA 🇺🇸 - Germany 🇩🇪

    • 14 October; 21:00

    • International Friendly

  • 2️⃣: Uruguay 🇺🇾 - Brazil 🇧🇷

    • 18 October; 02:00

    • World Cup Qualifier

  • 1️⃣: Netherlands 🇳🇱 - France 🇫🇷 

    • 13 October; 20:45

    • UEFA EURO’s qualifier

Giroud in Goal 🧤

The veteran striker took up goalkeeping duties after Milan custodian Mike Maignan got sent off towards the end of the game against Genoa. Giroud made a heroic save in the game's dying minutes, allowing his team to keep a clean sheet and pick up three points in a chaotic Serie A clash during the weekend.

He was so impressive between the sticks and got selected for the official Serie A team of the week.

Since we are discussing the Puskas Award in this newsletter, let’s not forget Olivier Giroud won the prestigious award in 2017 with a stunning scorpion kick.

Just for fun
That's all folks

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