In the end, there wasn’t a lot of debate amongst the CSN editorial team when it came to naming the 2011 Canadian Soccer News Awards. Although there was some friendly debate, by and large the final decisions were unanimous.
With one exception – we couldn’t come to a conclusion as to what the 2011 Canadian goal of the year was.
The Canadian goal of the year is the goal judged to be the best scored by a Canadian anywhere in the world. Although in this year’s case the two goals we’ve narrowed the choice down to are both national team goals, the award is not exclusive to goals scored while playing for Canada. Club goals are given equal consideration.
To help us break our tie, we’re asking the readers to select between our two finalists. As it turns out, it’s a battle of the genders.
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The first nominee is Terry Dunfield’s cracker against Ecuador. The goal stands on its own – a 25-yard blast that curled into the top corner – but the celebration makes it. Dunfield runs 35-yards to leap into a the bottom of BMO Field’s section 114 (and, yes, you can see this writer in the shot – artfully holding a large beer at arm’s length as chaos ensues around me).
The second choice is Christine Sinclair’s free kick against Germany at the World Cup. Sadly, it proved to be the one highlight of the World Cup for Canada, but there is no doubting the importance of the stage it was scored on, nor the skill involved.
It’s easy to forget that the goal was meaningful as well. When it when in, Canada closed the gap to 2-1, giving itself eight minutes to find the equalizer.
FIFA copyright diligence makes it difficult to find a video of the goal, but you can see it here in this video showing self-hating Canadians pretending to be German at Toronto’s Dundas Square:
What do you think? Which of these two goals should be out 2011 Canadian goal of the year? Send you vote to CSNAwards@gmail.com. We will announce the winner on New Year’s Eve.