November GOTM Contest - Enter to Win!!!

Time for this months Goal Of The Month Contest. Enter to win by leaving a comment with your name & the goal #. You could win a $25 gift certificate to Kombat or Soccer City.

On to the Goals. It's a tough one this month. So many contenders.

** Update ** Now with comments for each goal to help you choose. Click READ MORE ** Update **



Pick Your Favorite. for extra credit include name suggestions for a baby girl!



HERE IS THE GOAL RUN-DOWN

(1) Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - I often encourage players to set up their teammates for easy shots. This means playing the ball back on the ground into the run of your teammate so she can have a crack. This is a great example of that. Watch again as Jermain Defoe receives the long ball and holds off the defenders before setting up Tom Huddlestone with the mother-of-all shot invitations. On the ground - Check. Well weighted pass - check. Easy to hit because the pass was in front of the attackers run - check. Add all that up and you get a belter of a finish.

(2) Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal - I have highlighted Arsenals play before. But this goal is a little different. It only takes three Arsenal attackers (the #2 makes the under-lapping run down the line, the #9 with the movement and the layoff, and the #10 who starts and finishes it). My favorite part is how they stroll the ball into the net like they hardly tried. But maybe they were just tired because they each made end to end runs. Such class.

(3) Seyi Olafinyana - Hull City - He's a defensive mid which is why the defenders didn't think he could turn them that well. The finish is classy too as he bends the ball around TWO defenders and the GK.

(4) Cameron Jerome - Birmingham City - I saw this goal live and even after seeing it over and over, I still think it's amazing. The ball must have been 40 feet in the air. Jerome brings it down out the sky over his shoulder WHILE holding off a pesky muscular midget defender. Keeps going forward and with a guy hanging all over him sees the GK off his line and smack a 40 yard wonder goal. Wow.... That's vision, awareness, touch and guts all in one play.

(5) Florent Malouda - Chelsea - The defenders seem more concerned with tracking the forward running of his teammates then pressuring the ball to their own peril. If the net wasn't there to stop that rocket of a shot I think the ball would still be rising.

(6) Darren Fletcher - Man Utd - I definitely biased towards this goal as a Man Utd supporter. But to be fair it is an amazing goal with lots of great play. First it's a team goal started between the #5 & #11 - there interplay and good footwork makes the space for the cross. Then the #7 alertly heads the ball back hoping to set up a teammate. And then there is the finish. Since the ball is bouncing up, Fletcher has to turn his body, getting his right foot above the ball and strikes down and through (still landing on this shooting foot). If you pause the reply right when he strikes it you see his leg is parallel to the ground as he pivots and strikes. It is a inspirational soccer idea to a tough scoring chance. Absolutely top class.

(7) David Dunn - Blackburn - The build-up is quick. The running industrious. But what I like is the double hop Dunn does to set his feet. Watch again how he hops twice on his left foot to set his feet to shot with his right. Quick thinking and extreme agility.

(8) Jermain Defoe - Tottenham - A couple points about this great goal. (a) The super clever run by the #7 Aaron Lennon after being unceremoniously dumped to the ground after laying the ball off (you can see him dart in behind and encourage the ball at about 3:25) (b) the great movement by Defoe is just how you draw it up in training. He starts at the far post but reads that Lennon can only cut the ball back. So Defoe moves back and across the 6-yard box to meet the ball first time for an unstoppable volley. Classic #9 play. This is his hat-trick goal in a game he would go on to score FIVE.

(9) Lee Bowyer - Birmingham City - I like the dummy and the run that leads up to the goal better then I like the goal. For that movement alone it gets into the top 10. But the finish is very creative. Some players would choose to blast the ball into the back of the net in this situation. Bowyer shows us that there are plenty of inventive ways to score around the 18-yard box.

(10) Didier Drogba - Chelsea - Big Goal. Big Game. Big Game Player. This goal as clinical finishing down to a science. The #4 finds the #2 with an sweet little ball. The cross is measured and controlled, but the real genius is the finish from that position. Drogba turns the inside of his right foot towards the sky angling the ball to the far post out of the reach of GK.

You have til Sunday Dec. 13th.

Get your vote in.