It’s been a wonderful year for the beautiful game. From mesmerising goals to moments that truly encapsulate the underdog spirit, it’s been a roller-coaster of a journey for the footballing community.
Also read: 10 famous footballers and the story behind their goal celebrations
With goals come celebrations, and we have seen quite a few innovative ones this year. However, in this list, we’ll be picking out the ones that should happily see their end along with 2016. Take a look.
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#1 Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan doing the ‘running man’
As the world of internet trends go, the Running Man challenge was one of the latest fads to keep the youth of today engaged. Unsurprisingly, young footballers ended up taking it up too.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored Dortmund's fourth goal against Wolfsburg making sure that the German club clinched a decisive victory. The clinical striker went on to break out into dance, as he and fellow team-mate, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, dished out the 'running man'.
Made popular by two University of Maryland basketball players, the 'running man' is performed to 90's hit "My Boo", as people record themselves and upload it onto the internet as part of the challenge.
I guess a lot of us miss the good old celebrations of just being really excited after scoring a goal.
#2 Jamie Vardy and the Mannequin challenge
The mannequin challenge in itself has become world renowned, with not just teenagers but the entire celebrity world taking part in it. Leicester superstar, Jamie Vardy is no different.
England were comfortably leading by 2 goals to nothing, courtesy of an Adam Lallana penalty and a diving header by Jamie Vardy. But a last ditch finish by Iago Aspas in the 90th minute and a last minute penalty for Isco meant the game ended in a disappointing draw.
Jamie Vardy’s goal, however, propelled England’s confidence to new heights. A two nil lead sounded too good to be true, and the players were delighted. Vardy reeled away after scoring the header and froze in position, as fellow teammate Sterling came over to congratulate him.
A brilliant goal marred by a rather questionable celebration. You are better than that Vardy.
#3 Medi Dresevic applauds himself for scoring hat-trick
On the 30th of August, Norrby IF destroyed Tvaaker by six goals to one. The third tier of Swedish football saw a hat-trick from the most unlikeliest of sources. 24-year-old defender Medi Dresevic was so elated that he himself couldn't believe his achievement. A belter of a shot in the 83rd minute sealed his achievement and he just couldn't contain himself.
The player proceeded to run into the stands, take a seat and began to applaud himself. With very few fans in attendance, there were a number of seats empty. As the player escaped the hugs of the few fans in the ground, he was quickly issued a second yellow card on returning to the field.
The lesser said about this the better, right?
#4 Firminho, Coutinho and Mane form a dance troupe
My eyes bleed as I try to form the sentences for this paragraph.
The three have been in quite some form for their club, racking up 19 goals and 19 assists between themselves. They have been key players for the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp's setup at Anfield. Not many could deny that they have been instrumental to their team. The club are 6 points off champions Chelsea but are considered to be in the title race.
Alongside raking in key contributions to the team’s overall play, the chemistry between the players has bloomed to an all-time high. The players are playing with free-flowing confidence. However, the dance they seem to perform in front of their fans makes my insides lurch. Three of arguably the best players in the country and THAT is what they feel like doing after scoring a spectacular goal.
There are two Brazilians in the the team, don’t tell me they can’t come up with anything better !
#5 The dab phenomena
Cultural luminaries such as Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba have been single-handedly lauded for bringing the ‘Dab’ to the United Kingdom and Italy. Originally an American production, football players following the hip-hop scene have been responsible for its meteoric rise.
Here’s a fun challenge. Count the number of times you’ve seen the dab this year, turn those numbers into points, and you have a club qualifying for the Champions League. To make it easier, there is a compilation called ‘Paul Pogba – All Manchester United Dabs 2016’ on YouTube. I can confirm that they’ll be significantly longer than his goals and assists compilation for the Manchester club.
As the year comes to a close, there are certain habits we must leave behind. I pray to the gods above, the dab is one of them.
