Football GIF: Danny Welbeck’s Twirly Backheel Goal vs Sweden – Did The Blighter Mean It?

Chris Wright

16th, June 2012

22 Comments

By Chris Wright

Did he? Didn’t he? Cute finish? Botched control? Does it matter? The super slo-mo replays sure don’t do him any favours, but we’re willing to give young Welbeck the benefit of the doubt on this one – cracking finish young man…

What’s your verdict Pies fans?

Posted in Euro 2012, GIFs, Opinion

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22 Comments

  1. odoki13 says:

    meant it surely?

  2. Danny Welbeck says:

    Of course I meant it, why else would I try and make that kind of contact? There was nothing else I could do you sceptical fools!

  3. Josh says:

    Of course he meant it. This is where luck meets with skill and creativity.

  4. hug me says:

    I’m not entirely convinced, I think the blighter got as jammy as you can get. Not complaining though.

  5. Anonymous says:

    you make your own luck.

  6. fouldsy says:

    yeah he well meant it. the boys a predator!

  7. JuanosDios says:

    Had his eye on ball the whole time. He knew what he was doing. Probably tried it a thousand times in training. Cross coming in from your right and a little behind you. Probably happens all the time.

  8. mr mofongo says:

    yeah he meant it. if he didn’t, what was he trying to do instead?

  9. usrick says:

    To say he “meant it” or didn’t is a false dichotomy. When a goal scorer has a ball played to him in front of the net, he does whatever he can to get a foot, a head, a Hand of God, whatever on the ball, hopefully in the direction of the goal. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Sure there was a good bit of luck involved, both in getting the touch and in the ball being directed just where it was beyond the reach of defender or keeper. But that doesn’t detract from Welbeck’s presence of mind in trying the shot or his skill in scoring it.

  10. comeuppance says:

    look at his face, he watches it all the way in. definitely meant it

  11. damo says:

    ^what this guy said. /comments

  12. dEd Grimley says:

    He meant to make contact with the ball. He was fortunate that it hit him. You can’t give him NO credit, but he didn’t deliberately score the goal as he did.

  13. plops says:

    I thought it was intentional but, looking at it in slow motion it looks a bit like he meant to control it with his foot (maybe to try and shoot with his left) but fell over. I may be wrong. We may never know.

    And yes usrick, it’s a bit like when people say hit and hope. All shots are hit and hope.

  14. Mr Sensible says:

    @usrick

    What are you on about, by your logic every first touch by an attacking player near the goal is an attempt at scoring, no it isn’t! By saying he didn’t mean it is because rather than shooting he was trying to control the ball.

    I personally think he tried to control the ball but who cares really, great finish, even if he didn’t mean it.

  15. MCA says:

    Only Berbatov *means* to score on a backheel.

  16. el_gilbo says:

    He meant it 100%, his eyes never left the ball, he quickly looked over his shoulder to watch it go in where he intended it to go!

  17. Steve says:

    Does it matter?

    All he did was prolong England’s hopes that they actually have a chance making their eventual failure all the more painful to endure.

  18. Huye says:

    for every strike on target there is one that landed on the moon. its not a precise sport…yes it was intentional but no it will not be recreated with regularity

  19. Anonymous says:

    lol england wont go far sadly though, those were goals but Caroll’s aside the winner was not security. You could say the same for J.Cole’s bloody massive chip over Swedens keeper a few word cups ago now coudn’t ya

  20. jr says:

    he was looking for it to go in after he touched it, great response from England.

  21. Xabulani says:

    Maybe.

  22. Justin Case says:

    My personal opinion is that he meant to control it and then bring it down onto his left foot to strike into the net. But as the defender bashed into him, he fell off of his balance and accidentally hit his heel and he flukily slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. His facial reaction when the ball hit his heel showed panic over where the ball had gone and then a slight sign of shock after he saw the ball was in the net. This all adds up to the theory that the goal was a fluke. But i am English and he is from my country and that goal won the game for us so no complaining here.

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