What makes a good goal? This was the question each of us pondered as we embarked upon the process of ranking every goal we’ve seen the US score at the men’s World Cup – a worthwhile bit of nostalgia before the national team kicks off their 2026 World Cup campaign hoping to add more to this list.
First, we had to narrow the field. The team have scored 40 goals at the men’s World Cup, but scant video evidence exists of 12 of those – appropriate, given they were scored in 1930, 1934, and 1950. Piecing together reports and descriptions can give you an idea, but they were always going to be judged differently than those we’ve seen, felt and heard. And so, with apologies to Aldo “Buff” Donelli and Joe Gaetjens, our pool is limited to US World Cup apearances from 1990 til the present.
Own goals, too, have been omitted out of respect. There have been three of those, leaving a well-rounded group of 24 goals to consider.
Each of us rated them on a five-star scale under three categories: importance (the goal’s impact), quality (the technical ability involved in the goal and the play that led to it), and the vibes (everything else: the celebration, the fan reaction, and anything other than the play itself). The maximum a goal could be worth, on our ramshackled rubric, is a 45.
No goal – no, not even that one – maxed out the scale. In the event of a tie, priority was given to the goal with the highest vibes. It’s a ranking of World Cup goals, not trigonometry.
First, we had to narrow the field. The team have scored 40 goals at the men’s World Cup, but scant video evidence exists of 12 of those – appropriate, given they were scored in 1930, 1934, and 1950. Piecing together reports and descriptions can give you an idea, but they were always going to be judged differently than those we’ve seen, felt and heard. And so, with apologies to Aldo “Buff” Donelli and Joe Gaetjens, our pool is limited to US World Cup apearances from 1990 til the present.
Own goals, too, have been omitted out of respect. There have been three of those, leaving a well-rounded group of 24 goals to consider.
Each of us rated them on a five-star scale under three categories: importance (the goal’s impact), quality (the technical ability involved in the goal and the play that led to it), and the vibes (everything else: the celebration, the fan reaction, and anything other than the play itself). The maximum a goal could be worth, on our ramshackled rubric, is a 45.
No goal – no, not even that one – maxed out the scale. In the event of a tie, priority was given to the goal with the highest vibes. It’s a ranking of World Cup goals, not trigonometry.
4 months ago
