30 years ago today, Venezuela goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel scored a ridiculously good free kick against Argentina in what is one of the best goals ever scored by a goalkeeper.
Usually when a keeper scores, it is when they have gone up the pitch late on to try and head in a corner or maybe the wind catches a particularly long goal kick but goalkeepers taking set pieces is a true rarity.
Enter Rafael Dudamel.
The 6ft 2 shot stopper scored 21 goals in his long career, including 11 for his club Deportivo Cali but his most memorable was on October 9, 1996 in the build up to the 1998 World Cup.
Venezuela hosted an Argentina side featuring Gabriel Batistuta, Ariel Ortega and Diego Simeone as part of the South American qualifying campaign.
It was very much David v Goliath with Argentina going on to top the qualifying table on 30 points while Venezuela ended rock bottom on three but the hosts got off to a good start when they went ahead after seven minutes.
Argentina’s class did eventually show out, meaning it was 4-1 as the game neared 90 minutes.
But Venezuela won a free kick on the edge of Argentina’s box and who better to take it? The keeper of course.
Dudamel stepped up to take it and to say postage stamp would not do it justice. The ball stays well above the wall only to just creep in under the bar at the last second and give Argentina keeper Pablo Cavallero absolutely no chance.
It is a simply ridiculous bit of skill and made all the more funny that it was only a consolation goal. Dudamel though is not taking credit for it and instead saying it was the big man upstairs.
“I say it wasn’t me who kicked the ball; it was God who saved me from that scare. If it had been me, the ball would have ended up in the corner.” He told Vanguardia in 2024, which is far too humble for our liking.
You would be hard-pressed to find a better technique from a goalkeeper and even another Argentina goal before full time was not the most memorable moment of the match.
If that was not enough to make him a Venezuela legend, he then cemented that status as he took their U20 team to the 2017 U20 World Cup final in what was the country’s best ever performance.
They were denied victory though by England with a young Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the score sheet.
As for the best goal scored by keepers of all time, perhaps only Oscarine Masuluke can rival Dudamel after his effort was nominated for the 2017 Puskás Award.
The Baroka goalkeeper scored a stoppage-time bicycle kick to equalise for his team and finished second in the competition, behind only Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace.
Also, a special mention has to go to Jimmy Glass who scored a last-minute winner to keep Carlisle United in the Football League. More goalkeeper goals, we say