Marco van Basten best of

I just thought that the time is right to finally place Marco van Basten's two best goals on a single page.

The first one, and his all-time best, is the bicycle kick goal he made in 1986 as an Ajax player against FC Den Bosch. As a kid I watched the goal live on television and was blown away. Other kids were too because at soccer training in the week after everybody was just begging our trainers to teach us how to do the bicycle kick. The trainers just laughed it off and grumbled something in the vein of, no, they won't teach us how to do the bicycle kick, that's not what you and I are here for, that's just something you have to figure out for yourself. In my mind, the response only made Marco van Basten even more awesome and even more of an enigma.

The second goal is the volley against the USSR that won the Dutch its first and so far its only European Championship title. That was in 1988 and I missed the entire event as I'd just moved to a new country and was trying to adjust and settle. As such, its impact and importance was lost on me. To me, the assist is equally as impressive as the volley itself, actually.

Soccer: the SORQ treatment

I played soccer as a kid. I even was a member of the local soccer club. And when I wasn't playing for my club, I would be playing on the patch of grass behind my home.

Marco van Basten was playing for Ajax Amsterdam at the time and I venerated him. After all, the man was a striker, that special kind of player who gets to be placed way up there on the front line, the one who is brave enough and who has it together enough to take on the last defence of the enemy and to try and take us that much closer to victory.

With my club I would play either in the back or in the midfield and when our striker would have the ball, I would watch him from afar with bated breath, and when he scored I would have nothing but admiration for the guy. How the hell does he do it, keeping his cool like he does in the enemy's lair?

On to the Quadrant.

1. [subjective] The game: It's symbolic war. Two villages, nations, squads square up against each other, and when the drumbeat of war falls silent, only one thing is left to do. (rating = 1)
2. [subjective] The team: The battle-scarred veterans, the celebrated heroes, the unsung heroes, the generals, the foot soldiers. Which one are you? (rating = 1)
3. [objective] The team: To win is to have the right man at the right place in the right formation. In 90 minutes' time you will know if you indeed were right. (rating = 1)
4. [objective] The game: It's a game of chess, and chess is forever. Mental, emotional, physical: it is the beautiful game. (rating = 1)

SORQ score: 4

PS: I've decided to name my pet teak tree Party Tree II.