It’s March Break, which means all the youth soccer players across the country have a week off of school, and many of them also have reduced soccer schedules.  For me, March Break has resulted in my first free Saturday since Christmas!  As a result, I thought I would post a video which has nothing to do with Soccer Fitness, but instead has only a very high entertainment value.

Below is a link to an awesome highlight video posted by ‘Keep it on the Deck’s’ Facebook page, of Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita, who played professionally in South America and with the Colombian National Team in the mid-late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  He was known as “El Loco”, and if you watch the video, it’s not hard to see why.  He would frequently go on long dribbling runs outside of his box, narrowly avoiding tackles and sometimes making it all the way into the opponent’s penalty area before either being brought down or simply getting tired.  As if these actions weren’t risky enough, Higuita also toyed with opposing forwards, tempting them with fakes and feints and dribbling around their tackles, and even used his trademark “scorpion kick” (where he would jump forwards and kick both of his legs high up behind his head to stop shots on goal.  This behaviour must have driven his coaches mad, as was the case when he lost the ball to Cameroon’s Roger Milla (who went on to score the winning goal) in Colombia’s Round of 16 loss to Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup.  But, as you will also see from the video, Higuita was such an exceptionally talented athlete and goalkeeper, who could stop shots and breakaways, start attacks and counter attacks, and even take and score some incredible free kicks, that he seemed to make up and atone for his crazy plays.  I remember reading an article about him as a kid that described how he told his coaches “I am who I am, you either accept me or do not play me.  But I will not change.”

I hope you enjoy the video (and the rest of the March Break).  I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1026966624000207&set=vb.556836567679884&type=2&theater