The footballing world was awed this weekend after Western United defender Ben Garuccio scored an absolute worldie in his team’s 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers at the AAMI Park in Melbourne. Scoring a brace in Sunday’s A-League Men win, Garuccio left the footballing fraternity stunned after he smashed home a scorpion kick past Wanderers’ goalkeeper Daniel Margush in the 68th minute, a goal that would indeed last long in one’s memory.
With hosts Western United holding a slim 2-1 advantage deep into the second half, Garuccio threw himself forward after teammate Aleksandar Prijovic had chipped the ball towards him, flinging his leg behind before flicking the ball over his body into the bottom corner, going past a shocked Margush in the process. The goal extended Western United’s lead to 3-1, and although Steven Ugarkovic pulled one back for Wanderers in the 86th minute, the hosts hung onto their lead and earned themselves all three points in the process.
“It was unbelievable, to be honest,” Garuccio said about his Puskas Award-worthy goal to the reporters after the match, as quoted from Stuff.co.nz, “It was a spur of the moment. Prijovic got it and I saw a little gap and I just ran and he played a top ball and I just stuck my leg up basically and I thought, ‘if I can get any sort of connection on this it will be alright’.”
“It actually hit my heel nice and flush and I was like that’s a good connection but I couldn’t see it and I looked up and it was in the net. The rest is history, I suppose,” Garuccio continued, “It just felt like I got a good connection on it because I did one in training a couple of weeks ago and I face-planted horribly and everyone laughed at me.”
The goal invoked memories of Riley McGree’s viral scorpion kick goal for Newcastle Jets against Melbourne City back in the 2018 edition of the A-League, which was nominated for the Puskas Award of that year but controversially lost out to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. However, Garuccio refused to compare himself with the now-Middlesbrough player, playing down any expectations of him joining McGree as Puskas Award nominees.
“I don’t really think about that stuff too much. Obviously, it’s a nice feeling. It’s an unbelievable goal. It’s probably the best I’ll ever score in my career. So, of course, I’ll enjoy it,” said Garuccio, “Riley McGree’s was unbelievable. It was right-footed as well. He’s a left-footer and he did it with his right foot and it was outside the box. I still enjoyed it, I’ll take it.”
“I haven’t really looked at my phone too much. I just checked my family’s messages and stuff like that and, yeah, there’s a lot of stuff on Twitter and Instagram and that,” continued Garuccio, “I’ll get around to that and enjoy it for the moment and then move on to another game Wednesday.”
Garuccio’s scorpion kick effort wasn’t the only A-League Men goal that went viral this month. Earlier on February 10th, Macarthur FC’s Craig Noone scored a cannonball of a volley from outside-of-the-box in the 90th minute of his team’s match against Central Coast Mariners at the Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney, with the wonder-goal salvaging a point for Macarthur in a thrilling 3-3 draw.