The Ezequinha – How to take a penalty, by Ezequiel Calvente

They say invention is the mother of necessity. I’m not quite sure what that is supposed to mean, but I do know that – in football – invention is the spice of life. Oh no, wait a minute, that’s variety isn’t it? Gah. That’s pretty much ruined my introduction now hasn’t it? Right. Well, anyway, invention in football is important. Very important.

It is what keeps the spectator coming back for more, it is what keeps the game a wildly unpredictable mistress and invention is also what keeps the future stars of tomorrow in their gardens until late at night, practising the latest devilish piece of skill they saw on TV.

While I am not one for moaning about the quality of the recent World Cup (or any World Cup in general for that matter – to me any World Cup is compelling by default), one thing we didn’t see too much of in South Africa was invention. Craft. A new piece of trickery to dazzle us all. Off the top of my head, I struggle to think of a single player that provided something for the ages a la Johan Cruyff at West Germany 1974 with his Cruyff turn or Cuauhtemoc Blanco at France ‘98.

So it is nice that we didn’t have to wait too long post South Africa 2010 for someone to showus the way forward with an outrageous piece of improvisation from the penalty spot at the Under-19s European Championships currently taking place in France.

Predictably, it came from a Spanish player. Spain U-19s’ Ezequiel Calvente, a substitute in Spain’s 3-0 group stage win over Italy, came off the bench to produce a moment of magic after his side were awarded a penalty in the 57th minute. A sort of ’switch-hit’ shot, Calvente feigns as if to shoot with his right foot before hitting the ball into the net with his standing left foot. Words of description really can’t do it justice, so behold:

(link)

“I decided to give it a try and – voila,” declared the Real Betis youngster. “My Betis teammates have seen me practising it before. I call it the Ezequinha.”

The Ezequinha. Coming to a football ground near you, if anyone is ballsy enough to even try it that is. Amazing stuff.

Europe, Ezequiel Calvente, Great Goals, Outrageous Skill, Spain, Under-19 European Championships