‘Shaba’ takes on the best

Tshabalala’s spectacular goal against Mexico in the opening match of the Fifa 2010 World Cup has been nominated for Fifa’s goal of the year, described by Fifa as one of the “ten superb goals” of this year.   The award is called the Fifa Puskas award, created in honour of Ferenc Puskas, captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s. Puskas, who died at the age of 76 in 2006, scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for his country and 157 goals in 182 matches for Spanish giants Real Madrid between 1958 and 1966.   The award is in its second year and South Africans are regulars so far. Katlego Mphela’s rocket against Spain in the Fifa Confederations Cup third place play-off was in line for the inaugural award, but he was beaten to it by Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored from 40 yards for Manchester United against Porto in a UEFA Champions League match in April 2009.   Tshabalala will take on the likes of Lionel Messi as the Argentinean is among the nominees.    The final list was drawn up using the following criteria; the importance of the match, the absence of luck or an opposition mistake as a factor making the goal possible, fair play and the date, with only goals scored between January 1 and October 15 this year counting.   Voting began yesterday and you can click here http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/puskasaward/index.html to see and vote for Shaba’s goal and the rest.