World Football: The Only Goal You Need to See This Weekend (Video)
The weekend saw no-look back flicks, flying side flicks and cheeky lob flicks over an onrushing keeper. But no flick, matter how nice, could match one powerful long-range blast.
Enter Florent Balmont.
He sounds like he should be a character in the Castlevania video game series and looks like he could be Pascal Cygan's brother, but in reality, he's a veteran 32-year-old midfielder who plays for Lille in France's Ligue 1.
On Saturday, Lille faced Nimes in the French Cup, and Balmont scored a sweet volley with the outside of his boot near the end of the first half. The volley was so nice, in fact, that it serves as the first Set Piece Goal of the Weekend for 2013.
The goal appears above. Enjoy. Here's what happened.
In the 44th minute, as Lille attacked Nimes' goal, the ball bounced around the edge of the box and finally rolled out to Balmont.
Balmont needed only one touch to launch a rocket into the top corner of the net from more than 25 yards away. Just for added difficulty, he also bent the ball the opposite direction with the outside of his right foot.
The keeper had no chance, and Lille had a 2-0 lead on the way to a 3-2 victory.
Balmont's strike beat out stiff competition from all over the world this weekend, including his native France.
In Mexico, Hector Herrera made a keeper look silly with a cheeky lob in a one-on-one situation.
In Spain, Sami Khedira scored for Real Madrid with a backheel flick without looking at the goal.
And elsewhere in the French Cup, Yeni Ngbakoto converted a crazy, flying side flick for Metz against Nice.
See another great goal this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
(Video: 101 Great Goals)
