Some eyebrows were raised, it’s fair to say, when Roberto Martínez looked at his bench, his Belgium side 2-0 down to Japan and desperate for attacking incision, and decided that the game-changer his team were crying out for was one Nacer Chadli. Certainly few expected the West Brom winger to cap an astonishing turnaround in the dying seconds with one of the goals of the tournament.

That’s why we are not football managers. After all, Chadli was perhaps the only player on the Belgium bench who could have eaten up the ground as he did in the 94th minute as his side transformed an opposition corner into a jet-heeled breakaway in a matter of moments.

Certainly there are few more visceral thrills than seeing a side sweep from one end to the other, marrying pace and precision with such little margin for error. Here are six more breakaway goals from World Cups past to rival Belgium’s effort on Monday night.



Fellaini and Chadli as game-changers? This World Cup is absolute chaos | Nick Miller Read more

Emmanuel Sanon (Haiti v Italy, 1974)

Haiti’s only appearance at the World Cup to date ended with zero points, 14 goals conceded and an early flight home. But it began in scintillating style when Emmanuel Sanon, the game still poised a 0-0, was sent marauding through Italy’s legendarily miserly backline by a gorgeously weighted Philippe Vorbe pass. Sanon escaped the all-too-literal clutches of Luciano Spinosi to put Haiti ahead and break Dino Zoff’s run of 1,142 minutes without conceding. “The Italian defence is too slow for me,” Sanon had said before the game. He wasn’t wrong.

Jean Tigana v Hungary (1986)

A goal that gets extra marks for seeming both incredibly swift and impossibly leisurely at the same time. The toothpick-chewing Fulham-boss-to-be picks up the ball deep in midfield and seems to amble forward, twice lending the ball to a teammate – the second Dominique Rocheteau, who started the move by his own corner flag – before putting on the burners to receive the final return pass and arrow a controlled effort past Peter Disztl.

Edinho, Brazil v Poland (1986)

Brazil’s second-round drubbing of Poland was started by a doctor and rounded off with a goal of surgical brilliance by Edinho. Until the last second it seems as though Careca – charging on to what looks like an aimless clearance but on second inspection is anything but – has been left to face the Polish defence alone. But then, like a mirror image Carlos Alberto, Edinho arrives steaming down the left flank to receive the backheel that puts him in. The real payoff, though, is the finish, goalkeeper Jozef Mlynarczyk sent lunging towards a nonexistent shot before the ball is rolled mockingly into an open net.

World Cup Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email

Gheorghe Hagi, Romania v Argentina (1994)

Romania’s last-16 win against Argentina in 1994 was a bona fide counterattacking masterclass, containing not one but two of the finest such goals in World Cup history. The first, scored by Ilie Dumitrescu, was perhaps the better team goal, begun with a Bobby-Moore-on-Jairzinho tribute tackle from a Romanian midfielder before some nifty interplay down the right. But Gheorghe Hagi’s second-half effort is the purer counter, Dumitrescu turning provider this time, streaking from his own half and – almost cruelly – slowing the game down just a beat before playing the killer final pass, duly walloped home to bring the curtain down on Maradona and co.

Salif Diao, Senegal v Denmark (2002)

Senegal’s life-affirming World Cup campaign of 2002 reached its symbolic high-point early on, with the opening-day demolition of holders France. Yet technically and aesthetically, the side truly peaked six days later, with a goal that contains all the elements of an authentic elite-level counterattack. Started by a tackle near the corner flag? Check. A feather-light first-time layoff to suddenly crank up the tempo? Check. An all-action midfielder conducting the move before rampaging upfield to gather a defence-bisecting pass and prod home with unnerving cool? Check check and check. A breakneck breakaway.

Thomas Müller, Germany v England (2010)

In the classic style, Germany’s masterful ambush of Fabio Capello’s team only comes into being via a handy dose of English ineptitude: in front of Germany’s penalty box, Frank Lampard bloots a free-kick straight into the wall before Gareth Barry hideously miscontrols the rebound. From then on, though, it’s all Germany, Jérôme Boateng declining to panic under pressure and picking out Müller, who swings a pass over to Bastian Schweinsteiger and awaits the return before dispatching a laser-guided effort inside David James’s near post and celebrating in full-on theatrical style. (His namesake Andreas would be proud). Extra marks for repeating the feat three minutes later to cap England’s shame at the hands of Germany’s emboldened generation.