Hassli Wondergoal Attracts Worldwide Interest

When Eric Hassli flicked the ball up and promptly volleyed it into the far top corner of Seattle's goal, I was amazed. In two touches, Hassli made the difference, salvaging the Caps from a loss. While this season the Frenchman has been decent, scoring penalties without problems but also getting red cards, finally we've seen his magical touch truly save Vancouver's ass.

While seeing the goal was amazing, what really struck me was the speed in which it circulated around the web. Yahoo's Dirty Tackle picked up on it right away as did Who Ate All the Pies. While I thought that would be the end of it, I was wrong. I saw it next on Soccer Cleats 101, and after that my father found it on the Sky Sports Italy website along with a very interesting article (Google translate if you can't read Italian) about Hassli's past and future. Then, Loving That Soccer posted it, adding to the multitude of worldwide sites and blogs which were loving Hassli's goal.

It's fair to say that this goal is an amazing piece of skill, which will most likely be crowned as the best goal of the year or season. Yet, for some reason I didn't expect anyone to care. I especially didn't expect European websites and newspapers to give a squat about a 30 year-old Frenchman's goal in the MLS. I guess it shows that the MLS is expanding and becoming more popular around the world, faster than I certainly expected.

Watching all these websites praise Eric Hassli's goal, and mention the Vanouver Whitecaps made me feel proud. The goal truly lifted us Whitecaps fans, after we saw our one goal lead be decimated in the final minutes of the match. Luckily, our DP popped up with the goal that everyone has probably already seen a few times already. But in case you haven't here it is below:




It's only a good thing that so many have picked up on and seen Eric Hassli's goal. Hopefully, this means that we'll have a couple of more extra Whitecaps fans from around the world! What were your thoughts when you saw this spectacular equalizer? Share any thoughts or comments below!