His Strike Was Brilliant, But Grabavoy Keeps Quiet on the Celebration
Published on Jul 24, 2010 11:27PM
0 Comments
Coach Jason Kreis called it “fantastic, and “one of the few strikes that gets me to jump off the bench.”
But feel free to go with “unbelievable,” “brilliant” or “sublime.”
Midfielder Ned Grabavoy struck a top-notch goal-of-the-year candidate in RSL's 1-1 draw against Chivas USA at Rio Tinto Stadium tonight, launching a left-footed volley from outside the box into the top corner of the goal where keeper Dan Kennedy had no chance of reaching it. One inch in any direction, it seemed, and it would have either hit a post or been saved.
“It felt good,” he said modestly. “I just hit it well.”
Gee, you think?
The ball had glanced out of the mixer after a corner kick by Javier Morales, and found Grabavoy right about on the arc at the top of the box in the 66th minute. His second goal of the year came ironically on a night when he lost his starting spot to the return of veteran captain Kyle Beckerman, whom Grabavoy had replaced just four minutes earlier.
“When you're on top of the box like that, you really have to be ready for their team to head it out, too,” Grabavoy said. “The guy just headed it. I kind of almost saw it coming before he headed it. You look in there, and it doesn't really look like we're going to get somebody on the end of it, so you just try to position yourself. And it fell to me, and you know, I struck it well.”
And what about that post-goal celebration, the one in which Grabavoy ran to the sideline slapping his outstretched left arm with his right hand?
The world may never know.
“That's something with me and my teammates,” Grabavoy said. “It goes back to last year, in the playoffs, for a PK in Chicago. Something someone said to me on the team. … So we'll just keep it at that.”
