Oscar Wilde famously wrote that “to concede one goal direct from a corner is a misfortune, to concede two in eight days looks like carelessness.”
These thoughts may have crossed the minds of Manchester United’s associates recently after allowing two ‘olimpicos’ in just over a week, in two different competitions.
The rarity of an olimpico makes United’s feat of letting two in such a short time quite extraordinary. Their struggles with defending set pieces and overall existential crisis could have made them a likely candidate for such mishaps.
While some may deem these goals as flukes resulting from goalkeeper errors rather than genuine scoring attempts by the corner taker, there is a gray area where intent from the taker and attacking team can lead to successful corner strikes.
Players like Morten Gamst Pedersen and Joe Jacobson have made scoring olimpicos a skill, with intentional efforts to place the ball strategically close to the goal line.
Pedersen celebrates a Premier League goal for Blackburn in 2005 (Paul Mcfegan/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Pedersen emphasizes that the intention behind a well-struck corner is to achieve the ultimate goal of scoring, even if the execution may vary from a conventional shot. He believes in creating situations close to the goal line to take advantage of any possible outcome.
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