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What’s the one thing (well, OK, one of the things) that separates James Ward-Prowse and Lionel Messi?
Unlike Messi, Ward-Prowse has scored an ‘olimpico’.
An olimpico is a goal scored directly from a corner kick — and Messi’s quest was chronicled brilliantly by my colleague Felipe Cardenas here. They are unmistakably memorable and to pull one off takes some doing, and a sprinkle of skill, opportunism and luck. The Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry scored an olimpico for New York Red Bulls against Columbus Crew in 2012, and the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham, now Inter Miami’s co-owner, did the same for LA Galaxy in the same year.
Last season, the Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner in a friendly against Walsall, a Carabao Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers and then against Arsenal in the Premier League.
The USWNT icon Megan Rapinoe is the only player in women’s or men’s soccer to score two olimpicos at the Olympics.
The player who is thought to have scored the first one, Argentinian Cesareo Onzari, did so in a friendly against the reigning Olympic champions Uruguay in 1924, hence the name.
A century later, Messi has scored more than 800 career goals, but is yet to stick one in from a corner. It’s not because he hasn’t tried, either. Just check out the YouTube videos collating his attempts.
GO DEEPER
The olímpico: The one soccer achievement that eludes Lionel Messi
Ward-Prowse, the West Ham United midfielder who joined last summer from Southampton for £30million ($38m), is a set-piece specialist. In 410 senior appearances for Southampton, he scored 55 goals. Of those 55, 33 were from a penalty kick or a direct free kick. Although he has yet to score a free kick for West Ham, he has provided the most assists (11) by any West Ham player this season.
His proficiency from dead balls saw the 29-year-old hailed as the best free-kick taker in the world by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in 2022. Ward-Prowse has scored 17 Premier League free kicks, one short of Beckham’s record.
“To be spoken about like that from somebody like him (Guardiola) is amazing, considering he has coached arguably the greatest player of all time in Lionel Messi, who is not so bad at free kicks,” Ward-Prowse told TNT Sports in December.
So how did the midfielder pull off an olimpico?
Ward-Prowse bends one in from the corner 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Sn4UBzHfSp
— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 6, 2024
It happened in the 84th minute of West Ham’s 2-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. It was a windy afternoon at the Molineux Stadium, which worked to Ward-Prowse’s advantage. The midfielder celebrated with his typical swing of an imaginary golf club. It has become part of Ward-Prowse’s routine because his son, Oscar, loves golf.
Edson Alvarez, the Mexico international, was the first player to embrace Ward-Prowse, followed by defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos and Aaron Cresswell. Forward Michail Antonio tweeted: “No words Prowsey,” in shock at what his team-mate just did. Wolves’ defence were emotionless.
No words Prowsey 😲 pic.twitter.com/iCQpXJ0fUc
— Michail Antonio (@Michailantonio) April 6, 2024
After an olimpico is scored, there’s always a debate about whether the strike was intentional or not. As for Ward-Prowse, he says that his goal against Wolves is not the first time he has scored directly from a corner.
“Part of the plan was to shoot on target and you hope someone can get a little touch to disrupt the goalkeeper, and thankfully it went all the way in,” he said. “The wind was helpful today and it was a good assist. The last time I scored from a corner was probably when I was a kid. I’m going to get the odd shouts to shoot from every corner now!”
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Ward-Prowse, who has earned 11 England caps, has registered six goals and 11 assists across 42 appearances in all competitions for West Ham this season.
“He brings so much quality,” said the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp in August. “He brings world-class delivery, he’s brilliant at pressing.
“£30million — when you look at that price tag, he’s going to add a lot of quality. He’s a brilliant signing. I think we talk so often about his set pieces but I think it gets almost disrespectful because of what he does apart from that: he presses people well, he’s very comfortable on the ball, he can make interesting passes.
“I’m just a massive fan of his. He’s improved so much throughout the years.”
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also praised Ward-Prowse’s olimpico but believes the weather was a factor in his team-mate achieving the spectacular.
“I think the conditions played a bit into what happened with that goal,” said the West Ham goalkeeper. “Even in the warm-up, I could feel the ball was coming a lot quicker, whereas from the other side, it would die a bit. I don’t want to take anything away from Prowsey! Obviously, there was a lot of quality in there but I think the windy conditions helped a bit.”
David Moyes, the West Ham manager, also acknowledged the wind playing a part but he has been pleased with Ward-Prowse’s contributions this season and how reliable he has been on set pieces.
“I’m going to praise James for it because of his technical ability but I also think there was also a bit of blustery wind, which may have helped,” said Moyes.
“But don’t take it away from him because he actually put in a brilliant delivery just before that from a corner, and we didn’t have the players placed correctly to deal with it. His impact has been huge for us this season.”
Over to you, Lionel.
