A Mexican women’s soccer player known as “La Maga” (The Magician) has captivated the soccer world with a stunning goal for the Monterrey-based Tigres of Liga MX Femenil.
During a home match last week against Chivas of Guadalajara, Lizbeth Ovalle scored by flicking the ball over the goalkeeper with her left heel while hanging in mid-air with her back toward the goal.
Not only has the acrobatic feat gone viral and made headlines globally, but it’s also garnering speculation as the world’s most amazing goal of the year.
Likened to a “scorpion kick” by some, Orvalle’s goal was set up by a crossing pass from Jenni Hermoso.
While traditional scorpion kicks involve using the heel to direct the ball — one of the most famous of all-time occurred in a 1995 friendly between Colombia and England — Ovalle used the bottom of her shoe to loft the ball past Chivas’ stunned goalkeeper.
The “modified scorpion kick” (as some are calling it) broke a 0-0 tie in the 76th minute and helped send the Tigers to an important 2-0 victory over Chivas. Eight of the league’s 18 teams will make the playoffs, and with six matches to go, the Tigers are in fourth place and Chivas in seventh.
Ovalle, a 25-year-old from the city of Aguascalientes, is one of the best players in Liga MX Femenil and one of Mexico’s best female players overall. She has been with the UANL Tigers since 2017 (the team is affiliated with the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, or UANL).
Referred to at times by the first name Jacqueline, she has played for Mexico’s national team since 2018, scoring 20 goals in 58 international games.
Last year, Mexico News Daily wrote about her fabulous goal that helped Mexico score a monumental 2-0 win over the United States in the Concacaf W Gold Cup, a mini–World Cup for teams in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Before that, the U.S. women had 40 wins and one tie in their 42 previous matches against Mexico, including 16 wins in a row by a combined 65-4 score.
A creative and speedy player with an eye for scoring, Ovalle was also a key member of the Mexico squad that won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games.
¡Ovalle con un golazo abre el marcador para México! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/3fWWMsMfXB
— Gold Cup (@GoldCup) February 27, 2024
Ovalle scored 15 goals in 17 Liga MX Femenil games last season to rank third in the league, and this season has 10 goals in 11 games.
Her tally last week is being hyped for the Marta Award, which recognizes the most spectacular goal of the year in global women’s soccer. It is named for Marta Vieira da Silva, more commonly known as Marta, a Brazilian regarded as one of the greatest female futbolistas ever.
If Ovalle wins, she would become the first Mexican to win either the Marta (established by world soccer governing FIFA only last year) or the Puskás Award (awarded annually since 2009 for the most eye-popping men’s goal of the year).
“I don’t even know … who knows how I did it,” Ovalle said after the game while referring to her goal as el camaroncín — the little shrimp.
“I just saw the cross coming in and thought, ‘If I just touch it, wherever it goes, it goes.”
Where it went was straight into history.
With reports from Proceso, The Athletic, TUDN, Esto and Associated Press
