Soccer in Sun and Shadow

The Olympic Goal

When the Uruguayan team returned from the 1924 Olympics, the Argentines challenged them to a friendly. The match was played in Buenos Aires. Uruguay lost by one goal.

Left wing Cesáreo Onzari was the author of the winning goal. He took a corner and the ball went directly into the net without anyone else touching it. He was the first in soccer history to score a goal that way. The Uruguayans were left speechless. When they found their tongues, they protested. They claimed the goalkeeper, Mazali, was pushed when the ball was in the air. The referee wouldn’t listen. Then they howled that Onzari hadn’t intended to shoot at the net and that the goal had been scored by the wind.

In homage or in irony, that rarity became known in South America as the “Olympic goal.” It is still called that, on the rare occasions it occurs. Onzari spent the rest of his life swearing it wasn’t by chance. And though years have gone by, the mistrust continues: every time a corner kick shakes the net without intermediaries, the crowd celebrates the goal with an ovation, but doesn’t quite believe it.