lots of stuff going around getting ready for the world cup, but then stefan sent me this save that is instant insanity and i had to do some research. someone write a movie about this guy, i’ll direct..
Only 20,038 were present at Wembley to witness a spectacle later voted one of the 100 greatest sporting moments of all time.
After 22 minutes of a friendly international back in September 1995, Jamie Redknapp floated an aimless cross in to the Colombian penalty area.
As the ball drifted towards goal, Colombian ‘keeper Rene Higuita could have caught the ball, but instead elected to clear it with an astonishing kick.
The goalkeeper: “I call it my scorpion kick and I try to do it whenever possible,” explains Higuita. “My philosophy is to enjoy myself and to entertain.”
The gaffer: “I have only one word to describe it, extraordinary,” says England coach Terry Venables.
“Ive never seen anything like it. They tell me he does it all the time in his own country, thats probably why his last three managers have had heart attacks.”
The legend: “If hed done that playing for England it would have been his last cap,” says Englands World Cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks.
“Bobby Moore would have had a quiet word and Jack Charlton would have punched him on the nose. It was incredible, but whats wrong with a simple catch?”
The cub scout leader: The rash of copycat Scorpions included a Scout leader in Preston who ended up in hospital with a dislocated shoulder.
“I thought I could pull it off,” recalls Graham Alston. “The save worked, it was just the landing which went wrong.”
The doctor: Dr John Crane, Englands medical officer, warned people not to replicate the move: “It hyper-extends the back and could easily lead to serious spinal damage.”
José René Higuita Zapata (born August 27, 1966 in MedellÃn) is a Colombian football goalkeeper who plays for the CategorÃa Primera B club Deportivo Rionegro. He has played 68 international matches for the Colombian national team, in which he scored three goals.
Higuita played the majority of his club career with Colombian side Atlético Nacional, where he helped the team win the Colombian League on numerous occasions as well as the Copa Libertadores and Copa Interamericana, both in 1989.
He is famed for inventing the “scorpion kick”, a clearance where the keeper jumps forward, arches his legs over his head and in doing so, kicks the ball away with his heels. This save earned him notoriety when he pulled it off in a friendly game against England in September, 1995, blocking a mistaken cross by Jamie Redknapp. It ranked 94th in Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002 and was voted football’s greatest trick in an online poll in July 2008.
On the pitch, Higuita is known for having an eccentric playing style, taking unnecessary risks, and he actively tries to score goals. He is also prone to blunders, and it was a mistake by him that knocked Colombia out of the 1990 World Cup, where he seemingly dithered with the ball at his feet 35 yards from goal enabling Cameroon striker Roger Milla to dispossess him and score, putting his team through to the quarter-finals. As a result of such behaviour, Higuita was nicknamed “El Loco” by media and fans alike.
Higuita is friends with Diego Maradona, and played in the Argentine’s farewell match in 2001.
He came out of retirement in 2007 to sign for Venezuelan club Guaros de Lara FC. In January 2008, aged 41, he signed at Colombian second division team Deportivo Rionegro. He still dreams of returning to Colombia’s national team. After his retirement as a player he says he wants to become coach for the Colombian national team or become more politically active.
He is married to Magnolia, with whom he has two children, Andrés and Pamela. He also has a daughter, Cindy Carolina, from a previous marriage.
Higuita was imprisoned in 1993, after getting involved in a drug cartel kidnapping. Acting as a go-between for the drug barons Pablo Escobar and Carlos Molina, he was largely responsible for securing the release of Molina’s daughter by delivering the ransom money. He received $64,000 for his services, which breaks Colombian law as it is an offence to profit from a kidnapping. He was incarcerated for 7 months before being released without charge. Commenting on the case, he has stated that “I’m a footballer, I didn’t know anything about kidnapping laws.” Because of the term in prison Higuita was not fit for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In another scandal, he tested positive for cocaine on November 23, 2004 while playing for an Ecuadorian football club.
In 2005, Higuita participated in the reality TV program La isla de los famosos: Una aventura pirata (“The Island of the Famous: A Pirate Adventure”), a show similar to Survivor.