Cesareo Onzari: The man who scored the first ever Olympic Goal

Toni Kroos stunned the world by scoring the Olympic Goal against Valencia last night, but very few know about the man, who achieved the feat for the first time in the history of professional football…..

The fantastic midfielder of Germany and Real Madrid, Toni Kroos scored directly from a corner last night against Valencia in the Supercopa de Espana in Saudi Arabia, which propelled Madrid to claim in the finals. Kroos stunned Jaume Domenech, the Valencia goalkeeper,  to open the scoring in the 15th minute, curling a cross towards the goal while the keeper was still organizing his defence and the ball flew over the line before Domenech could recover.

A goal scored directly from the corner has not happened for the first time in the history of football, but legends like Garrincha, Lothar Matthaus, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, and Diego Forlan have achieved such a feat previously. Among these names, Garrincha is known to do such a staggering thing 4 times in his career.

But very few know about the man, who achieved this feat for the first time in the history of professional football.  The name of the footballer was Cesareo Onzari, an Argentine left-winger, who made his entire career in Huracan from 1921 to 1933.

On October 2, 1924, Argentina were playing an international friendly against the Olympic Champions Uruguay at Estadio Sportivo Barracas. In the 15th minute of the game, Onzari made a goal from a corner kick, with no other player touching the ball before scoring. Due to the fact that Uruguay were the Olympic champions, this play was called "Gol Olímpico" or the “Olympic Goal”. Point to be noted is, Toni Kroos did the same in the 15th minute last night.

The goal was awarded to Argentina on the basis of the modification of rules by IFAB on the same year on June 24.

Argentina won the match by 2-1 although Uruguay left the field with just four minutes left to play. The Uruguayan players complained that the spectators threw bottles at them and the aggressive nature of the Argentine players. The home team also complained about the roughness of visitors as the match ended with a lot of bitterness, but that became a part of history and Onzari’s goal was the reason for it.

Although FIFA states the first goal from a corner was scored by Billy Alston in Scotland on August 21, 1924, but as a matter of fact, Alston's goal was from a header on August 23, 1923. Huddersfield Town’s “The Great” Billy Smith achieved this feat as the first English player on October 24, 1924, in the match against Arsenal.

A Turkish player named Şükrü Gülesin is known to score 32 goals directly from the corner and got himself included in the Guinness Book of World Record in 1950s. 

The first Olympic Goal at the Olympic Games was scored by Megan Rapinoe's for the United States against Canada in the 2012 women's semifinal.

The first Olympic Goal in the FIFA World Cup was scored for Colombia by Marco Coll, beating the legendary Soviet Union keeper Lev Yashin in a 4–4 draw with the Soviet Union in 1962.

Many players have scored the Olympic Goal, but it is Cesareo Onzari had who been the first footballer in history to do such.

Onzari played 15 matches for Argentina scoring 5 goals. He participated in the 1924 and 1925 Campeonato Sudamericanos with Argentina, winning the title in 1925. That same year Onzari played for Boca Juniors during the tour that Xeneizes made in Europe.

Onzari retired in 1933. He scored 67 goals in 212 matches for the Huracan. He died on January 6, 1964.

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 09/01/2020 Cesareo Onzari: The man who scored the first ever Olympic Goal

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Faisal Caesar