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Australia and Adelaide United defender Tarek Elrich isn’t exactly what you’d call a goal machine. Or, indeed, a flair player. He’s a full-back with a solitary cap for the Socceroos and a relatively patchy record for his previous clubs.
But none of that mattered one jot when Elrich picked up the ball deep in his own half this weekend in Adelaide’s A-League tie against Melbourne City and started running. And running. And running.
Former Manchester United and Australia goalkeeper Mark Bosnich proclaimed Elrich’s solo effort “the goal of the season,” adding: “If that was someone in any of the big European leagues, we’d be hailing it for two or three weeks.”
We’d politely note that if someone in any of Europe’s big leagues scored that goal, he’d have been facing some markedly better defending than that offered by Melbourne City, but we’re not here to quibble.
No, we’d like to doth our caps to Tarek Elrich. As anyone lucky enough to be inside Villa Park 16 years ago (or, you know, has access to YouTube) could tell you, Elrich is to Adelaide’s United what Ryan Giggs is to Manchester’s:
Uncanny, no?
