TODAY marks the 30th anniversary of Rene Higuita’s outrageous ‘Scorpion Kick’ at Wembley during a very ordinary friendly goalless draw between England and Colombia.
DAVID SEAMAN, 61, won 75 England caps between 1988 and 2002, and was at the other end of the pitch that day and provides us with his personal memories…
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AS we were warming up before the game and I watched Rene Higuita practising and witnessed him doing that scorpion kick a couple of times I thought surely he won’t be doing that in the match.
Then Jamie Redknapp hit a shot after 22 minutes on target and suddenly Rene was in full flipping flight perfectly executing this amazing kick – arms full out like a scorpion and clearing the shot with his legs behind him.
I’m sure he must have worked on it as a piece of choreography, but even 30 years on it’s still one of the most incredible moments by a goalkeeper I have seen in a lifetime as a player and fan.
The fact it’s now three decades old I’m sure there is a new generation of football fans who won’t remember or know about it.
I went on YouTube to remind myself and it’s still as clear to me and as amazing to look at than me watching it live in the other penalty area on this date in 1995.
It’s a piece of football history that will never age.
People asked me if I would do it or try it – absolutely not a chance.
This was something that Rene Higuita owned and it’s a piece of football eccentricity that I will never forget.
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Over the years I have seen several outstanding pieces of golden goalkeeping moments like Jimmy Glass scoring in the last minute in their last game of the season for Carlisle against Plymouth to keep them in the Football League in 1999.
But Higuita’s heroics at Wembley are reserved for folklore.
Of course, it could have gone horribly wrong, but he was the sort of keeper who was happy to take that chance.
I remember he got caught out trying to dribble out on the pitch by Cameroon’s Roger Milla at the 1990 World Cup in Italy and conceded an awful goal.
But that was him.
I remember we shook hands at the end of the match at Wembley, but Rene’s English wasn’t that great so we weren’t able to communicate too much.
I have also met him at a Fifa awards since and I have nothing but admiration and respect for him as a former keeper for what he achieved in the game.
People asked me if I would do it or try it – absolutely not a chance
DAVID SEAMAN ON DOING A SCORPION KICK
I looked up his record and read that he scored FORTY-TWO goals in his career – granted quite a few penalties.
That is the sort of figure quite a few Premier League strikers would be proud to score!
From our point of view this may have been only a friendly but Terry Venables had only been appointed the previous year and he was assessing the players ahead of Euro 96 which was less than a year away.
So we were all focused on hosting the tournament and hoping to be part of Terry’s squad before Rene provided us all with this extraordinary piece of skill.
DAVID SEAMAN is a proud ambassador for Fishing Republic at GO Outdoors. Find more information about the long-standing partnership on the GO Outdoors website and keep up to date on Instagram. David is also president of the Willow Foundation at willowfoundation.org
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The Hig Show
How The Sun reported on Higuita’s magic 30 years ago (above)
ECCENTRIC former Colombia keeper Rene Higuita reflects on that scorpion kick 30 years ago with huge affection.
He said: “I did some important things in football, and that was special, and also where it took place, in the temple of football at Wembley.”
He revealed that the only reason he even contemplated that audacious stunt was because of a Fifa rule implemented three years earlier in 1992 that he believes was created with his style of play in mind.
“What was more important [than the Scorpion] was the law change that Fifa brought in, taking away a keeper picking up from a back pass. That came through me.
“I believe I gave more freedom to goalkeepers which meant they wouldn’t spend so long with the ball and waste time
“They were no longer just thought of as players who had to use their hands. They could use their feet too.”
However Higuita was not about structure or tactics – he was about pure, unadulterated fun, encouraging others now donning the gloves to play with a freedom and a smile.
But it is unlikely that anyone will ever do it like he did.
And his goal scoring wasn’t too shabby either.
For Colombian sides Atletico Nacional, Independiente Medelin, Real Cartagena, Bajo Cauca and Deportivo Rionegro, Mexican outfit Veracruz, as well as for Colombia, Higuita scored 35 penalties, six free-kicks and one from his own penalty area.
He currently sits fifth in the list of all-time goalscoring keepers – the four above him also hailing from South America.
Rene added: “Some people thought it was crazy, but for me, it was taking advantage of the conditions that I had to do things.”
It was later revealed in post-match interviews Higuita claimed he had seen an offside flag and that his decision to perform the scorpion kick was because he knew the goal wouldn’t count.