Match of a Lifetime for Nigeria's Ahmed Musa!

Ahmed Musa put on a show today as Nigeria defeated Iceland, 2-0, in World Cup Group D action.  The first of Musa's two goals was a thing of beauty.  After a scoreless first half, Iceland had a throw-in early in the second half.  Nigeria got control of the ball and once Victor Moses had the ball down the right side of the pitch, he was off to the races.  He kept looking toward his teammates to his left and he spotted Musa keeping pace.  Look where Moses launched his pass (click on the image for a larger view).

The ball is just leaving the right boot of Victor Moses in the above photo.  He kicked the Telstar 18 down and to the right, which gave the ball a lot of counterclockwise spin (as seen from above).  That meant the Magnus force was on the ball, causing it to curve from right to left (as seen by Moses) off its normal trajectory.  That was the perfect spin because the ball curved in toward Musa.

But the pass, like all passes, was not precisely perfect.  Musa put his athletic skill on full display as he caught the ball.  Check out Musa's outstretched right leg (click on the image for a larger view).

What you have to keep in mind is that Musa not only arrested the majority of the ball's velocity, his right boot was on the underside of the ball.  Whether by design or good fortune, that boot placement caused the ball to rotate counterclockwise -- as seen by Musa!  The ball's rotation axis had been turned 90 degrees.  Look at the closeup below (click on the image for a larger view).

It was great boot placement!  Musa's toes were up to help stop the ball's side-spin, but his ankle was on the bottom of the ball to take advantage of the ball's velocity and create the counterclockwise spin that Musa saw.  That meant that when the ball landed on the pitch, friction with the pitch would cause the ball to move toward the goal.  Muse wisely let the ball hit the pitch (click on the image for a larger view).

By letting the ball bounce off the pitch, Musa allowed the pitch to help the ball move toward the goal, and the ball was in a more stable position to kick with less speed than it would have had had Musa tried kicking the ball before it hit the pitch.  Look at the ball right before the kick (click on the image for a larger view).

Musa has the lean toward his left as his right leg comes through the ball.  He is about to kick the ball with a bit of backspin, so his boot will go through a line below the ball's center of mass.  How close did the ball come to getting blocked?  Check it out (click on the image for a larger view).

Look at how close the Icelandic goalkeeper was to the ball!  But the upward trajectory of a ball kicked at nearly 65 mph with backspin was too much for the goalkeeper.  At the instant shown below, Nigeria was on its way to victory (click on the image for a larger view).

Doesn't Telstar 18 look pretty in the goal plane?  I think so, but not nearly as pretty as Musa's goal!