Juanpi's Goal for Venezuela Was Bonkers (Kind of Like Earning a Draw Against Argentina)

"Can I Get a Sparkle count on that goal? EXTRAORDINARIO @FVF_Oficial" @Rayhudson #beINQualifiers https://t.co/aEN71aOOOU
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 7, 2016

Any goal exalted as "better than hoochie-coochie" in its immediate aftermath has to be quite something.

And lo, it was.

Little Juanpi, a 22-year-old Venezuelan attacking midfielder for Malaga who stands just five-foot-seven-and-change, weaved his way through the stout Argentine defense and put the Vinotinto ahead against Lionel Messi's resurgent Albiceleste on Tuesday.

That would be South America's perennial last-place team Venezuela taking a lead over Argentina in a real and actual World Cup qualifier. The Argentines have lost the final of the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America, and the 2016 Copa America Centenario. Venezuela would score once more before the visitors fought back and got a late equalizer.

But let's not concern ourselves with any of that and focus instead on the better-than-sex goal, so professed by the inimitable Ray Hudson.

Juanpi picked the ball up outside the box, tried to penetrate, retreated, and then turned and unloosed a physically perfect shot into the far upper 90. The grimace of the grounded goalkeeper Sergio Romero says it all. There's really very little he or anyone else could have done about that.

It was, as Hudson put it, "caressed, and sent with love."

Yet for the beauty of the goal, there is something larger going on with Venezuelan soccer that's worth pointing out. The team surprised many at this summer's Copa by reaching the knockout stages, beating Jamaica and Uruguay and tying Mexico, which needed a late equalizer. Then they were knocked out by Argentina in the quarterfinals, 4-1.

For all the country's economic woes, and even though it has gained just two points from eight World Cup qualifiers in the murderous CONMEBOL region, the current Venezuelan team of 28 players counts just two members who are 30 or older.

Eighteen team members are 25 or younger, and there are five teenagers in the squad—four of whom have already made their debuts. Meanwhile, it isn't just star striker Salomon Rondon who has managed to carve out a career in Europe. Seven players are now active in Spain, three in Italy, and three in Portugal.

Juanpi's was a world-class goal, but it's a young team's larger result—a 2-2 tie against world power Argentina that could well have been a win—that should raise eyebrows.