Watch this latest Jamie Vardy goal, his 21st of the season. Watch him pick up the ball at the halfway line, cooly assess the situation, and decide on the brute-force move of “kick it past the motherfucker and run.” Watch him bulldoze Patrick Van Aanholt, slip past Vito Mannone, and secure a 2-0 win over woeful Sunderland with a brace.
Leicester City’s win yesterday clinched a spot in the Champions League qualifying round, and they’re seven points up on Tottenham with five league games left to play. The Foxes haven’t given up a goal since March 1, and the epic collapse the entire football word has been waiting for hasn’t materialized, and looks like it never will.
I’m not one for metaphors, but how can you not see Leicester City’s entire season in the goal above? Coming from nowhere, from behind, trampling over their opponents until they’re out in front, and then displaying the skill and cool-headedness necessary to slot the rest of the league away.
And if Vardy’s goal was a metaphor for the Foxes’ season, relegation-threatened Sunderland’s attempts to score were a metaphor for the rest of the Premier League. Here is Fabio Borini playing the part of supposed heavyweights Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United:
And here is Jack Rodwell playing the part of supposed title challengers Tottenham, Arsenal, and Manchester City:
And finally, no metaphor here, just Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri struggling to hold back tears as his team closes in on the most improbable English top flight season in decades, if not all-time: