Striker’s ‘Scorpion Kick’ Goal Makes Bolivian Football History · Global Voices
Pablo Andres Rivero

Nacional Potosí, a modest first-division football club from Bolivia, kicked off the 2012 football season playing against The Strongest at home. During the second half of the match, Gastón Mealla, a 24-year-old Nacional Potosí striker, made an improbable heel volley, a ‘scorpion kick’, scoring from outside the box.
Mealla’s goal was nominated by FIFA as one of the 10 best goals for the 2012 Puskás Award; however, it was not selected among the final 3.
Skrileks, an anonymous YouTube user based in France, commented on FIFA’s YouTube Channel:
I can't understand how so much people can vote for the two bicycles in the penalty box, when you have a never seen scorpion kick from outside the box like that.
It's worthy of the taekwondo kicks of Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]. It's wonderful, powerful, and nobody ever done a scorpion kick from a so long distance.
PickleKunAMV, another YouTube user, also wrote:
I'm Colombian and love [Radamel] Falcao [whose goal was nominated among the top 3] but this should win the Puskas award.
Roberto Acosta (@btoae) [es], an active sport journalist and Twitter user based in La Paz, argues that such a spectacular goal was not among the most voted because,
@btoae: Hay una sola toma del gol, quizá le quita algo de espectacularidad, la LFPB no se caracteriza por la calidad en transmisiones ni pensar en HD.
@btoae: There is only one shot of the goal, maybe it takes some spectacularly away, HD or good quality broadcast is not a feature in the LFPB [Bolivian Professional Football League].
Moreover, Roberto Acosta also states that these awards are oriented towards big football stars:
@btoae: El Balon de Oro 2012 de FIFA es como los Oscar para Blatter, es dificil imaginar una pelicula de bajo presupuesto en una terna.
@btoae: The FIFA Ballon d'Or 2012 is like the Oscars for [Joseph] Blatter, hard to imagine a low budget film being short-listed.
Despite not making the top 3 goals of the year, Gastón Mealla's astonishing, but low-quality broadcast scorpion kick will remain as one of the most spectacular goals of Bolivian football history.