Maradona to Owen: The top five greatest World Cup goals of all time

Being the greatest footballing competition in the world, it was hard to knock it down to just five goals, but - in no particular order - here are our five best-ever World Cup strikes.

Carlos Alberto - Brazil v Italy 1970

Regarded by many as the greatest 'team goal' of all time, Alberto's finish against Italy in the 1970 final was not only a superb goal but also involved some of the biggest legends to ever play the sport.

All it took was 10 quick passes for the team of Brazilians to get from one end of the pitch to the other, with the likes of Rivelino, Jairzinho and Pele all involved before the latter squared it to Alberto who thumped a strike into the far corner.

His goal rounded off a 4-1 victory for Brazil who claimed what was their third World Cup trophy at the time - they have since gone on to take their overall total to five.

Diego Maradona - Argentina v England 1986

Unfortunately for Maradona, the infamous 'Hand of God' he scored just a few minutes earlier means his second goal of the 1986 quarter-final against England sometimes gets overshadowed.

However, the fact that his second strike hasn't been completely forgotten due to the completely absurd nature of his first is a testament to how good of a goal it actually was.

Maradona picked up the ball in his own half and silkily turned his way through two English midfielders, before driving at the back four, taking the ball past two defenders and even goalkeeper Peter Shilton and burying his strike in the far corner.

The Argentine's goal was so good that it was dubbed by many as the 'goal of the century'.

Michael Owen - England v Argentina 1998

Twelve years on from Maradona's historic solo effort, an 18-year-old Michael Owen popped up with a superb individual goal of his own.

Bringing down David Beckham's diagonal ball and using his electric pace to go past two Argentine defenders, Owen then lashed the ball home to properly announce himself on the world stage - with what was just his third England goal at the time.

The Three Lions would go on to lose on penalties and crash out at the round of 16 stage in what turned out to be another disappointing World Cup showing.

Giovanni Van Bronckhorst - Netherlands v Uruguay 2010

A goal from a more recent edition of the tournament, Van Bronckhorst's rocket in the Netherlands' semi-final against Uruguay won the goal of the tournament award in 2010.

The left-back picked the ball up from some distance out on the left-hand side of the pitch and despite it looking like there was nowhere for him to go, he struck an absolutely unstoppable shot into the top right-hand corner.

His goal opened the scoring in what ended up being a 3-2 victory for the Netherlands as they advanced to the final, although they would go on to lose to Spain.

James Rodriguez - Colombia v Uruguay 2014

The final entry on our list is Rodriguez's round-of-16 volley for Colombia against Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup.

Rodriguez was already making a name for himself after his performances in the group stages, but his first goal of the knockout rounds caught the eye of fans across the globe.

He took the ball onto his chest before swivelling and hitting a volley over the goalkeeper and in off the crossbar - winning the Puskas award later that year.

The midfielder also netted a second later on in the game to seal victory for his side.