As England fans looked into the depths of their pint pots, having been held to a relentlessly monotonous 0-0 draw with Slovakia, Wales fans – already delirious at topping Group B in their first major tournament since 1958 – were treated to the sight of Joe Ledley reprising his dancing heroics from the qualifying campaign. Ledley capped off Wales’s 3-0 demolition of Russia with moves that can be roughly parsed as Hotline Bling-meets-dad-at-a-festival-meets-sinister-nightclub-lothario. For Wales Online, this was enough proof that the bearded Crystal Palace midfielder was “probably the greatest human being on Earth”. Well, he’s certainly hard enough to dance like nobody was watching in front of 30,000 fans – and don’t forget that this is a man who only just made the Welsh squad after breaking his leg in May.
So where does Ledley’s Toulouse shuffle rank in the annals of great tournament dances?
Roger Milla
Italia 90, Cameroon v Romania and Colombia
The capo di tutti capi of dancing footballers, 38-year-old Milla lit up Italia 90 with four goals. Each was celebrated with a dash to the corner flag and a dance that involved the left hand being placed on the stomach and the right in the air, allied with the most delicate of hip waggles towards the flag. Post-Milla – who says the dance was something he made up on the hoof – corner flags would pine for a purer, more innocent time.
Bebeto
Less of an adrenaline-fuelled dance of joy than a boy band-style triumph of coordination. Bebeto celebrated putting Brazil two up against the Netherlands by inviting pals Romario and Mazinho to celebrate the birth of his son Mattheus a few days earlier. The hand-rocking-baby celebration became a staple for both actual new dads in the professional game and free-scoring playground oddballs. For those who remember watching the game live, be depressed by the news that the baby in question is now a seasoned professional footballer, and Mazinho’s own kids are Barcelona’s Rafinha and Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcântara.
Senegal
Japan/Korea 2002, Senegal v France
They weren’t just dancing on the streets of Dakar when Papa Bouba Diop forced the ball past Fabien Barthez in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup. Diop ran straight to the corner flag – Milla territory – placed his shirt on the ground and was joined by his team-mates to dance around it like a campfire. “Just look at this celebration,” said John Motson, as if viewers may have grown distracted by the sight of a man once nicknamed “the Wardrobe” dancing around his own clothes, dressed in a vest. The Lions of Teranga outdid themselves in Coventry, a decade on, when they celebrated a win in an Olympic play-off by dancing en masse, Bollywood finale-style, to Lady Gaga’s The Edge of Glory.
Asamoah Gyan
South Africa 2010, Ghana v USA (and others)
In 2010, Ghana looked as though they would trump the efforts of Milla’s Cameroon and Diop’s Senegal by becoming the first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final. (Ask Luis Suárez what happened there …) Their star player was Asamoah Gyan who, after putting Ghana 2-1 up versus the USA in second-round extra time, darted off the pitch for a spot of azonto, a Ghanaian shuffle that mimics everyday activities including washing and ironing clothes. Azonto soon spread around the world (the whole team would dance it after a goal against Germany at the next World Cup). Two years later, even dorky FA president Prince William would be doing it at a charity event in London.
