open goal

open goal (plural open goals)

1. (sports) An undefended goal.
2. (figurative) An opportunity that is readily available.
   • 2017 June 10, “Labour should have won against May's ‘open goal’, says MP”, in The Guardian‎, sourced from Press Association, →ISSN:

     Labour missed an “open goal” to beat Theresa May and should not pretend it achieved a famous victory, a former shadow chancellor has said.

   • 2022 September 26, Larry Elliott, “Rachel Reeves was never going to miss the open goal left by the Tories”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, was presented with an open goal thanks to Kwasi Kwarteng’s badly received mini-budget and she was determined not miss it.

   • 2024 May 4, Simon Tisdall, “Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the double act that is steering the EU ever rightwards”, in The Observer‎, →ISSN:

     But with Germany’s Olaf Scholz and France’s Emmanuel Macron facing red cards at home, […] Giorgia Meloni – post-fascist poster girl turned star centre-forward of the new right – is shooting at an open goal.