Here's a lesson for all you kids out there: if you ever have a free kick, just smash it. That's the lesson Brazilian great Rivaldo gives to prodigies at La Masia, so why not? Just approach the ball like Barca B's Gerard Gumbau like Rivaldo and utterly annihilate the thing. It'll fly into the corner, you'll be the hero and you'll get promoted to the Segunda Division. That's the theory.
An Australian A-League match between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory featured five first half goals, with the Victory ultimately winning 3-2. The goal of the match was scored by Roar attacking midfielder Dimitri Petratos, the 24-year-old absolutely lashing a swerving effort into the top corner from over 30 yards out.
Goals from Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi helped Barcelona overturn a 2-1 deficit and advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey at the expense of Athletic Bilbao, 4-3 on aggregate.
Lionel Messi had given Barcelona hope after striking a gorgeous free kick in the opening leg at the San Mames, but Barcelona still had it all to do against a Bilbao side that showed absolutely no fear against the Spanish giants.
You might not have had much time to watch the Malaysian Super League this year, but you definitely have time to watch this goal scored by Mohd Faiz Subri, deemed by FIFA to be the best goal of 2016.
That's right, Subri's incredible strike has won him the Puskas Award.
We don't have much to say about the goal, which really speaks for itself. Look at that curve!
Barcelona dropped points to Villarreal on Sunday after a 1-1 draw, but they have Lionel Messi to thank for keeping their fading La Liga title hopes alive. With Villarreal leading 1-0 in the 90th minute, Messi stepped forward to deliver another fantastic free kick.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Messi has scored on 12 direct free kicks for club and country, moving him into the upper echelon of dead ball specialists.
FIFA is supposed to take the reality of football, turn it up 10 notches and make it accessible for all. So, while you’re executing Roberto Carlos-esque free kicks with regularity, you know that, yes, the professionals might be able to pull this off, but not three times a match.
The FIFA Free Kick Skill Game requires you to expertly curl the ball around a wall of training dummies and into one of the four corners of the net. Again, it’s a skill that professional can pull off, but it’s not something you’d put money on them doing nine times out of ten.
When I was a young lad my youth soccer team had a throw-in routine that we labelled “Pikachu”, much to the embarrassment of our coach. The player taking the throw-in would gleefully scream out the play over and over, and we’d get giddy as all hell at the opportunity to execute. Standing in a well-organized line four or five deep, the players towards the front would peel off laterally while the player at the very back of the queue would steam forward to collect the throw-in.