Audax, the surprise runners-up in last year’s Campeonato Paulista (Sao Paulo’s top professional football league), opened the 2017 season with a 4-2 victory over 21-time champions Sao Paulo.
When teams come flying out of the gate with goals like this, there’s not much you can do. Audax’s second goal screamed Brazilian football with a series of one-twos and back heels allowing Pedro Carmona to score from ten yards out.
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.
Jerry Ortiz of Colombia’s Once Caldas scored one of the best goals you’ll see all year against Peru’s Universitario in a friendly match. The 24-year-old has just arrived at Once Caldas from fellow Colombian club Atletico Huila.
This is one way to introduce yourself to your new club. The goalkeeper isn’t even out of position, that’s just a swerving, looping bomb from Ortiz. My word, Jerry.
You may remember Mohd Faiz Subri. He won the Puskás award earlier this January thanks to his swooping free kick that is so ridiculous it looks fake. For those who don’t know what we’re talking about, enjoy this eye candy: