As part of this week’s video fixture, and while we all wait for the Champion’s League to provide us with our fix of quality football, The Fourth Official shares his thoughts about one of his favorite passage of plays: the direct free kick.
The direct free kick encapsulates at best the authoritative and manly spirit soccer can sometimes have: give me the ball, put it down and I’ll kick in the goal, no matter the keeper, no matter the four or five insignificant opponents trying to stop the shot by jumping whilst they hold onto their precious parts. With either power or trickery, the shooter immediately proves his superiority not only over his opponents but also over his own team. “I don’t need you to score, I can do it on my own, thank you very much.”
If we have all seen innumerable compilation videos from Beckham, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Maradona, Roberto Carlos, Del Piero, Mihajlovic and many more (if you haven't yet, do it, it's an immediate source of pleasure), here are some of the Fourth Official’s favorites.
4. Juninho vs. Bayern (03/04). Anyone else would have had seen their knee cap pop right on the spot.
TFO
The direct free kick encapsulates at best the authoritative and manly spirit soccer can sometimes have: give me the ball, put it down and I’ll kick in the goal, no matter the keeper, no matter the four or five insignificant opponents trying to stop the shot by jumping whilst they hold onto their precious parts. With either power or trickery, the shooter immediately proves his superiority not only over his opponents but also over his own team. “I don’t need you to score, I can do it on my own, thank you very much.”
If we have all seen innumerable compilation videos from Beckham, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Maradona, Roberto Carlos, Del Piero, Mihajlovic and many more (if you haven't yet, do it, it's an immediate source of pleasure), here are some of the Fourth Official’s favorites.
1. Maradona casually walking around the San Paolo amidst some journalists and gardeners decides to aim for the top right corner, in his running shoes, please. TFO especially likes his after-shot chuckle.
2.Alvaro Recoba vs. Bologna (02/03). On the slow-motion replay with the camera placed behind Recoba, make sure to notice how far wide the ball seems to be going at first. Only at first.
3. Hugo Almeida vs. Inter (04/05). Distance? Not a problem.
4. Juninho vs. Bayern (03/04). Anyone else would have had seen their knee cap pop right on the spot.
TFO
1 comment:
This post is like a free kick : right to the point and pure pleasure.
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