Five best free-kick takers in the world at the moment
Disclaimer: The views put forth are that of the writer’s and not of Sportskeeda’s.
The player sets the ball on his desired spot with consummate care, displaying a form of attention bordering on reverence. He steps back to a point at a calculated distance away; always the same distance. The steps taken never change, for they are sacred in their own way. His eyes sweep over the wall of players blocking his way, and finally rest on the one man he is aiming to beat- the goalkeeper. After one last look, he puts his head down and begins his run up. In that microsecond when his foot finally connects with the ball, time is condensed into the area inside that contact. As the ball flies off of his foot, and with the inevitability of fate itself, it finds the back of the net, the crowd going crazy.
Who’s the player, you ask? He is every player who has been a free-kick specialist. And we take a look at the 5 best free-kick takers in football at the moment.
Before we get underway, I’d like to make the disclaimer that I’ve gone on current form and not on reputation alone. That is why Alessandro Del Piero, Ronaldinho and Juninho Pernambucano miss out from this list. I realise that Del Piero is still whacking them in from free-kicks, but the A-League isn’t exactly the biggest challenge, with all due respect. In Juninho’s case, he didn’t score at al while playing for the NY Red Bulls. Another one to miss out is Oleksandr Aliyev. Aliyev has found it harder to score, with the low point coming when he was farmed out on loan to Dnipro from Dynamo Kiev.
Oh, and I’m only mentioning some of the free-kicks that the players in the list have scored, so if you feel that I’ve missed out on any good ones, type them out in the comments section!
5) Luis Suarez
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 05: Luis Suarez of Liverpool kisses his new baby prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on October 5, 2013 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
The 26-year old Luis Suarez is the first on our list. The controversy-courting striker possess talents that cannot be ignored, and one of those talents is his free-kick taking ability. I know I’ve written “current form” as the deciding factor, and the Liverpool talisman had been out of the domestic iteration of the game for quite some time, owing to his ban carried over from last season but, when he has played, he has looked spectacular- as was the case for Uruguay against Spain in the Confederations Cup. He scored a screamer of a free kick against the reigning World Champions, and the technique and precision in his strike left Iker Casillas a mere spectator. Liverpool fans will not be soon in forgetting his twin strikes against Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Europa League. Suarez netted with two stunning free-kicks on either side of Zenit ‘keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev, who was hapless in his effort to keep Suarez out. His free-kick against Man City at Anfield was another gem, as was his beautifully taken goal against Wigan.