mihalovic of inter milan, hristo stoichkov, jorge hagi just to name a few. all three of them left footed
I think Mihalovic (however you spell his name) was one of the most consistent goalscorers of free-kicks. He was a freakin defender for crying out loud.
Actually, their are loads of great freekickers. But i have'nt seen any score on freekicks as far and as often as Juninho. Roberto Carlos some times Mihailovic
I've just seen some old tapes from 92' of the Danish European Championship where Schmeichel several times kicks a dead ball from his own goal to the 'semicircle' of the other penaltybox. A kick of about 80-90 meters with a ball lying still. The ball looked like Trikoloren and it seemed extremely light, which could indicate that the balls were light about the 90s
How do you get a ball to change direction twice? I've seen Pirlo & Juninho do it. And the ball doesn't spin at all, it just flies through the air. I heard that to get that double diection change you have to kick the ball right where the needle-hole is...any thoughts on whether this is true or not?
When it changes direction twice is it because the ball is uneven. Sometimes when you hit the ball clean it can curve really much without spinning. Beckham & co makes the ball spin to get an even track through the air. Carlos often kicks the ball on the needle-hole because it's the hardest spot on the ball, and by that he can kick harder
Also, if you kick a football and manage to hit it without inducing spin, the lack of rotation will cause the ball to wiggle and drop as it meets the air. Not dissimilar to a knuckleball, for those familiar with baseball.
when i started playing football(soccer) the balls were made of pure leather hide ,which was 100% porous and used to soak up any rain water,god help you if you headed a ball in the rain,probably why i get migraine headaches now.also each ball was heldtogether by a lace which pulled the ball together,to help cover the hole that the rubber bladder had to be inserted thru .id like to see someone make one of those balls bend.
See my earlier post on this thread - I feel your pain. I used to kick about with my dad's old football and it was painful - especially when the valve used to stick out through the laces. Think those balls used to be known as 'caseys'.
Ronald Koeman is the greatest a free-kicks. Absolute rockets! Sinisa Mihajlovic is second, third is Platini, fourth is Del Piero and fifth is Didi (inventor of the falling leaf kick). Tsartas is better than Karagounis at free-kicks. I haven't seen a Greek who can score them better than Vasilis (?) Tsartas.
Be logical. Tsartas was better. You can't admit it because he played for AEK. Juninho is a great free-kick taker but I won't put him in my All-Time Top Five yet. I'll take Didi out and put in Zico.
I really would love to know what the stats are for different players. I just found a couple for Brazilian players while researching stats for one of the great foul-kick takers in Brazil (Neto). Eventhough I couldn't find Neto's stats, I did find this: - Zico: 86 goals in 23 years. Avg. 3.7 per year. - Alex: 27 goals in 10 years. Avg. 2.7 per year. (as of April 2005) - Rogerio Ceni: 37 goals in 8 years. Avg. 4.63 per year (as of April 2005). I am sure he has over 40 now.
i am going to search this thread now... if anyone even mentioned roberto carlos, i will be giving them neg rep sorry, has to be done!