It’s 18 years since Le Tournoi began, and you know what that means – 18 years since England’s last ‘major’ tournament victory.
Oh, and some Brazilian fella scored a pretty good free-kick in the opening game too…
As Roberto Carlos settles in to his new managerial role with Qatari club Al-Arabi (what do you mean you didn’t know?), it’s time to settle a long-standing debate once and for all.
Roberto, we’re gonna let you finish, but these guys had some of the greatest free-kicks of all time…
Olexandr Aliev, Ukraine v Turkey
There’s no way he should be shooting from there. Look, you can even see the centre circle in shot as he starts his run-up…
You might blame the Turkish goalkeeper for his lack of effort, but put yourself in his shoes – wouldn’t you rather stand and admire it too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyE3IpPu42U
Dwayne De Rosario, San Jose Earthquakes v LA Galaxy
Holy smokes! This goal has everything: the build up, the commentary, the celebration, and of course the title of Sierra Mist Goal of the Year.
It takes a few viewings to appreciate the majesty of the Canadian’s finish, but to find the postage stamp with this much power and curl makes it a work of art…
Juninho Pernambucano, Lyon v Barcelona
No list of top free-kicks would be complete without an entry from the maestro himself, and it was tough to choose just one of the Brazilian’s efforts.
If anyone else scored this we’d probably be calling it a mishit cross, but we’ve seen enough of Juninho to know he meant it.
Also it’s in a Champions League game against Barcelona, which obviously helps…
Jay-Jay Okocha, Bolton v Aston Villa
We also struggled to find just one free-kick from Jay-Jay Okocha, so we cheated and included two. They did both come in the same game though…
The first-half effort was impressive enough on its own, but his late second, a sensational outside-of-the-boot strike, was something else entirely.
We suppose if you looked at targets in the box and see Emerson Thome, you’d be tempted to shoot from ridiculous angles too…
Ok, maybe Roberto Carlos still has the lead…for now.
