FREE KICK #1
OR
FREE KICK #2
I meant to talk about this on Tuesday but then I saved it for Wednesday and then I ended up at the Cubs game and never talked about it. So we’re blogging it here on the Thursday 3:30pm slot knowing we’ve got a Masters recap coming and no Cubs game tonight.
That’s fine by me as I have no problem talking about soccer. Especially on a slow day with most of the big news covered or happening in real time.
So let’s talk soccer.
By now you know I have a growing obsession and that’s big enough for me to know Declan Rice is a gangster in the midfield.
I concede – I hate the way he turned his back on Ireland in order to play for the 3 Lions. But if you followed Roy Keane’s time with the national team, you can understand some of the broader problems with the Irish. It’s not the easiest place to be a superstar defensive midfielder.
Even so I still don’t like it.
That said I don’t know if you can find a more thunderous free kick taker in the world right now. Maybe Kevin DB a couple years ago but he’s older and frail and just a huge pussy about everything.
I don’t think Bellingham belongs in the conversation but maybe Trent Arnold Alexander?
I realize this wasn’t the opening question but I’m drawn to comparisons. I think Declan is one of the best in the world but I don’t know enough about the rest of the world to stake that claim too hard.
So let me just say two things:
- I think the first free kick is more impressive because it’s further away and there’s more horizontal movement. So there’s your answer. Give me 1 over 2 but they’re both sensational
- The best free kick taker of all time is unanimously a Brazilian named Juninho Pernambucano who invented/mastered the knuckleball. Talk about some wild shit from outside the penalty box. He holds the record for most career free kick goals and I don’t think there’s a #2 on the list