Roberto Baggio's Top 5 Free Kicks

‘’He took free kicks like no other.’’ Andrea Pirlo remarked. ‘’I just used to stand there in training and study him for days. I think I learned something in the end.’’

Pirlo was of course talking about Roberto Baggio, one of the bearded geniuses' idols. It can be easy to overlook just how good The Divine Ponytail was at set pieces, given how brilliant he was at more or less everything else on a football pitch.

He's among the best free kick specialists in Serie A history, in the top five surrounded by illustrious names (Zola, Del Piero, Pirlo and Mihajlovic are the other four) - and he inspired two out of the four to boot. That speaks volumes.

I’ve given myself the arduous task of trying to whittle down Baggio’s top five free kicks from all competitions. As someone who has most of his goals imprinted to memory as an ardent lover of the man from Caldogno, there were some goals I’d somehow forgotten about and it was a joy just to sit back on YouTube and marvel at his genius (as if anyone needs an excuse anyways).

The difficult part was deciding which ones to leave out, so I took into consideration things like importance of the goal, who the opponents were and significance of the game.

So enough waffling from me and lets all marvel together at the ponytailed genius. If you felt there were certain goals I left off the list I would like to hear suggestions.

The Day the King of Pop Visited Exeter City

This article originally appeared on TheseFootballTimes

Described by Reuters as “bedlam”, a special train was leaving Paddington Station in London, on June 14th, 2002. The destination was Exeter and the scenes at the station were said to be one of “pure chaos, recalling Beatlemania back in the sixties.” Two hundred fans clamoured on board the train, some paying up to £100 for the privilege of being on the same train as the man. Others managed to sneak on for free amidst the pandemonium. One enthused fan said: “I paid £100 and it was worth every penny. No, he didn’t come through to see us, but just being on the same train was enough.”

Dennis Bergkamp and Italy's Religious War

This article first appeared on IBWM and later on World Soccer 

When you think of Dennis Bergkamp numerous superlatives instantly spring to mind; perfectionist, genius, artist, visionary. You hear his name mentioned in conversation and your thoughts are sharply brought back to that defying-footballing-physics goal against Newcastle in 2002 or his three touch masterpiece vs Argentina at France ’98. You flashback to the sumptuous spin-and-delicate-lob assist for Freddie Ljungberg against Juventus in 2001, to the seemingly endless supply of defence-splitting passes for Ian Wright, Nicholas Anelka and Thierry Henry. Dennis Bergkamp was a footballers’ footballer who played for the players as much as he did for the fans.

The term 'donkey', however, is one that nobody should ever associate with the Dutchman, yet for a brief period during his disastrous two-year spell at Inter in the mid ‘90s, things became so bad that the Rome-based publication La Repubblica renamed their ‘donkey of the week’ award for worst player to‘Bergkamp della settimana’ (Bergkamp of the week). How could a player of his unquestionable talent be reduced to a punchline?

In 1993 Bergkamp was ready to leave Ajax, having been promoted from the youth team by Johan Cruyff in 1986. He believed the time was right at 24 to seek fresh pastures and felt he had hit his ceiling within the confines of the Dutch game and let the directors at Ajax know during the winter break of the 1992-93 season that this would be his final campaign, giving them ample time to find a replacement. Cruyff, knowing full well the stark contrast between the countries’ footballing philosophies, pleaded with him not to leave Holland for Italy, but rather urged to follow him to Spain, and more specifically to Barcelona were his ‘Dream Team’ were in the midst of their golden age.  

Bergkamp, quick to comprehend that with the three-foreigner rule in La Liga and Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman and Michael Laudrup already at the club, he wouldn’t be guaranteed a starting position at the Camp Nou.

His mentor’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Bergkamp had his eyes on only one league, Serie A, comfortably the world’s most daunting for attacking players. He had begun to take Italian lessons a year beforehand in preparation for the move. ’’For a long time my heart was set on Italy because it was absolutely the best football country then. Italy, Italy, Italy… it’s all I was thinking about.’’

Dino Baggio: Living in the Shadow of Roberto

This article first appeared on TheseFootballTimes and later on The Guardian

It’s June 23^rd and nearly one week into USA ’94. If you happened to miss the clash between Italy and Norway and, as one did in those days, checked Ceefax and seen the headline ’Baggio heads winner’, you would reasonably assume that Roberto Baggio had saved Italy’s blushes from a surprising early exit from the competition. Italy’s talisman and creator-in-chief was the planet’s finest player having won the Balon d’Or the previous December and had scored seventeen league goals for Juventus in the season heading into the tournament

Ray Houghton’s winner for the Republic of Ireland in the opening match of group stage E meant Arrigo Sacchi’s Azzurri had no alternative but to win their second game against the dull-but-resolute Norwegians.  In the 68^th minute Italy, who had been reduced to ten men earlier in the match, are awarded a free kick on the left hand side of the pitch. Beppe Signori, with his pint-sized left foot, whips a glorious ball into the box on to the head of the onrushing Baggio. He guides the ball powerfully past Erik Thorstvedt to give Italy the lead and eventually the victory.

Yet it wasn’t the pony-tailed genius that garnered headlines this time, it was the other Baggio, the unheralded yet-gifted central midfielder Dino Baggio.

David Platt's Italian Odyssey

This piece originally appeared on TheseFootballTimes.net

Often in football a player’s entire career trajectory can change with one swing of a boot. It’s June 26^th on a balmy night in Bologna. England are squaring off against Belgium for a place in the quarter final of Italia ’90, it’s the 119^th minute of a fairly even game when England are awarded a free kick some thirty-five yards from goal. What happened next would go down as one of the most dramatic goals in England’s recent history.

The then Aston Villa midfielder David Platt rids himself of his marker in the box for split second as Paul Gascoigne’s ball descends towards him. Platt swivels and connects beautifully with a right-footed volley which arrows across Michel Preud’homme and into his right hand corner. Platt peels away in celebration, euphoria overtaking him and sinking to his knees - a rare manner of celebrating a goal by his own admission – and is soon mobbed by teammates.

The goal was life changing for Platt, in the immediate aftermath of the strike and for the long-term effects. He had been a substitute in every game of the World Cup prior to the goal, following the Belgium game he subsequently became an automatic starter against Cameroon, West Germany and Italy. Scoring a further two goals in the quarter final and the third place playoff.

The England squad returned home as heroes for their unexpected run to the last four, restoring pride to the national game after a decade of darkness. It could be argued that with the exception of Gascoigne, nobody’s value rose higher after the tournament than Platt’s. He had been named PFA Player of the Year in the season leading into Italia ’90 as he rattled in nineteen goals in the league from midfield, yet his performances in Italy garnered international recognition and speculation was mounting that he wouldn’t be playing in the Midlands for much longer.