PAOK scored the first goal of their Champions League qualifying match against a superior Benfica team off of a neat little coordinated free-kick routine. Watch the goal above, because it’s cool, and then ponder the following: What is it about free goals that have the big tough soccer boys afraid of a little innovation?

We’ve seen lots of tricky free kick techniques over the years, but this one from Brazil takes the cake in terms of ingenuity and unexpectedness:

Four goals have been scored in the first 24 minutes of today’s Everton-Leicester City match, but none more impressive than Marc Albrighton’s free kick that beat Joel Robles in the tenth minute. That’s after a streaking Kevin Mirallas set up Tom Davies in the opening minute to give Everton a short-lived lead, and Islam…

The U.S. is currently beating Honduras 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier, and half of the goals belong to Clint Dempsey. Here’s his hat trick-clincher—and we don’t mean to slight any of the other goals, many of which were absolutely marvelous and involved Pulisic—but this is a free kick that was absolute magic.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back to doing Zlatan Ibrahimovic things, as he provided Manchester United a 1-0 lead in today’s League Cup final against Southampton with a free kick of absolute perfection. Give this man the serum that will let him play forever, please.

Wales are up 1-0 on Slovakia early in their first match of Euro 2016, thanks to this marvelous free kick goal by Gareth Bale. It’s not as good as Messi’s last night, but it’s close.

Reigning king of the free kick Dimitri Payet showed off his craft again today in a friendly against Cameroon, delivering France the victory with this screamer.

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West Ham United took a 2-1 lead against Crystal Palace into the intermission after a Dimitri Payet free kick that rendered Wayne Hennessey completely useless. Payet’s been on fire of late; he had an even more sick free kick earlier this week against Russia.

Cesc Fàbregas equalized for Chelsea in stoppage time with as perfect a free kick as could be executed in the situation.

The Copa Libertadores remains the best soccer competition you’re not watching, and Boca Juniors made it a thriller tonight in Bolivia as Federico Carrizo hammered home a Stephen Curry-range free kick in the 95th minute to save a draw against the home side.

It’s not surprising that, deep down in England’s fifth division and without a David Beckham-like free kick specialist to whip one into the top corner, a team like Cheltenham Town would resort to trickeration to fool the goalkeeper on this set play. It’s just as unsurprising, then, what ultimately came of it:

There’s only one rational explanation for the insane swerve and dip Penang’s Mohd Faiz Subri puts on this ball that allows it to fly every which way, completely bamboozling the keeper, before hitting the side of the net from a distance and angle where it should be nigh-impossible to score from: magic.

Really good soccer teens at East Fukuoka.

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