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Football

29th Dec 2021

WATCH: Japanese school team pull off genius free-kick routine

Callum Boyle

Coming to a Premier League ground near you soon… hopefully

We’ve been lucky to see some truly remarkable free-kicks over the years.

The likes of Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Lionel Messi and more have scored some breathtaking set-pieces over the past quarter-century, but none of them quite compare to this free-kick taken in Japan.

In what can only be described as the greatest set-piece routine of all time, Takagawa Gakuen High School from Yamaguchi used their initiative to score a fine goal against Star Ridge team of Ishikawa in a National High School tournament in Yokohama.

Following a foul on a Takagawa Gakuen player, several of the players joined together and linked arms on the edge of the box before dancing round in a circle as their team-mate began to line-up his free-kick.

Obviously, the opposition side had absolutely no clue what was going on, or who to mark, and were left equally confused when the players soon darted away from the circle into different areas of the box.

With no time for defenders to mark a player, Takagawa took advantage as the ball was floated into the box and met by the head of a blue shirt which found the back of the net and sparked wild scenes.

Just watch it, drink it in. It’s absolutely glorious.

How good was that?

The set-piece clearly helped shift the momentum in the way of the team from Yamaguchi as they went on to beat the Star Ridge team 4-2 and advance to the next round of the tournament.

We now eagerly anticipate Premier League managers incorporating this routine into their set-pieces.