Holland’s trick free kick against Argentina: A clever free kick ties the game for Holland. Not something you see very often in a soccer game, especially when you have a free kick at the top of the box like that. It’s close enough to bend the ball up and over the wall and score. But if you’re playing Argentina and Lionel Messi in a World Cup quarterfinal, it’s time to pull out the tricks.
Holland’s Teun Koopmeiners lines up to take the free kick but cuts the ball sharply to Weghorst, who is kind of posting up in a wall near Argentina’s. A brilliant cutback pass to Weghorst by Koopmeiners just as he peels off the Dutch wall off to the side of the Argentina wall.
Weghorst goal would be the equalizer in 90’ + 11’ from just a genius free kick that surprised Argentina’s defenders. The Dutch have tried trick corner kicks but I haven’t seen them pull off a trick free kick.
In the dying minutes of extra time, Holland needed to pull a rabbit out of hat. It would take something like this free kick trick to tie the game versus Argentina and send it to overtime.
See Holland’s trick free kick in the video below. Take a closer look at Netherlands’ Wout Weghorst scoring a goal against Argentina in the 90+11′ in the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup. Don’t be surprised if you see more teams try this type of play from a free kick.
Interestingly enough, the Dutch might have learned how to do this trick free kick from Argentina! Javier Zanetti spun and scored against England using the same type of free kick set piece.
We literally called this the “Zanetti variation” when designing the set pieces playbook and then taught it in the course.
To pull it off against Argentina during a WC knockout to tie the game in extra time… 🤯 https://t.co/fGlKc40Mfd
— Ted Knutson (@mixedknuts) December 9, 2022