Excuse us, but have the makers of FIFA 17 not seen this?
07: Goal!
Ireland 1-0 Oman.
What a strike from Robbie Brady! #ThanksRobbie https://t.co/2XZrEnzE9t— eir Sport (@eirSport) August 31, 2016
Or this?
It’s bad enough that Robbie Brady missed out on a Premier League, La Liga or Serie A move over the summer, to be left out of FIFA 17’s top 10 free-takers is the biggest scandal since they changed Opal Fruits to Starburst.
Brady does free-kicks. He scores regularly from the placed ball and does it in style. Still, he languishes outside the top 10.
Cristiano Ronaldo does too but maybe he’ll get back in for FIFA 18 if he keeps taking frees with the inside of his boot.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick was pretty spectacular too ?? pic.twitter.com/wPKItr4baO
— TheSportsHangout (@Sports_Hangout) September 14, 2016
Memphis didn’t have the best of debut seasons in the Premier League after joining Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2015, but maybe he would have done if Louis van Gaal just let him take more free-kicks.
The Dutch winger scored just seven times last season, none of them from dead-ball situations, and has just half an hour under his belt so far this season (with no goals to show for it).
But Memphis has retained his spot among the top 10 free-kick takers in EA Sports’ FIFA series, dropping one place year-on-year from sixth to seventh.
He is no longer the best-placed Premier League player, though. That honour goes to West Ham’s Dimitri Payet, whose FA Cup quarter-final effort meant he has scored more free-kicks at Old Trafford than the United player.
All in all there are three Premier League players in the top 10 – Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurðsson climbs to 10th after scoring twice from direct free-kicks last season.
There’s also a new number one, with New York City FC’s Andrea Pirlo and Bayer Leverkusen star Hakan Çalhanoğlu switching places so the Italian now holds down top spot.
And Celtic fans will be pleased to see a familiar name on the list. Shunsuke Nakamura is not only still playing, but he’s still the free-kick god we all remember him as. The 38-year-old former Japan international, now with Yokohama F. Marinos in the J-League, is ninth on the list.
FIFA 17 – Top 10 free-kick takers (check out the individual profiles here)
- Andrea Pirlo (New York City FC)
- Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Miralem Pjanić (Juventus)
- Dimitri Payet (West Ham United)
- Mehmet Ekici (Trabzonspor)
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- Memphis (Manchester United)
- Francesco Lodi (Udinese)
- Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos)
- Gylfi Sigurðsson (Swansea City)
Andy Reid would surely have been in the Top 10 had it not been for his retirement earlier this year. Surely.
Stephen Rochford chats with Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour, heated Lee Keegan debate, and Barry Cahill is outnumbered by Mayo backers. Subscribe here on iTunes.
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