World’s best player flops at Free Kick Masters

ESPN reported that both Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho demanded first-round byes in the Free Kick Masters, a gimmicky event held in Houston on Saturday.
The free pass didn’t help either South American though – both men scored zero points in the format, which saw each player take seven free-kicks (six with a defensive wall and one from 35 yards out with no wall). The vid above shows star attraction Messi taking his kicks against Kasey Keller, but only after some enthusisatic fans had breached the non-existent security.

Messi failed, but not as badly as Fat-Ronaldinho, who reportedly took some of the lamest free kicks you’ve ever seen (against Pompey’s David James) – all of his kicks hit the wall or flew wide. Fat-Ron was booed by some of the crowd throughout his series of kicks, presumaby for being such a waste of space.
The tournament had already been devalued after Euro 2008 star Fernando Torres and Lukas Podoslki pulled out, so for Messi and Ronaldinho to do so badly turned it into a bit of a joke.
The 2008 Free Kick Masters was eventually won by one of Messi and Fat-Ron’s less vaunted team-mates: Rafael Marquez of Mexico. Watch him beat Francesco Toldo to win the competition…

David James won the prize for best goalie. Go Jamo!
Excellent blow-by-blow account of the event at ESPN

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