Gareth Bale achieves absolute perfection, Italy are out of the 2022 World Cup again! - The Warm-Up

FRIDAY'S BIG STORIES 'The Best Free-Kick I've Seen In My Life' Ad/> Not our words. The words of Wales' manager Rob Page. Now, of course, Page is a little biased, seeing as Gareth Bale's free-kick set Wales on their way to a famous, hard-fought, generally brilliant victory, and took everybody, Page included, one step closer to the World Cup.

But, well, we think he might be right. World Cup Qualification UEFA‘They should all be ashamed of themselves’ – Bale hits out at ‘disgusting’ treatment9 HOURS AGO Let's consider the evidence. Power? Yes, enough to see the keeper well beaten.

Placement? It flew into the tiny postage stamp in the upper-right corner of the usual postage stamp. Into the toppest and tightest and narrowest of bins. Weird and slightly otherworldly movement? Oh yes.

The ball soared up shouting and then plummeted down, screaming like Icarus. But football isn't just about being good. Football is about looking good, and this free-kick looked perfect.

Up and over a wall at full extension, and onto the underside of the bar: the pinch of the salt that sweetens the parabola. And the keeper! The poor, poor keeper. As he comes over his goal and catches sight of the ball his knees buckle and he crumples, helpless, as if the clouds had suddenly parted and he'd laid eyes on something awesome and terrible.

We're also giving the goal an extra point because at least one watching writer — for privacy's sake, let's call him A. Thomas — said, out loud, «Come on. He's clearly not fit, give it Wilson.» The precise and distant opposite of «called it».

And, of course, and most importantly: moment. The game hung in the balance. Wales had started well but hadn't established anything like control; there was enterprise and intent but