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Team Teaser - Free-kick Specialists

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Welcome to skysports.com's Team Teaser. This is the game where you have the chance to help us fill in the missing blanks.

We provide you with a theme and you have to compile together a starting XI based on that theme. If you have a Team Teaser idea you would like running feel free to drop me an e-mail at james.pearson@bskyb.com with words 'team teaser' in the headline. Please e-mail with ideas only, not answers.

For example if the theme was East Enders then an ideal defender would be 'Terry Butcher' as in 'Pat Butcher' and so on until the line-up is complete!

Our new theme is Free-kick Specialists. Footballers who are more than handy at set-pieces! For example: former England skipper David Beckham, who scored his first international goal from a dead-ball situation at the 1998 World Cup finals. Thanks go to Christian Brix for the interesting suggestion. I've also received other useful ideas from Paul Kay, Richard Kelbrick, Jamie Pell and Kevin Stock.

Let's get our latest Team Teaser going by adding two new faces to the team. The first addition is Lyon's former Brazil international midfielder Juninho Pernambucano. Juninho has been described as "One of the world's most feared strikers of a static ball". As of last month, Juninho had scored a whopping 40 goals from direct free kicks for Lyon. The 33-year-old has an impeccable knack and generating immense power from a dead-ball situation as well as being able to arrow the ball with pin-point accuracy. Marc Coleman, Josh Bartle and James Culverhouse all suggested the Lyon ace.

While not quite a noticeable we've gone with former Leeds defender Ian Harte as our second addition to the team. The first-choice left-back would have been Roberto Carlos, but he appeared in our recent 'Baldies' Team Teaser. Harte scored 28 goals during his time with Leeds. Not bad for a defender. One of his more important goals was his left-footed effort that gave Leeds a 3-2 win at Arsenal at the back end of the 2002/03 that helped save the club from the drop. Thanks go to Peter Nagy for the suggestion.

On the right-hand side of midfield comes Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura, who was put forward by Shahed Raj. Japan international Nakamura has one of the sweetest left-foots in all over world football. The 30-year-old can curl home a free-kick with the best of them. One of his finest for The Bhoys came in a 1-0 UEFA Champions League win over Manchester United.

One assumes a goalkeeper's main task is to prevent the opposition from scoring, but don't tell that to Jose Luiz Chilavert, who was suggested by Vasil Belezhkov. Not only was the former Paraguay international a superb goal-keeper, he also scored 62 goals in his professional career, many of them crucial, including eight in international matches. Chilavert loves trying his hand at find the back of the net from set-pieces and often did. A true legend in the game.

Up front, strikers will do anything to get noticed and it comes as no surprise to find that there are plenty of options from which to choose. We will, though, plump for Dutchman Pierre van Hooijdonk, a man who mastered the art of set-pieces during a distinguished career which took in spells at Celtic, Benfica, Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and an ill-fated stint at Nottingham Forest. Thanks go to Stuart Peterson for suggesting the former Holland international.

Who would possibly forget the name Ronald Koeman? Certainly not me. The Holland international was well known for his powerful right-footed free-kicks and dead-ball ability where he scored many vital goals, including Barcelona's winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final. However, it was his strike in Holland's 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over England in 1993 that will stick in the memory for some time. Koeman controversially avoided being sent off for hauling down David Platt and later scored the crucial goal that saw England miss out of the 1994 World Cup finals in the USA. Jogvan Jacobsen wanted Koeman in the side.

Jorg Albertz is not nicknamed 'The Hammer' for nothing as Rangers fans will testify to. The German midfielder was vastly popular at Ibrox for his ability to find the back of the net from dead-ball situations. None more so than when he helped Gers to their ninth championship title in a row with a famous free-kick against arch-rivals Celtic in January 1997. Carl Harrington came up with the suggestion.

Completing the midfield quartet is AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who was suggested by George Christou, Tom Rowley-Conwy and Shahi Ahmed. Christou wrote "He's got great skill with dead ball situations and has scored quite a few in his career."

Joining Pirlo in the side is Barcelona's attacking right full-back Dani Alves. The Brazilian has skills aplenty and has the pace to chase down any winger. However, he's handy at the other end of the pitch as well with a deadly right-footed pile-driver from set-pieces. Thanks go to Craig Wood and Eamonn Moloney for the suggestion. Wood wrote: "When he catches a free-kick sweetly no keeper is going to stop the ball."

Yet another Team Teaser is complete following the additions of Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier and former Yugoslavia international Sinisa Mihajlovic. One-club man Le Tissier scored a number of breathtaking goals during his illustrious career, including a number of free-kicks. Stuart Fox said: "Stunning free kicks were a trademark for a decade at The Dell."

Joining Le Tissier in the team is set-piece ace Mihajlovic, who has played for the likes of Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Internazionale. "Incredibly scored straight from a corner in his Fiorentina days. It earned him a transfer to Lazio I think" stated David Cegielski.

Our next Team Teaser is a cracker from Craig Wood who wants a starting XI made up solely to players who seem to care more about their looks than their performance.

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