Free way to a hat-trick
QUESTION Has any player scored a hat-trick from free kicks in a soccer match? THIS has happened five times. They are all relatively recent, reflecting increasing skill levels, but also changes in the design and materials of the ball, which allow for more variation in movement.
The first free kick hat-trick was achieved by Lazio striker Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Signori, in a 3-1 defeat of Atalanta in April 1994. Signori’s method was simple, but effective. A team-mate would tap the ball and he would blast a left-foot piledriver at one of the top corners of the goal.
Serbian player Siniša Mihajlovic played in Italy from 1992 to 2006, turning out for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter Milan. Vinnie Jones-like in defence, he was famous for his exquisite free kicks.
In 1998, playing for Lazio against his former club Sampdoria, he gave a free-kick masterclass.
His first two strikes went over the wall and curled away from the left hand of the Sampdoria goalkeeper. The final effort curved inwards to the right of the goalkeeper, starting outside the far post and bending inside.
Former Dundee United and Nottingham Forest striker Ray McKinnon’s frustratingly barren career in front of goal was punctuated by Britain’s only freekick hat-trick, in a 3-2 win for Dundee over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in February 1997.
Set-piece expert Kostas Frantzeskos holds the record for goals from dead balls in the Greek top flight.
He achieved the feat in the last game of the 1996-7 season, with his team PAOK playing Kastoria FC. He was not so good at scoring from the penalty spot, leading to his famous quote: ‘Next time we win a penalty and they want me to take it, I’ll ask for a wall.’
The most recent hot-shot was Cristiano da Silva in 2015. The Brazilian, who plays for Kashiwa Reysol in the Japanese first division, scored all his side’s goals, from free-kicks, in a 3-3 cup tie against Vegalta Sendai. His team won the penalty shoot-out.
However, a notable omission from this list is the Brazilian Juninho Pernambucano. He pioneered methods of striking the ball, making it fly through the air and veering in a number of directions before finding the net.
Though he netted 44 of his 100 goals for Lyon from dead ball situations and scored two on three occasions, he has never achieved the free-kick hat-trick. Max Whiteman, Salford. QUESTION We are told that 68% of the universe is dark energy and 27% dark matter. What is dark energy? LITTLE is known about dark matter or dark energy. Dark matter is what makes it possible for galaxies to exist, because when scientists first calculated why the universe is structured the way it is, it quickly became clear that there’s just not enough normal matter.
Dark energy is more mysterious. We can’t detect it, can’t measure it and can’t taste it, but we do see its effects.
In 1929, astronomer Edward Hubble examined how the wavelength of light from distant galaxies shifts towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum as it travels through space.
Finding that more distant galaxies showed a large degree of red shift, he determined this was because the universe is expanding, and the wavelengths of light are stretched as the universe expands.
More recent discoveries have shown this expansion is accelerating. Before this, it was thought the pull of gravity would eventually cause the expansion to slow or retract and collapse in on itself.
Space doesn’t change its properties as it expands – there’s just more of it. New space is constantly created everywhere. Wherever there is empty space, more is forming every second, so dark energy seems intrinsic to empty space.
This energy is stronger than anything else we know and is getting stronger. Empty space has more energy than everywhere else in the universe combined. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts. QUESTION How does a Fitbit measure blood pressure when an apparatus is normally used to compress the arm? FITBITS measure heartbeat, steps taken, sleep patterns, etc., but they do not measure blood pressure (BP).
That said, there are BP wrist monitors – the Braun Icheck, Heartisans Watch and the Omron HeartGuide, for example.
These utilise pulse transit time (PTT) to measure your blood pressure using two sensors on the watch: an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, and an optical heart rate (PPG) sensor. The two measurements are combined to calculate PTT – the time it takes for a pulse to travel from the heart to the wrist. The pulse travels faster if your BP is higher, and slower if it is lower.
But to get an accurate reading with a wrist monitor, your arm and wrist must be at heart level.
Measurements taken at the wrist are often less accurate than those taken at your upper arm. Doug McTague, Upholland, Lancs.
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