Effective set-plays have long been a key factor in deciding football matches – perhaps more so in recent years. Dead ball techniques have evolved to create almost unstoppable efforts that can swing or decide games and players such as Beckham and Ronaldo have found methods of striking a ball that almost defy physics let alone a five-man wall.

With some of the World’s best collecting in South Africa, we’re set for an exhibition of the art form over the next month. Significantly, while their brush strokes have been honed with years of practice on the training ground, the materials at their disposal in this tournament appear to be very different to anything on show before.

Whatever your view on the hullabaloo surrounding the new “Jabulani ” World Cup ball, it looks set to be at the centre of attention for a good part of the tournament. Given the evidence so far, notably China’s recent free-kick goal that shocked France, the world’s best free-kick practitioners are surely busily perfecting techniques that will exploit its properties to leave keepers rooted to the South African turf.

Fantasy Managers always need to hone in on set-piece takers but for this World Cup our devotion to this particular theory for success needs to be re-examined. Our new listings of World Cup set-piece specialists could prove an invaluable resource…

If we are to believe the gripes from several sources that the has “Jabulani” beach ball like qualities giving unpredictable results – we have to consider that strikes from distance will be a key weapon whilst direct free-kicks around the box will be played for like field goal positions in American football. If you have a Ronaldo, a Sneijder or a Nakamura in your side, then win three to four fouls around the box a match and you could be paving your way to victory.

The value of recruiting set-piece specialists to our Fantasy lineups could well be substantial which is why we’ve been working on producing a table on your behalf which indicates the likely set-piece takers on show in the tournament. The table displays penalty and direct free-kick takers, in addition to those players likely to contribute assists from deadball deliveries at free-kicks and corners.

A decent amount of research has gone into this but it can never be 100% accurate and is still “work in progress”. As always we will be updating this table up until the tournament begins and also once it is in full swing. If you spot an edit required or you can contribute to this table then please feel free to mail me at mark@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk

A permanent link to the World Cup set piece table can be found in the top navigation menu.