Juan Mata is conquering football’s final frontier, one free-kick at a time | OneFootball

In many ways, Australia remains football’s final frontier in global domination.

While FIFA lavishes attention on the Middle East and America, surrendering all semblance of political neutrality for an Olympic-sized swimming pool of banknotes, Australia remains largely indifferent to the world’s most popular sport.

On paper, it’s an ideal host for the World Cup. Until you remember the time zone difference and sheer distance away from football’s epicentre in Europe.

And that’s before you consider the size of Australia, with a population of around 28 million on a land mass 32 times larger than the United Kingdom.

In short, football is still a fringe sport Down Under. Which makes footage of Juan Mata rolling back the years in the A-League an extra potent shot of endorphins.

Best known for dazzling defenders at Chelsea and Manchester United, Mata is spending the late autumn of his career at Melbourne Victory.

The 37-year-old lined up a free-kick against Sydney FC, showing no stress or visible sign of pressure. This is something Mata has done several thousand times, as functional to him as unlocking your phone is to you or me.

But the result was still breathtaking. After a short run-up, Mata flicked the ball daintily over the wall and into the net, via the post for extra satisfaction.

His former Manchester United team-mate, Bruno Fernandes, also posted a video on social media of himself and Harry Maguire watching Mata’s free-kick.

“We just knew it from there, he didn’t miss right,” said Fernandes after Mata had pinged in his latest wondergoal. The Spaniard responded by asking Bruno to score a similar goal sometime soon.

The former Valencia star joined Melbourne Victory in September, recording four goals and 10 assists in his first 19 club appearances.

“I’m playing more consistently and I always say that the more I play, the better I feel,” Mata said.

“I’m happy and I’m enjoying and I think that’s when you play your best.”

The veteran playmaker never doubted he could become an influential player again.

“I know the way I can play, the way I can still affect games and enjoy my game,” he said.

“I always believed in myself and in my passion. My desire for the game remains intact, so I know if I’m physically well and thankfully I don’t have any injuries, I can still enjoy my football and I can try to affect games like I’m doing.”

There’s still something surreal about seeing a player of Mata’s class in Australia’s A-League.

“Sometimes you have to think, ‘Oh, that’s Juan Mata’,” Victory coach Arthur Diles said in a January interview with Sky News. “He’s beautiful to watch.”

Perhaps football’s final frontier isn’t entirely insurmountable if more players are inspired by Mata’s late-career backpacking.