And, eight minutes into the second half, Irish striker Anthony Stokes scored the first of his two goals on the night by curling a free-kick past the despairing Hearts goalkeeper.
Former Millwall striker Braniff could have broken the deadlock as early as the third minute when he curled a free-kick past the wall but O'Hare produced a superb save to push the ball round for a corner.
After Ramos fired inches wide from the edge of the box Villa was presented with a glorious opportunity to score a World Cup hat-trick when Izaguirre brought Navas down in the area, only for the striker to step up and slot his spot-kick past the post.
Alex ripped a 25-yard free-kick high past the despairing grasp of Fabianski after Koscielny had been booked for a foul on Anelka.
Although Raith were eventually eliminated 4-1 on aggregate, Lennon fired a 25-yard free-kick past the helpless Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Khan in the Olympic Stadium in the second leg.
Chelsea were caught out by Alonso's quick free-kick and when Lampard failed to clear, Kuyt stole in on the end of Javier Mascherano's mis-kick to steer the finish past Cech.
Newcastle continued to run preceedings until the final minute when Boro striker Brian Deane collected a Ziege free-kick and poked the ball past Steve Harper for a late consolation.
But Giggs had better luck when United took the lead seven minutes before the interval, his free-kick inadvertently glancing off Simao past the stranded Moreira after Cristiano Ronaldo had been fouled.
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Four minutes from time, Grainger scored the winner as his low, curling free-kick sped past Cerny and found the bottom corner.
Having been shown a yellow card, rather than a red, Kiraly retreated to his line, only to see Arteta curl a superb free-kick over the wall and past his dive into the top left-hand corner.
Andy Drury took the kick quickly and Griffin fired past Singh, but Stevenage's celebrations were cut short as the referee Stephen Martin called for the set-piece to be taken again.
Rangers began to impose their authority on the game and a quick Jorg Albertz free kick gave van Bronckhorst the opportunity to fire past the exposed Winters as the Aberdeen defence was caught cold.
Brown was again called into action as he grabbed Dale Watkins' long-range strike and was relieved to see a free-kick from the same striker go past the post.
Hall still had plenty of work to do to reach the line, but a clever kick took him past Willie Talau and allowed him to touch down by the right-hand corner flag.
Johnson scored within four minutes of the kick-off, combining with Zamora to slot the ball past Sergey Narubin, much to the delight of the Putney End.
But Jelavic was not to be denied with his next attempt, the striker brushing off the challenge of Mulgrew to latch on to Weiss's quickly taken free-kick and sliding a shot past Forster, the ball rebounding off the right-hand post but spinning back over the line.
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Hearts had another scare two minutes later when a fierce shot from Amoruso following a short free-kick by Van Bronckhorst whistled past the post.
Ferguson was typically cool as he despatched the spot-kick past Doherty.
Arca fed Downing on the left and his shot looped up off James Milner into the heart of the area, where Tuncay produced a stunning bicycle kick that flew past Friedel's left hand and nestled in the bottom corner.
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With the clock running down, Braga won a free kick and Matheus thundered a shot past a threadbare defensive wall and the ball dipped under the crossbar to leave an embarrassed Zaluska flapping at thin air.
Seven minutes later Onuoha fouled Toivonen 22 yards out and the Swedish midfielder picked himself up and fired the resulting free-kick past Joe Hart to make it 3-2.
Hartley blazed over the bar after a Michael Paton corner five minutes from time, while Travner saw a diagonal free-kick from just outside the penalty area whistle past the left-hand post.
Ronaldo then capped a fine individual and team performance with his second free-kick two minutes from time, struck past the left-hand edge of a badly positioned wall.
Westermann's header from a Bastian Schweinsteiger free-kick flashed past James' post, then the Germans needed to defend well to thwart promising moves involving Wright-Phillips and then Agbonlahor.
Eleven years ago this Saturday, during the 1999 Women's World Cup, U.S. player Brandi Chastain left-footed a penalty kick past a Chinese goalkeeper to win the World Cup.
Warrington's Andrew Bracek knocked-on from the kick-off, and a few tackles later Hudson scored next to the posts after drifting past Paul Rauhihi and Paul Wood.
Raith were gifted an equaliser 14 minutes later when Jamie Langfield, who had endured a nervy start to the match, made a mess of collecting a Stephen Simmons free-kick and the grateful Mole calmly slotted the loose ball past the stranded goalkeeper.
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