There are many things I love about football: tactics, passion or great saves. One thing that probably everybody likes are tricks. Now I am not talking about mocking the opponent with 500 step overs and not getting any result out of it. I am talking about the real ankle breakers that make opponent defenders end their career. This is why I want to highlight my most favorite and effective tricks. Now I admit that some of you probably will not agree with the usefulness of these tricks but my experience showed me that if executed correctly they can absolutely be deadly. With that being said, I would me more than happy to see what kind of tricks your favorites are!
Zidane Roulette
One of my absolute favorites is of course named after one of my favorite players: Zinedine Zidane. He was known for his elegant touch and excellent technique which also can be seen in this simple but highly effective trick. You start off this trick by facing the ball straight, the first move is to set one of your feet on to the ball while turning 180 degrees. After this is done you cover the ball successfully from the defender but you are now facing the wrong way, so what to do? Like I said simple and effective: Just use your other food to drag the ball into the direction you want to go and turn your body accordingly. Woala: You defended the ball and beat a defender towards the goal. Obviously my description is not prefect so pleas enjoy the following demonstration by Zidane himself as well as other perfect executions:
Rabona
Next up we have a trick that I really like seeing but is not really seen as highly effective in the broad football community. In my opinion it serves good purpose and I will explain why after we talked about the execution. It can serve either as a shot but is most used as a cross. The Rabona is done by having the ball on the wrong side of your supporting foot. This way players are forced to make the shot behind the supporting foot which looks very easy but is very hard to execute, especially in a flowing movement. Now, many would say that it is very unnecessary as you can just use your other foot if the ball is on the wrong side of your body. While this is true in a amateur division where you have the time and space to do that, in the highest leagues you have to play as efficient as possible to be as successful as possible. Not only that but the surprise factor is also something to consider. The cherry on the cake: there is a very interesting game on the Hive Blockchain with the same name! :D
Rainbow-Flick/ Okocha
Since I read the article about Jay Jay Okocha, I can not stop thinking about this trick. I would say that this one needs the highest skill level to perform effectively and get the best outcome. In a nutshell you are trying to move the ball behind your back and over your shoulder or head in order to get the ball behind your opponent. Since you are running forwards and he would need to turn you have the clear advantage. The biggest drawback of this trick is without a doubt the difficulty level. If this trick is not done perfectly it will not help you in the slightest. In fact you would probably be the player who everybody makes fun of. This is one of the reasons why this trick is not commonly used, but I think that this video shows how wonderful this trick could be.
Cruyff Turn
The next trick might be one of the oldest one but is still very hard to defend and might be the easiest one to do. In order to achieve the Cruyff Turn, players do not need the perfect technique. What players really need is agility. The best situation to perform this trick is moving towards the corner flag because after performing this trick you would be able to move towards the goal without a defender close to you. The basic idea is that instead turning the short way into the defender, you are turning the long way, forcing the defender to the outside and having a clear way towards the goal afterwards. This trick is named after Cruyff who performed this trick in perfection as seen in the following video:
Elastico
Finally we have one of the coolest tricks I have ever seen: the elastico. The first time I saw this trick performed by Ronaldinho I immediately fell in love with this move and was eager to perform it myself. It took me a lot of practice and I was not able to come close to the perfect execution. Of course this could be due to the fact that I am a goalkeeper and maybe not the most naturally gifted footballer but I still think it is a move with a very high difficulty level. The thing is that if you are able to perform this trick with speed and perfect execution, you will brake every defender’s ankles and have a great opportunity to create a chance to score a goal. The essence of this move is to make the defender react to a movement to the outside of the foot and once this happens you switch the ball to the inside of your foot making you and your opponent go different directions. Now like I said, this really sounds easy on paper but this video should hopefully show you how difficult and actually effective this move can be:
Published by ga38jem on
Sports Talk Social
On 5th May 2022