Play Simple Football. Part 3 : Dribbling & Shooting

 Most of the time in a football game, it is better for you to pass the ball rather than dribbling, because it is more effective and easier. However, there are times when you have no teammates around you, and you need to dribble past defenders by yourself. This happens frequently in front of the goal. In this case, dribbling is a good choice unless you have a really bad dribbling technique. This is why you need to have a good dribbling technique other than good control and passing. Try to use simple body feints rather than fancy skills. Body feints are the most effective and simplest way to humiliate the defender. (Read this article) However, you do need to remember that dribbling all the way up to the goal is not a good choice. You have to be able to pass or shoot at the right time.

 Control, passing, and dribbling are all important elements of football, but they cannot let you score goals. In order to score goals, you have to shoot the ball. If you have a great shooting technique like Cristiano Ronaldo (read this article about long shots), try shooting from distance. Get rid of the idea that you need to get closer to the goal in order to score goals. Never be afraid to shoot from distance, even players like Cristiano Ronaldo do not score goals every single time. Use your teammates or dribble past defenders by yourself to create space, and once you have that space to shoot the ball, do not hesitate and take that long shot. 

 Remember, always play simple football.

                                                                                           - Play Simple Football. The End.

Effective Dribbling by Lionel Messi

 Players like Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo tend to use skills to humiliate defenders. If you are a master of skills like these players, there is no worry when you face defenders. However, not all players are talented to use skills during a match against professional defenders. Using skills look fancy, but sometimes players miss the timing to pass or shoot the ball while skilling. Also, good defenders are not humiliated easily by skills. Therefore, most players rather pass the ball to their teammates than attempting to skill defenders. Lionel Messi is different. He developed his own method of humiliating defenders. He just uses body feints to fake the defender and sprint pass them. By adding his phenomenal speed, his dribbling technique is by far the most effective way to destroy the defence. It is impossible to forget the Champions League semi-final when Lionel Messi dribbled past 5 Real Madrid defenders and scored. The technique looks quite simple, but actually your balance should be great, and it takes some time to master the technique because it is not easy to use it during a match. Also, other than dribbling, Messi is smart enough to use his teammates, and he is capable of scoring goals whenever there is an opportunity. Lionel Messi's play does not look fancy or skillful because he only uses the fastest, simplest, and the most effective way to score goals. It looks easy, but as I mentioned above, it is very difficult. This is why Lionel Messi is considered as the best football player in the world.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his Long Shots

 People always compare Cristiano Ronaldo with Lionel Messi, and most people think Lionel Messi is a better player than Ronaldo as Messi can score more goals and he has a better career than Ronaldo. Of course, this is the truth. However, Cristiano Ronaldo likes to take risks while Lionel Messi does not. Lionel Messi likes to play with his teammates trying to get closer to the goal as possible. Cristiano Ronaldo also does that most of the time, but he often tries to take some long shots from far way out. He is using the simplest idea in football. If the ball is in the back of the net, it is a goal, so if you think about it, you do not necessarily need to pass and dribble towards the goal. Just shoot, and this is Cristiano Ronaldo's idea when he takes long shots.

 As you can see, these long shots are 'legendary', just like the title. His technique is fabulous, his shot dips in front of the goal and makes the goalkeeper dumbfounded. People try to imitate his so called knuckle ball technique as it is the most effective free kick/long shot technique known. Obviously he does not score goals like these in every match. He makes mistakes and sometimes the ball just goes wide, and makes his teammates frustrated because sometimes he just shoots when it is the timing to pass the ball. However, it is important that Ronaldo 'tries', since most players do not even try to score long shots. This is the reason why Ronaldo is capable of scoring beautiful goals shown in the video. Most importantly, when these incredible long shots are scored, it makes 'us' enjoy the beauty of football.