Lionel Messi's One-Two Passing

 Lionel Messi is the best dribbler in the world with no doubt. The ball is stuck on his foot, and he can dribble past defenders very easily. However, when there are lots of defenders, even Messi cannot dribble past them. Therefore, Messi uses simple one-two passes to get past defenders. He basically uses a moving wall to pass the ball and get it back immediately. This is really effective, but it requires extremely accurate short passes. In fact, this is a clip that shows how effective one-two passing is.



 If you watch the video you can see that Messi does not dribble at all inside the penalty box. He just uses two players to play the one-two pass and shoots when he sees the gap between the defenders. As you can see, the defenders have no chance at all. It is almost impossible to keep an eye at the player who is moving, when the ball is somewhere else. If Messi decided to dribble past everyone by himself, he would have never scored. The quality of the pass is also amazing. Since the return passes to Messi is so accurate, the defenders cannot do anything about it. If the passes were a little off target, the defenders would kick the ball away.

 If the video above was an example of Messi using his teammates who are standing still, this is a video of Messi and Iniesta actually playing the one-two passes while moving.



 Again, the passes are so accurate, and the defenders cannot do anything about it. It is just amazing how Messi and Iniesta can play the ball like that in such a tight space. Also, the way how Iniesta flicks the ball up to make a perfect scoring chance is just wonderful. As I mentioned in my last article "Xavi Hernandez's First Touch", first touch is very important to get rid of pressure. In this video, Iniesta shows not only accurate passes, but also a great first touch to give him space to shoot.

 Sometimes good dribbling skills can help you past one or two defenders, but one-two passes are the most effective way to get past 'lots' of defenders and actually break down the defence.

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.

How to become a better Footballer

 If you want to be a better footballer than you are now, the first thing to do is to get more control of the ball. The best way to master control is juggling. Juggling needs to practiced everyday, and try not to be interested in fancy skills that players like Neymar use. It is important to use both foot and try to stay in the same position when you are juggling. Here is a good video for you to learn how to juggle the ball in the correct way.

  If you juggle the ball with the 'sweet spot', your juggling will be stable and it will help you get more control of the ball. Everybody has their own sweet spot when they juggle, and you should find your own sweet spot. If you can at least juggle 100 times without letting the ball bounce on the ground, it means you gained almost perfect control of the ball and at this point it can also help you with other skills in football. First, when you dribble the ball, the ball would be much closer to your feet and you would be able to change directions quickly. Secondly, since you have found your sweet spot while juggling, shooting will be a lot more powerful and accurate. It is not easy to juggle the ball over 100 times, and you need to practice everyday. It is definitely very difficult, but if you practice hard enough, you will find yourself juggling over 300 times. I hope you could develop your skills by juggling, and become a better footballer.  :)

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.