Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: crawley town, defend, defend overheads, defender positions, manchester city, Manchester Utd, matt tubbs, overhead kicks, vincent kompany, Wayne Rooney, wes brown
Once all the talk of the Wayne Rooney amazing overhead kick against Manchester City had died down I began to take note of other overhead kicks and how to defend against them.
Rooney’s goal at Old Trafford was a spectacular winner, but often in these situations the referee blows the whistle for dangerous play. On the same ground in the FA Cup Manchester United were playing against Blue Square Bet Premiership non-leaguers Crawley Town and the minnows were a goal down when Crawley striker Matt Tubbs almost did the same thing as Rooney.
His spectacular overhead kick just cleared the bar, but this time the referee blew for a free-kick – had the ball gone in the net it wouldn’t have counted.
This would have been very contentious because of the occasion and the scoreline. However, the difference in this case was that the Manchester defender Wes Brown put his head in the way… so it was considered dangerous play. If Vincent Kompany had done the same against Rooney it would probably have been considered dangerous play as well.
In youth matches I’m sure most referee’s would blow the whistle for dangerous play if your players hold their ground and try to win the ball.
Watch the clip below and around 3.40 minutes of it you will see Matt Tubbs’ attempted overhead kick and Wes Brown putting his head in danger.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Skills | Tags: overhead kicks, rainbow kick, Ronaldo, Soccer Skills
Some skills are done just to make you look like you are the best soccer player in your team – or like a Brazilian player!
My favourite one that I used to do all the time as a young player was the rainbow kick. It is usually used in street soccer, but you can use it in matches although it doesn’t have a high success rate so you have to practise it a lot before you can make it work.
You can use it to catch a defender out – the player steps over the ball and flicks it up and over their head in an arc. he trick is usually performed while running forward with the ball, and is done by rolling the ball up the back of one leg with the other foot, before flicking the standing foot upwards to propel the ball forward and over the head.
It was famously used by Ossie Ardiles in the film The Great Escape.
What you trying to do is flick the ball over your head and that of the defender opening up a route to goal. Watch this and see how you can coach your players to use it…
