Soccer Skills

Some important skills you need to know in order to play soccer game.
1. Rules
2. Passing
3. Shooting
4. Dribbling
5. Heading
6. Formations
7. Positions
8. Kicking
9. Nutrition
10. Fitness
11. Tactics
12. Receiving
13. Trapping

1. Rules
To learn how to play soccer you will need to know some basic rules. There are countless variations on the soccer rules but you will generally only need to learn 18 of these. These 18 rules are often referred as laws of the game. By experience that memorizing the rules is not something you can do immediately. Instead, you will need to learn them while playing soccer. In this way you will be able to associate the rules with different situations on the field which will help you remember the rules better.

2. Passing
To play soccer you need to know how to pass the ball. If you don’t know how to do it then you will not be able to know how to play soccer. The first passing skill you should learn is to pass the ball by using the inside of your foot. This is the most basic and frequently used passing method in soccer. After some practice you will know exactly how to make an accurate and powerful pass. However, in order to become a passing master you will need to spend countless hours on the soccer field.

3. Shooting

As you already know, in order to score goals you will need to know how to shoot. If you don’t know how to fire an accurate and powerful shoot you will not be able to score many goals. The best thing you can do is to practice on your shooting skills by using both of your feet. In this way you will be able to shoot from all possible positions which will give you a big advantage over your opponents. While learning how to shoot you should not primarily focus on striking the ball with great power. It is more important to concentrate on hitting the goal. It doesn’t matter if you have world’s most powerful shoot if you don’t know how to control the ball. When you are near the 18 yard box you will often only need to place the ball near posts without using great power.

4. Dribbling

Dribbling is also one of the funniest skills to learn. However, dribbling is not just about learning how to get past your opponent, it is much more than that. In order to call yourself a good dribbler you need to know when to dribble. You should for example never dribble on your own side of the field. However, if you are near your opponents’ 18 yard box then trying some dribbling moves would be a good idea.You need to share the ball with the rest of your team. If you dribble every time you receive the ball you can be pretty sure that your teammates will stop passing it to you after a while. So, feel free to dribble, but only in right situations.

5. Heading

To beat your opponents in the air you will need to learn how to head a ball properly. It is important to learn the correct way of heading directly from the beginning. You should always head the ball by using your forehead because this is the strongest part or your head. Sometimes many beginners tend to head the ball by using the top of the head. This way of heading will not only add little power to the ball, it will also give you an unpleasant headache. Once you learn how to head the ball properly you can go on with other heading techniques.

6. Formations

A formation describes how you and the rest of your teammates are placed on the soccer field. While learning how to play soccer I recommend you not to put much effort in learning different tactics and formations. It is more important to learn the proper way of passing or shooting then knowing your offensive and defensive duties in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-3 formation. However, if you want to achieve bigger goals then just learning how to play soccer with your friends on the backyards then mastering different formations will be a must.

7. Positions

To learn how to play soccer you will need to study different soccer positions. The first standing player in the front of the goalie is called a defender. Your main duty when playing as a defender is to prevent your opponents from getting past you. If you want to play as defender you will need to pose good heading and passing skills, be able to read the game and also be prepared to work hard. The players in front of the defense line are called midfielders. While playing as midfielder you should provide your forwards with quality passes, participate in the offense game and support your defenders. There are three types of midfielders.

The first one is called an offensive midfielder which means playing higher upon the field. The second type of midfielder is called defensive and has more responsibility in defense. The third and last types of midfielders are playing at the flank and they can also be more defensive or offensive depending on the tactic.

The two players in front of the midfield line are called forwards or centers. The main difference between a forward and center is that a forward is generally faster than a center while centers are good target players. This means that midfielders can often pass the ball into space and let the forwards chase it while strikers needs to get the ball on their bodies.

8. Kicking

Learning how to kick a soccer ball is not the same as learning how to shoot. There are seven different types of soccer kicks. These are: free kick, indirect kick, penalty kick, goal kick, corner kick, bicycle/overhead kick and instep/lofted kick. The most acrobatic and dangerous kick of all mentioned above is the bicycle or over head kick. A bicycle kick should not be the first kick to learn as you could injure yourself seriously.

9. Nutrition

Many amateurs players tend to forget the importance of a well balanced diet. This is what separates the winners from losers. Simply, it doesn’t matter how good you are at soccer if you don’t eat right food.

10. Fitness

To learn how to play soccer you will need to have a solid fitness level. During a regular soccer game you will usually spend 88 minutes chasing the ball and only 2 minutes with having the ball at your feet. Good fitness level will also give you a big advantage on your opponents. If you are a good runner you will often play well both in defense and offense. It will also be much harder to mark you as you will be sprinting up, down, left and right. However, if you have poor fitness level you will get tired pretty fast and the opponents will not have any problems with marking you.

11. Tactics

There are countless tactics in soccer and knowing them all is not necessary. But, if you want to play in a soccer team you will need to learn some basic offense and defense tactic skills. These may include possession of the ball, long ball crosses, man to man marking, zonal marking etc. Soccer tactics should not be your primary goal while learning how to play soccer. However, after a while or so you should try to put little more effort and study the above mentioned tactics.

12. Receiving

It doesn’t matter how good passing skills you have if you don’t know how to receive the ball. While learning how to play soccer, you will need to learn several different receiving techniques. However, the most important one is receiving the ball by using the inside of your foot. While playing a regular soccer game you will generally have little time to put the ball under control. So the first touch on the ball is crucial in order to gain advantage on your opponents.

13. Trapping

This is another skill you will need to learn as soccer player. Trapping can be made with any part of your body but you will generally use your feet, thighs and chest to trap the ball. However, some very skillful players like Ronaldinho are able to trap the ball by using their back.