pointed toe kick in soccer

in the spirit of women's world cup soccer (just watched japan eliminate the supposedly invincible germany) ...

the first thing a soccer coach will teach is to not do the pointed toe kick because it is very inacurrate. and i agree you should not do this when passing the ball to your teammate. however i've scored many great goals in my life using this forbidden technique.

in a pointed toe kick the tendency of the ball is to curve unpredictably because of the spin. so when attempting a goal i just aim at the goalie. there were times when the ball was floating towards the goalie and the goalie was ready to catch the ball when suddenly the ball curved at the last moment and went in the goal which left the goalie flatfooted and dumbfounded.

another advantage of the pointed to kick is you don't need to get momentum or leverage (hunat in visayan language), so you can kick the ball quicker before the defender gets to you. there usually is a crowd of defenders near the goal and usually there is no time to back up to establish momentum before kicking the ball to the goal.

a strategy i use with this technique is when the ball is near the goal look for an open space near the ball and hope for the ball to leak or stray towards you. of course it's rare that the ball bounces your way but soccer goals are rare anyway. just be patient and and stick to this strategy. most of your teammates will already go towards the ball anyway and the more crowd around the ball the less chance of an opening for a goal.

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