The ability to take a play on and beat them is one of the most important things a soccer player can do. However, it seems to be a lost art and because of this, at the request of some subscribers, I am going to show 9 moves (or fakes or feints or anything you might want to call them) to try to encourage players to take a chance and take on an opponent.  If you haven't already, I would strongly urge you read the newsletter on risk taking by clicking here.  Also, to understand a little bit more about the whole 1 v 1 situation, check out the newsletter on 1 v 1 play by clicking here

Before I introduce the moves, there are a couple of things to understand.  It is NOT important for a player to be able to do all 9 of these moves.  Instead, I like to expose the to all 9 and let them choose the couple that they want to really work on and master.  Secondly, some of these moves are interchangeable, I will group them together to make it easier to choose which one to choose in a given situation.  Thirdly, once a player has been beaten, it's important to do two things which are accelerate and also cut off the defender so that when she turns and tries to chase you down, you have your body between them and the ball.  The fourth thing is that while each of these moves can and should be done with either foot, to make things easier, I will be explaining them as if they are all being done starting with the right foot.

Lastly, I apologize for the graphics.  I couldn't think of anyway to demonstrate this short of with a video so I am simply going to be drawing the path of the ball and where the cut is made and hopefully you will be able to understand from that.

The first move I teach is called the cut-catch.  While dribbling at the defenders front foot  (assuming this front foot is her right foot and is forcing you to YOUR right) you are trying to force a stab by the defender.  The faster you attack this front foot the easier it is to force this stab.  When the stab comes with her left foot, cut the ball with the inside of your right foot so that it goes across your body to your left foot and then catch the ball with the inside of your left foot and go forward.  The key here is that there must be a stab and the cut must be across the body and SLIGHTLY BACKWARDS.  See the path of the ball on the cut in the diagram below.  The cut-catch is a very easy move to execute and is great because you are always balanced while doing this move.  The sharper you cut the ball the more effective it will be.

The next move is the roll-catch.  This is an identical move to the cut catch in that it's done at the same time as a cut-catch and for the same reason.  When the opponent stabs at the ball, instead of cutting the ball with the inside of the right foot, you are going to start with the ball on the inside of the foot and roll your foot over the ball so it takes the same path as in the cut-catch.  There is no advantage of disadvantage to the roll-catch over the cut-catch except that some people are more comfortable with one and some people are more comfortable with the others

The next move I want to introduce is the V move (also called a pull-pivot-push).  From a stationary position, start with the ball in front of your left foot and player right foot on the ball on an angel so that your toes are pointed toward 10 O'clock.  Pull the ball back so that it is almost directly underneath where your right foot would be if you were standing normally, then pivot your hips so that you can push the ball back out in an angle toward 2 o'clock.  As you can see in the diagram below, the ball will follow the path of a V.  The keys for this move is that there must be a stab for the ball and also you must come to a complete stop (you can't be moving forward and pull a ball backwards). That is the main difference between this move and the two mentioned earlier.

The next move is called the Pull Cruyff.  It's named after the famous Dutch soccer player Johan Cruyff.  Although I am not sure that he created this move, he certainly did master it.  The ball starts in front of the right foot.  Place your foot on the ball with the heal being on the front part of the top of the ball. Pull the ball straight back so that it is behind where your right foot was located when standing.  Next, catch the ball with the inside of the right foot (the same foot you pulled the ball back with) and push the ball BEHIND the left foot.  Then catch the ball with the inside of the left foot and accelerate forward.  This move also is dependent upon the stab so as soon as you see the stab start, do the move and while they will be moving toward where you were, you will be going past where they were.  This is a very effective move but takes some practice to get comfortable with it.  This move can be considered to be somewhat interchangeable with the V move, so pick the one you are most comfortable with and master it.  See the diagram below to see the path of the ball for the Pull Cruyff.

The next couple of drills are different in that they do not require a stab but instead are done when the defender is staying on balance and you need to change their positioning in order to be able to beat them.  The first one is the scissors.   While dribbling forward at the defender, with a sweeping motion, step over the ball with the right foot (so that the right foot ends up on the outside and right of the ball) and then push the ball with the outside of the LEFT foot.  By stepping over with the right, you should be able to get the defender to lean to your right which will enable you to blow by her with the outside of the left.  The lower you get with this step of the right, the more you will be selling the move and also the more you will be able to accelerate since you will have loaded your step.  One of the keys to this move (and the reason that it frequently doesn't work for players) is that it must be done at speed and also that it must be done a good distance from an opponent.  The reason for the importance of the distance from the opponent is that if you get too close to the opponent, as the ball rolls (since you are going at speed) even if they are leaning the wrong way, they defender will be able to win the ball.  This move must be done far enough from the opponent so that at no point does the ball get within playing distance of the opponent.

The next two moves I want to introduce might be the two easiest.  The first is simply a fake shot and then push with the outside of the foot.  If the ball is in front of the right foot, fake as if you are going to hit the ball extremely hard and then when you see the defender flinch, push the ball with the outside of the right and go right past them.  I teach players when they are in an offensive corner of the field early in the game and somewhat stuck to actually hit the ball into the defender hard.  The possibilities resulting from this are usually positive (corner kick, throw in, deflection into the goal mouth, ball bounces back to you etc) while the potential negative is very small (give up a goal kick or a throw in).  What you really are accomplishing by doing this early is to set them up for later in the game when you want to do a fake shot and a push. Having been hit once, they usually don't want to get hit a second time so this almost assures a flinch which gives you time for the push and acceleration.

Next is the foundation. Attack the defender and as they approach you, push the ball with the outside of your right foot and then run around the other side of the defender (see diagram below). This will force the defender to lean one way and then go the other way.  The two requirements for this to work are space behind the first defender and speed. If you have these two things, it's an extremely effective move.