As I continue to watch soccer, I’m always looking out for new tricks to learn. I attempt them alone at first, then I continue to work on that trick until I feel comfortable. There are many tricks I’m attempting to learn. At the same time, I’ve been keeping an eye out for games that create history in the soccer world. There are many tournaments that are of high intensity, and importance. The most notable leagues are ones like Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1, England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Netherlands Eredivisie, Germany’s Bundesliga, and many other professional soccer league competitions. These may seem like a lot of leagues to keep up with, and to be honest, I only keep up with a good 3. I’ve learned how different leagues and tournaments work, and what that means for higher competitions. It may seem surprising, but there are significant differences in each tournament. Some things include the pacing of each game, some tournaments thrive in teams that are purely attacking, some tournaments have teams with heavy defense strategies. Not two soccer leagues play the same way, and it’s very notable in elite competitions like the UEFA Champions league. In the Champions league, different teams from different countries compete in this tournament. It’s easily one of the most anticipated soccer tournaments. Many soccer players receive criticism for failing to bring home a champions league title, along with coaches receiving heavy criticism. Not only is this competition highly anticipated, it’s also breathtaking. The anthem alone is majestical. It’s enough to send chills down anyone’s back. If you truly are interested, the Final for this competition is on June 1, 2019. Soccer will continue to prevail in my life.

Honestly, any youtube video out there teaching you skills, wont do anything unless you practice. Practice, as we all know, makes perfect. For simple tricks you won’t need to be in a soccer field, a backyard will work. The video I chose to review isn’t terrible. It’s not an actual professional so his moves aren’t impossible to replicate. Once you are comfortable with the control of the ball, these moves should be fairly easy to execute.

Lionel Messi, regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of our generation, some say even greater than past legends. Messi in my book is the greatest, although many compare him to Cristiano Ronaldo, each has a different gameplay style, so it’s an unfair comparison. Messi has proved he is the most complete player in history. Watching lionel messi play is breathtaking. Messi changes the atmosphere of the field when he plays. Although Messi has reached the ripe age of 31, he is the top scorer in all the soccer leagues. He was able to net 36 goals for the 2018/19 season. In all competitions played, Messi netted 50 astonishing goals. The following video is of Messi’s 2018/19 season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3rONBIW0O0

I’ve always enjoyed watching soccer. I’ve had many favorite soccer players in my lifetime. From iconic names like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Zidane, Rooney, Maradona, Rivaldo, and Xavi, Iniesta, and the father of soccer, Pele. Watching them play and hearing about the amazing way they helped each of there teams lift trophies, and the most prized trophy of them all, The FIFA World Cup. The FIFA world cup is easily one of the most anticipated soccer tournaments. Only coming in every 4 years, each player is allowed to return to their country to play with there national team, and fight to the final. The process to choosing which countries qualify, takes about three years. Only 32 teams will be able to play in this breathtaking tournament. Each player dreams of bringing home the world cup. I still dream that Mexico will one day bring home the world cup.

The most recent world cup, in 2018, was easily one of my most memorable moments of 2018. My team, Mexico, made it to the final 16 teams fighting for the world cup. The road wasn’t easy. Mexico was part of group F. We had to go head-to-head against strong teams, Germany, Sweden, and South Korea. Our first game was decided, we had to go against Germany. Germany, one of the few teams whose been able to lift the world cup, four times. We’ve gone up against Germany before, and lost every time. It was going to be a hell of a game, The mighty Goliath vs. David. The kickoff was at 10 AM, Sunday morning. The excitement had been leading up to this very day, this very moment. Mexico’s anthem began to play, you could hear the roar from hundreds, if not thousands of Mexico’s fans singing along. Although I was sitting in my living room, I felt as if I was standing amongst all the attendees of the game. The ref blew his whistle for the game to commence. The players gracefully carried the ball from one side of the field, to the other. Germany had no mercy and attacked with many shots. Our goal keeper swept, blocked, and made balls stop dead. Nothing seemed to be getting past. Although Mexico was taking a beating for the first few minutes, we were able to hold on. Our opportunity arrived when our forward, Javier Hernández, receives a pass and moves up the field, hungry for a goal. As Hernández neared the goal box, he shared the opportunity with our left winger, Hirving Lozano. Lozano sneaked the ball behind him, tricking the defense, he placed his shot. The ball just barely grazed the goalies hand, the ball went in and we erupted, GOOOOOOOL!!. A magnificent display of technique from Lozano. Although there was still enough time for a comeback on Germany’s side, we felt as we had already won the entire game. The clock rolled up to 90 minutes, and the ref blew his whistle. A wave a relief swept over us, the scoreboard ended 1 – 0, and that was enough for us. I dreamed of seeing mexico make it to the final, but sadly, our run came to an end when Brazil defeated us 2 – 0. The Mexico fans, clearly dispirited, sang an old nursery rhyme with passion. “Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores. Porque cantando se alegran, cielito lindo los corazones.” Translated to english would be, “Ay, ay ay, ay, sing and don’t you cry. Because singing makes happy, sweet darling, our hearts.” It’s an old nursery rhyme kids in Mexico are taught. Boy did it help during that depressing loss against Brazil.

Soccer, the universal sport. The sport that brought together nations, and caused a war to come to a ceasefire. Soccer is a fun sport to learn. You don’t need to be perfect, even the elite players make mistakes. For the basic equipment, you’ll need a pair of legs (functional), a soccer ball, a soccer net, and the willingness to learn. The object of the game is to have the ball go inside the opponents net, thus creating a goal. The trick is only using your feet, using hands is illegal.

The best way for a newcomer to learn how to control the ball is by doing short passes. The trick to having accurate passes is by using the inside of your feet. You’ll have more control of the ball that way. At first it can be uncomfortable, but with practice, you don’t think much of it. Using the tip of your feet may cause you to break a toe or two. Like I said before, you’ll have more control of the ball using the inside of your feet. The next step to learning soccer is running. You may think to yourself, “pfft, I can run.” Ask yourself, can you run with a ball at your feet? It’s fairly difficult to gain control of a ball when running. Some tips when running, don’t look down the entire time. Trust me, focus is good, but when you start running into other people, you’ll need to be taken out. When the ball is at your feet, glance every so often to make sure the balls there. Otherwise you’ll be trying to take on the defender without a ball. Kinda like trying to buy food without money. To start gaining better control, start by walking with the ball. When you tap the ball in front of you, make sure its within a foot of you. This is a good distance. Then begin to jog, and finally running.

These tips should help when starting to play soccer. They’ll help get the basics down. With practice and determination, anything is achievable.

I’m Ismael and soccer has been my passion since I can remember. This blog will just encompass various news surrounding the soccer world. I’ll be looking at the teams over in Spain, Europe, Germany (etc.) I’ll also help with a few tips to get a beginner well on there way to playing better.