Comments on: Sneijder shares his free-kick secrets

By: wall of secrets | Hottags

wall of secrets | Hottags — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:57:53 +0000

[...] Sneijder shares his free-kick secretsIn my first season Ronald said: Wes, aim between the second and third man in the wall. The result was amazing! Nine out of ten went in. And Koeman also told me to cut back on my run to the ball. You only need one step to give the ball …Netherlands World Cup Team Blog – http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org [...]

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:43:21 +0000

Well said. I fear maybe at Barca they’ll need a replacement for Deco and/or Ronnie…

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:14:32 +0000

Is Van der Vaart considered young these days?! If both Ballack and Lampard are staying at Chelsea this summer (Lampard may well not be), it would be a terrible move on Rafa’s part. The only place he could play is one of the wing positions, probably replacing Malouda, but I don’t think he’s suited to that at all. I Lampard leaves then *maybe* it would be ok for Rafa to go there. I’d like to see him move to one of the big Italian clubs though, I think his technical play would work best there. Still haven’t forgiven Chelsea for ruining Boulahrouz too.

The problem is that there aren’t any top teams that have an attacking midfield space I guess, so wherever he goes Rafa’ll face possibly being benched. A player of his ability needs to be playing at a top European side though, if he stays the big fish in the small pond he won’t acheive all his potential.

By: Igor

Igor — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:20:32 +0000

Bruce, that would be a nightmare come true…i really like vdv but despise chelsea…plus chelsea is a terrible team for a young player to go to. at hamburg vdv was the main guy, the captain and leader of the team, at chelsea he would be one more star whose potential is buried in the depths of the squad (see ballack, shevchenko, wright-phillips even kalou and to a certain extent essien-i mean why is one the world’s best central midfielders playing right back?). plus raf is too fragile for the premiership, i think.

By: Igor

Igor — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:15:50 +0000

yeah i was wondering about the air tube technique as well, never heard of it and the first corner comment doesnt make sense either since sneijder is explaining how keepers in spain protect the far corner, which should therefore leave the first corner more vulnerable.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:31:11 +0000

“Schuster said it recently to me: it’s virtually impossible to score from a setpiece in the first corner of the goal, but I still try it.”

I’m confused by this. I’m assuming by “first corner” it means the corner closest to where the free kick is being taken from – i.e. the near post corner, but what does Schuster mean that it’s virtually impossible to score from there?? I’ve seen lots of free kicks go in the near corner.. especially when the goalie is covering near the far post..

What’s the “air tube” free kick? And I’m assuming the banana ball is when it’s got a big curve on it?

By: Jan

Jan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:28:28 +0000

It’s interesting that Wes didn’t mention the position of the left (non-kicking foot) at the moment of impact. Some players place the left foot just in front of the ball, others place it right beside the ball… And the swing through of the leg is also not mentioned… Wes still leaves some secrets…well…secret.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:19:08 +0000

van der Vaart has recently made his intentions to leave Hamburg and has hinted that he would like to go to Chelsea. Noooooooo Rafael…

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:10:51 +0000

Quality read Jan – thank you. Koeman’s advice was really interesting, especially the run up thing – remind anyone else of a certain Mr Hasselbaink?

Great to hear Schuster is giving Wes the free kicks at Madrid too – there are a lot of pre-madonnas at that club, so it worried me when lads like Sneijder, Robben and especialy Drenthe went there. Schuster’s given them all firm prescedence though, perhaps ocasionally it’s undeserved (I’m thinking of poor Robinho getting dumped on the bench).

I do worry what might happen if Schuster leaves though – I could see another coach not really appreciating Sneijder’s game so much, and I’ve heard some moronic criticisms from Madrid fans of both him and Robben. Anyway – Wes is definitely one of the best set-piece takers I’ve seen (not necessarily AMAZING at scoring from free kicks, but his crossing as well is just superb). Will definitely try those tips out!