Make The Ball Your Friend

When we speak of Ball Control, we speak of 5 technical skills:

Passing

Receiving

Shooting

Dribbling

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These technical skills allow you to execute your decisions. Johan Cruyff, the great Dutch legend encouraged you to “make the ball your friend.” That means you can dominate the ball in balance in any direction using all of your refined skills.

“Behind every kick of the ball there has to be a thought.” – Dennis Bergkamp

These next Principles of Play take that one step further. Many of the principles seem like common sense but simplicity in execution is very important if you want to dominate the ball and dominate possession. You must understand why, when, where to execute your skill to be a great player.