carlyluvsunited
04-02-2008, 08:40 AM
Ronaldo's free kick - the golden shot
Cristiano Ronaldo’s brilliant free kick for Manchester United last week was the
result of skill – and hard work
Tuesday was just another day at Carrington. Half an hour before training began,
Cristiano Ronaldo was in the gym, sculpting his body. Half an hour after training,
Ronaldo was still on the practice ground buffing his skill. With Wayne Rooney,
Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Nani – who are regular company in his ritual – the
Portuguese spent 30 minutes striking free kick after free kick. On Friday he did
the same. Of Ronaldo’s blink-inducing dead ball goal against Portsmouth on
Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson said: “There’s no fluke about it, I see him practice
all the time in training,” repeating what he’d said after other recent free kicks
against Newcastle, Sunderland and Sporting Lisbon.
Practice is one of Ferguson’s tenets. As a young coach he was devising routines
for players to repeat in an era when many a “training session” amounted to
jogging round the pitch and a game of five-a-side. “Do you want to become the
best player in the world?” he’ll ask when his No 7 shows signs of slacking, but
those occasions are rare. The hair gel, earrings and flash boots hide in Ronaldo
an old-fashioned professionalism, a desire for self-improvement that inspires the
time he puts in at Carrington. How many of us volunteer for an extra hour’s work
every day? When Wednesday’s free kick flew past a befuddled David James,
Ronaldo’s self-congratulating shrug was the least he was entitled to.
Not long ago, when Ronaldo lined up a free kick at Old Trafford there were groans
rather than anticipatory murmurs and spectators would rehearse ducking
procedures rather than whipping out their camera phones. His improvement is
palpable. He has scored direct from free kicks six times in his five Premier League
seasons, but four in the past 14 months. In December 2005 he said: “Nowadays
it doesn’t matter what tricks I do, they have to be of use to the team and what I
practice now are things that will help the team. If you want to be one of the best
players in the world – which I do – you have to learn all the time and another
thing I have to do is get more goals. I’ve been working on that a lot. In a couple
of years, if I’m scoring more, people will think better of me.”
It was not idle talk. Ronaldo’s scoring has mushroomed since and he has latched
on to every scoring opportunity. When Ruud van Nistelrooy departed, he became
Manchester United’s penalty-taker. Around the same time he nagged Ryan Giggs
into letting him share – and ultimately appropriate – duties as United’s post
-David Beckham free kick taker. Beckham scored 24% of his league goals (15 out
of 63) direct from free kicks while Ronaldo’s proportion is “just” 11% (six from 54)
but it is partly due to his versatility. Six of this artist’s 27 this season have come
from headers.
The unstoppable nature of Wednesday’s strike had some asking whether being
awarded a free kick is “almost as good as a penalty” in modern football.
Conversion rate statistics suggest that to be fanciful but free kicks are certainly
more important than ever, responsible for an increasing proportion of goals due
to footballers’ greater athleticism and therefore the lesser space available for
scoring to arise in open play.
And nobody takes them like Ronaldo. “Every time I had the ball at my feet as a
boy I tried to invent new dribbles, new moves,” he recalled. “I always looked to
have my own identity in football. That was my dream.” He has applied this as
much to free kicks as much as stepovers. “The secret? I will not reveal it. I can
only state that the success or failure at the moment of taking the free kick is
directly related to the position of the body, the way one runs towards the ball
and the way one positions one’s feet,” he has said, and no single factor is key to
his method. One, however, is unique. When Ronaldo places the ball, rather than
teeing it up like most free kick takers, he pushes it into the ground so when he
plants his standing foot next to the ball it pops up, giving the shot something of
the quality of a volley. Perhaps this is why he imparts such dip.
Other things are important. Rehearsal and routine underpin his free kicks like
Jonny Wilkinson penalties. After placing the ball Ronaldo has a ritual of puffing
out his chest, facing goal and standing, statue-like. This is him focusing. “I only
think about which side of the net I’m going to aim for. I look at the net and say to
myself ‘Take the kick, Ronaldo’, then I shoot.” His body posture at the moment of
striking the ball is as distinctive as Beckham’s: head right over the ball, arms out
for balance, body curved like the letter C. Where most players use their instep,
Ronaldo strikes using the tops of his toes and hits right through the line rather
than around the ball. He seeks to hit it in a precise spot (some have suggested
the ball’s valve, though Ferguson has scoffed at this). All in all, the method could
not be more honed than if he were running up and kicking a particular petal off a
buttercup.
When Ronaldo is next at Carrington, after returning from the international break,
he’ll be back in the practice-makes-perfect routine. “He can do whatever he
wants as a footballer. There are some things he does with the ball that make me
touch my head and wonder how he did it.” That’s not some awestruck
journeyman talking, but Luis Figo.
Will Ronaldo hit the jackpot?
CRISTIANO RONALDO is in line for a pay rise that will make him the highest paid
footballer in the British game.
His current contract, worth around £90,000 per week, expires in 2012, and with
extension talks poised to start soon, United are likely to increase his earnings to
more than the £131,000 received by Chelsea’s John Terry.
United, who have a strict wage structure, will not want Ronaldo to be paid more
than their top earners, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, whose contracts net
them in the region of £100,000 per week – so a deal is likely to be struck where
Ronaldo would receive a similar amount but United recognise that he has a
marketability in the world game matched only, perhaps, by Ronaldinho and David
Beckham.
Analysts expect Ronaldo to become football’s most commercially precious
commodity within the next two or three years and his popularity is highest in
Asia, the area United perceive to be key to expanding their brand. A deal on
Ronaldo’s image rights could be worth at least another £35,000 per week –
United did the same with Beckham.
Under last week’s Andy Webster ruling, which means players under 28 are
entitled to buy out of their contract once it has two years remaining, Ronaldo
would be able to leave Old Trafford in 2010, hence the reason for the impending
talks.
Brian Glanville's best
Didi Master of the foglia secca (falling leaf) free kick, that would drift in, as against
Peru to secure Brazil’s qualification for the 1958 World Cup
Garrincha One of his fierce efforts in the 1962 World Cup for Brazil against
England bounced off the chest of keeper Ron Springett, for Vava to score
Brian Talbot Aimed for the top corner. Among his best was the one that gave
Arsenal a 1-0 win against Panathinaikos in the Uefa Cup in 1981
Rivelino Scored with one of his fulminating free kicks in Brazil’s opening World Cup
game in Guadalajara in 1970, against the Czechs
Ronald Koeman Most controversial was the Dutchman’s crucial goal against
England in a World Cup qualifier in 1993, when he should have earlier been sent
off
Roberto Carlos Glenn Hoddle said of the unbelievable goal the Brazilian scored
against France in 1997, ‘I doubt we will see a better free kick’
David Beckham Who can forget the free kick that earned England a crucial draw
against Greece in 2001?
And Ronnie’s not just a dead ball specialist
Premier League goals 07/08
Ronaldo Man Utd 19, Adebayor Arsenal 16, Benjani Portsmouth 12, Torres
Liverpool 11, Santa Cruz B’burn 11
Shots on target
Ronaldo Man Utd 47, Tevez Man Utd 31, Rooney Man Utd 29, Gerrard Liverpool 2
8, Torres Liverpool 27
Dribbles
Ronaldo Man Utd 108, Bentley Blackburn 101, N’Zogbia Newcastle 99, Young Villa
97, Torres Liverpool 93, www.timesonline.co.uk
Click below to join manutdtalk.com forums to read and
discuss all breaking news on all things United !!! Come talk to us….
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Cristiano Ronaldo’s brilliant free kick for Manchester United last week was the
result of skill – and hard work
Tuesday was just another day at Carrington. Half an hour before training began,
Cristiano Ronaldo was in the gym, sculpting his body. Half an hour after training,
Ronaldo was still on the practice ground buffing his skill. With Wayne Rooney,
Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Nani – who are regular company in his ritual – the
Portuguese spent 30 minutes striking free kick after free kick. On Friday he did
the same. Of Ronaldo’s blink-inducing dead ball goal against Portsmouth on
Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson said: “There’s no fluke about it, I see him practice
all the time in training,” repeating what he’d said after other recent free kicks
against Newcastle, Sunderland and Sporting Lisbon.
Practice is one of Ferguson’s tenets. As a young coach he was devising routines
for players to repeat in an era when many a “training session” amounted to
jogging round the pitch and a game of five-a-side. “Do you want to become the
best player in the world?” he’ll ask when his No 7 shows signs of slacking, but
those occasions are rare. The hair gel, earrings and flash boots hide in Ronaldo
an old-fashioned professionalism, a desire for self-improvement that inspires the
time he puts in at Carrington. How many of us volunteer for an extra hour’s work
every day? When Wednesday’s free kick flew past a befuddled David James,
Ronaldo’s self-congratulating shrug was the least he was entitled to.
Not long ago, when Ronaldo lined up a free kick at Old Trafford there were groans
rather than anticipatory murmurs and spectators would rehearse ducking
procedures rather than whipping out their camera phones. His improvement is
palpable. He has scored direct from free kicks six times in his five Premier League
seasons, but four in the past 14 months. In December 2005 he said: “Nowadays
it doesn’t matter what tricks I do, they have to be of use to the team and what I
practice now are things that will help the team. If you want to be one of the best
players in the world – which I do – you have to learn all the time and another
thing I have to do is get more goals. I’ve been working on that a lot. In a couple
of years, if I’m scoring more, people will think better of me.”
It was not idle talk. Ronaldo’s scoring has mushroomed since and he has latched
on to every scoring opportunity. When Ruud van Nistelrooy departed, he became
Manchester United’s penalty-taker. Around the same time he nagged Ryan Giggs
into letting him share – and ultimately appropriate – duties as United’s post
-David Beckham free kick taker. Beckham scored 24% of his league goals (15 out
of 63) direct from free kicks while Ronaldo’s proportion is “just” 11% (six from 54)
but it is partly due to his versatility. Six of this artist’s 27 this season have come
from headers.
The unstoppable nature of Wednesday’s strike had some asking whether being
awarded a free kick is “almost as good as a penalty” in modern football.
Conversion rate statistics suggest that to be fanciful but free kicks are certainly
more important than ever, responsible for an increasing proportion of goals due
to footballers’ greater athleticism and therefore the lesser space available for
scoring to arise in open play.
And nobody takes them like Ronaldo. “Every time I had the ball at my feet as a
boy I tried to invent new dribbles, new moves,” he recalled. “I always looked to
have my own identity in football. That was my dream.” He has applied this as
much to free kicks as much as stepovers. “The secret? I will not reveal it. I can
only state that the success or failure at the moment of taking the free kick is
directly related to the position of the body, the way one runs towards the ball
and the way one positions one’s feet,” he has said, and no single factor is key to
his method. One, however, is unique. When Ronaldo places the ball, rather than
teeing it up like most free kick takers, he pushes it into the ground so when he
plants his standing foot next to the ball it pops up, giving the shot something of
the quality of a volley. Perhaps this is why he imparts such dip.
Other things are important. Rehearsal and routine underpin his free kicks like
Jonny Wilkinson penalties. After placing the ball Ronaldo has a ritual of puffing
out his chest, facing goal and standing, statue-like. This is him focusing. “I only
think about which side of the net I’m going to aim for. I look at the net and say to
myself ‘Take the kick, Ronaldo’, then I shoot.” His body posture at the moment of
striking the ball is as distinctive as Beckham’s: head right over the ball, arms out
for balance, body curved like the letter C. Where most players use their instep,
Ronaldo strikes using the tops of his toes and hits right through the line rather
than around the ball. He seeks to hit it in a precise spot (some have suggested
the ball’s valve, though Ferguson has scoffed at this). All in all, the method could
not be more honed than if he were running up and kicking a particular petal off a
buttercup.
When Ronaldo is next at Carrington, after returning from the international break,
he’ll be back in the practice-makes-perfect routine. “He can do whatever he
wants as a footballer. There are some things he does with the ball that make me
touch my head and wonder how he did it.” That’s not some awestruck
journeyman talking, but Luis Figo.
Will Ronaldo hit the jackpot?
CRISTIANO RONALDO is in line for a pay rise that will make him the highest paid
footballer in the British game.
His current contract, worth around £90,000 per week, expires in 2012, and with
extension talks poised to start soon, United are likely to increase his earnings to
more than the £131,000 received by Chelsea’s John Terry.
United, who have a strict wage structure, will not want Ronaldo to be paid more
than their top earners, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, whose contracts net
them in the region of £100,000 per week – so a deal is likely to be struck where
Ronaldo would receive a similar amount but United recognise that he has a
marketability in the world game matched only, perhaps, by Ronaldinho and David
Beckham.
Analysts expect Ronaldo to become football’s most commercially precious
commodity within the next two or three years and his popularity is highest in
Asia, the area United perceive to be key to expanding their brand. A deal on
Ronaldo’s image rights could be worth at least another £35,000 per week –
United did the same with Beckham.
Under last week’s Andy Webster ruling, which means players under 28 are
entitled to buy out of their contract once it has two years remaining, Ronaldo
would be able to leave Old Trafford in 2010, hence the reason for the impending
talks.
Brian Glanville's best
Didi Master of the foglia secca (falling leaf) free kick, that would drift in, as against
Peru to secure Brazil’s qualification for the 1958 World Cup
Garrincha One of his fierce efforts in the 1962 World Cup for Brazil against
England bounced off the chest of keeper Ron Springett, for Vava to score
Brian Talbot Aimed for the top corner. Among his best was the one that gave
Arsenal a 1-0 win against Panathinaikos in the Uefa Cup in 1981
Rivelino Scored with one of his fulminating free kicks in Brazil’s opening World Cup
game in Guadalajara in 1970, against the Czechs
Ronald Koeman Most controversial was the Dutchman’s crucial goal against
England in a World Cup qualifier in 1993, when he should have earlier been sent
off
Roberto Carlos Glenn Hoddle said of the unbelievable goal the Brazilian scored
against France in 1997, ‘I doubt we will see a better free kick’
David Beckham Who can forget the free kick that earned England a crucial draw
against Greece in 2001?
And Ronnie’s not just a dead ball specialist
Premier League goals 07/08
Ronaldo Man Utd 19, Adebayor Arsenal 16, Benjani Portsmouth 12, Torres
Liverpool 11, Santa Cruz B’burn 11
Shots on target
Ronaldo Man Utd 47, Tevez Man Utd 31, Rooney Man Utd 29, Gerrard Liverpool 2
8, Torres Liverpool 27
Dribbles
Ronaldo Man Utd 108, Bentley Blackburn 101, N’Zogbia Newcastle 99, Young Villa
97, Torres Liverpool 93, www.timesonline.co.uk
Click below to join manutdtalk.com forums to read and
discuss all breaking news on all things United !!! Come talk to us….
http://manutdtalk.com/forums/register.php