Posts Tagged skills

Forgotten Footballer ~ Mario Sergio

Posted by 4Dfoot in Articles, Player Compilations on October 24, 2011

Mario Sergio

Some great players will be remembered for decades to come. Other great players are quickly forgotten. And then there are great players who were never famous in the first place. Mario Sergio belongs to that latter category. Spending his entire career in South America, and not being called up for any World Cup, he never featured on the radar of football fans in Europe.

Except once.

Fans of the European Cup winners Hamburger SV might recall him. When HSV took on Gremio in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup, the Germans would have noticed an aged, stocky, slightly balding midfielder with a straight posture and a full beard. But there was something else about him that caught the attention.

He never seemed to look down at the ball. Never. And frequently he wouldn’t even look into the direction where he was going to pass or dribble. He’d just gaze into the distance or look the other way, similar to the no-look passes Ronaldinho and Laudrup would later become famous for. But for them, it was a trick they’d use a dozen times per season. For Mario Sergio, it was his standard way of playing. In Brazil, it earned him the nickname the cross-eyed one.

Watch the video 4Dfoot created for this feature to check out Mario Sergio’s skills in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup match between Gremio and Hamburger SV:

There’s no question that his playing style required incredible technique and vision. If the mark of a great player is the ability to keep his eyes off the ball, then Mario Sergio was truly a great footballer.

So why wasn’t he famous? Why has almost nobody outside Brazil ever heard of him? Why didn’t he feature in any World Cup?

Read the rest of this entry »

1983, 80's, Brazil, Bundesliga, Germany, Gremio, Hamburger SV, Intercontinental Cup, Mario Sergio, skills

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Ronaldo – ‘Best Solist Ever’ (Player Video)

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 22, 2011

This video is simply mind blowing. A great reminder of how talented Ronaldo – the real one – truly was. The old Ronaldo vs Romario debate can be settled easily after watching this. Sure, Romario deserves credit for his longevity, but in terms of peak ability and pure talent, Ronaldo takes the crown.

Barcelona, Brazil, dribbles, goals, Inter, Real Madrid, Romario, Ronaldo, skills

1 Comment

Xavi ~ In Control (Player Video)

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 20, 2011

Xavi has fans and haters. The first group says Barcelona plays so well thanks to Xavi’s flawless passing, and that Messi wouldn’t be half as effective without Xavi (hence Messi’s ‘failure’ in the Argentina NT). The other group says he mostly passes the ball back and is just lucky to be in the world’s best team with the world’s best player (Messi).

Whether you are a fan of a hater, this video shows that Xavi certainly doesn’t just pass it aimlessly around.

What makes Xavi so special is that he beats players even though he doesn’t have the speed or explosiveness to beat players. Instead, thanks to his vision and technique, he uses the speed of his opponents against them. He lures them in, waits for them to bite, and then moves the other way. No matter the situation, Xavi is always in control.

00's, Barcelona, iniesta, La Liga, skills, xavi

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Forgotten Footballer – Preben Elkjaer Larsen

Posted by 4Dfoot in Articles, Player Compilations on October 19, 2011

Preben Elkjaer proved three things in his career: You don’t have to be short to be a sensational dribbler. You don’t have to be serious to be successful. And you don’t need shoes to score goals.

With his crazy dribbles, tank-like physique and clownish actions Preben Elkjaer was perhaps Europe’s most eye-catching player in the mid 80’s. He led both club and country to unprecedented success and finished twice on the podium of the Ballon d’Or. But how many football fans today are still familiar with Elkjaer?

Far too few. One place where they’ll never forget him though is the Italian city of Verona. It was there that Elkjaer achieved the greatest upset of not just his career, but the entire history of Italian football. In the 1984-85 season not the great Juventus, or AC Milan, or Inter, or Maradona´s Napoli, or even AS Roma managed to win the Scudetto. Instead, it was Elkjaer’s Hellas Verona. The Danish dribbler stole the show by scoring the iconic goal of that campaign against Platini´s Juventus. As he launched another solo, he lost his right boot, kept going, glided past another defender, and scored with his sock. The footage of this famous goal is included in the special video 4Dfoot created for this edition of Forgotten Footballer:

Elkjaer’s exploits changed Italian football. Read the rest of this entry »

1985, 1986, 80's, Danish Dynamite, Denmark, Elkjaer, goals, Juventus, Lokeren, serie a, skills

6 Comments

Johan Cruyff Dribbling Compilation

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 18, 2011

Johan Cruyff may have had more vision and tactical awareness than any other player, but without his tremendous agility and dribbling skills, he wouldn’t have been half the player he was. This video shows him gliding past an army of helpless defenders. Joy to watch.

60's, 70's, 80's, Ajax, Cruyff, Diplomats, Eredivisie, FC Barcelona, goals, La Liga, Levante, NASL, skills, total football

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Zinedine Zidane ~ Perpetual Motion

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 17, 2011

Beautiful slow-motion compilation of Zidane’s most breathtaking skills. What’s interesting is how often the victim of Zidane’s moves happened to be a famous player. Did Zidane go out of his way to demonstrate his superiority against the best players of his era? In the first four minutes of this video, we can see Zizou destroying Ze Roberto, Juninho, Ballack, Costinha, Lucio, Beckham, Pirlo, Owen, Rooney, Veron, Gatusso, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo, Scholes, Raul and Cafu. Can you spot any more famous victims?

90's, Bordeaux, France, Juventus, passes, Real Madrid, skills, slow-motion, Zidane

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Michael Laudrup

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 16, 2011

Before Zidane popularized Le Roulette, before Iniesta popularized La Croqueta and before Ronaldinho popularized the no-look pass, Michael Laudrup was regularly fooling opponents with any of the above mentioned tricks. With his vision, intelligence, technique and dribbling skills, Laudrup is without question one of the finest European players of all time.

Barcelona, Danish Dynamite, Denmark, Dreamteam, goals, Laudrup, passes, Real Madrid, skills

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Ronaldinho’s Enchanting Magic

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 16, 2011

Pelé. Cruyff. Maradona. Zidane. Messi. Even if you watch all their greatest displays of skill and technique, you still won’t see some of the incredible moves that are contained in this excellent video of Ronaldinho. It begs the question – is Ronaldinho the most naturally talented player of all time?

Barcelona, Brazil, goals, Paris, passes, PSG, Ronaldinho, skills

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Dennis Bergkamp

Posted by 4Dfoot in Player Compilations on October 15, 2011

He never won a World Cup, a Champions League or a Ballon d’Or. He didn’t travel to European away games because he was afraid of flying. Even in the peak of his career, he regularly played poor for weeks on end. Considering his talents, he lacked consistency. But what is consistency but the last refuge of the mediocre? Like any true genius, when Dennis Bergkamp shone, he shone brighter than anyone else.