Afellay’s touch of class shows power of pure technique
Good technique, though while widely accepted as an essential weapon in the armoury of any professional footballer, is rarely cast as a game-changing element. Having good technique usually means simply being able to control the ball easily, weigh passes appropriately or maintain one’s balance when shooting. Occasionally, however, technique is the difference between winning and losing. More precisely, in the case of Ibrahim Afellay in the Netherlands’ 4-0 defeat of Hungary last Friday, it was the difference between scoring and not scoring.
Leading 1-0 with half-time approaching in Budapest, the Netherlands launched an attack down their right flank. Robin van Persie cantered over to receive a high ball - thereby dragging the centre-backs out of position - and slipped a pass inside to right-back Gregory van der Wiel. Van Persie’s movement had lured the whole Hungarian defence across to one side of the pitch and when van der Wiel took possession of the ball, Hungary right-back Vilmos Vanczák made the mistake of moving towards the centre of the penalty area to cover for his out-of-position defensive colleagues. Van der Wiel immediately realised that Afellay had been left in space on the opposite side of the penalty area and dug out a chipped pass towards him.
It was here that Afellay’s technique came into play. The Barcelona man had plenty of space in which to receive the pass but the ball was played slightly behind him, obliging him to wait for it. His first touch turned a promising opening into a near-certain goal. He elected to control the ball flush on the inside of his right foot, which he angled towards goal, and the touch was so soft that when the ball met his foot, it rebounded into a gentle arc that took it away from the advancing Vanczák and into Afellay’s path. The purity of the contact imparted back-spin on the ball, making it sit up invitingly, and the economy of Afellay’s movement gave him time to steady himself before crashing the ball into the bottom-left corner with his left foot.
The touch made it look like a simple goal, when it was anything but. Only by bringing the ball down so perfectly was Afellay able to fully exploit the space in the penalty area and give himself sufficient time to execute a clean shooting action. Holland went into half-time 2-0 ahead and eventually won 4-0. The killer goal came from Afellay’s left foot, but the key touch attested to seven years of skills-based youth coaching at PSV and the over-arching Dutch faith in the fundamental importance of technique.
[...] “Good technique, though while widely accepted as an essential weapon in the armoury of any professional footballer, is rarely cast as a game-changing element. Having good technique usually means simply being able to control the ball easily, weigh passes appropriately or maintain one’s balance when shooting. Occasionally, however, technique is the difference between winning and losing. More precisely, in the case of Ibrahim Afellay in the Netherlands’ 4-0 defeat of Hungary last Friday, it was the difference between scoring and not scoring.” Football Further [...]