Ronaldinho's New Soccer Boots

Ronaldinho's New Soccer Boots


Yep, just launched today, called the Tiempo Ronaldinho. It looks a bit old-fashioned, specifically designed with new features like the rubber studs, new leather and best of all, the soccer boots itself includes Ronaldinho's very own signature. The design is similar to the Tiempo Legend but with a slightly different brand name 10R. I'm quite interested in the boot but I'm still using the Mecurial Vapor III and arguably the best boot yet.

Heikal's recommendation: Although I've not owned this yet, maybe in the future (who knows!), the soccer boot is suitable for those who likes a simple, old-fashioned style. But it can be good for your freestyle soccer as well because of the leather that could improve your touches on the ball.

Faisael's recommendation: Looks a bit old school, like the air legend that i'm using currently, probably has really good leather and innovative rubber studs. Would probably suit those with long and narrow feet. Must have superb 'feel' for the ball.

Soccer Fitness in Freestyle?

Soccer Fitness in Freestyle?

For the past couple of weeks, I have been rather down on my soccer fitness and I’ve noticed that it’s a bit harder for me to pull of some of the freestyle tricks I could perform previously without much fuss when my fitness level was better. This then has raised a rather strange question, is fitness really important to perform freestyle football tricks. Well, I think certain soccer tricks do require a strong and flexible ankle, knee or hip. For example, to pull off the so called ‘Around the World’ soccer trick, I felt that it actually puts some strain on my hip and without a strong flexible hip, mind you, warming up is just as important, it was quite tedious to perform the trick.

After monitoring my partner’s progress in practicing Ronaldinho’s famous flip-flap, it also came to my mind that the soccer trick requires a quick and flexible ankle with some delicate touches involved, does this require us to actually work out and train our ankle so it reaches a level that’s fit enough for this trick? Well, on most videos of famous freestyle players, I had noticed that almost all of them are quite fit, with really strong calves and flexible joints, it’s not just about being thin, but also being strong I guess.

I’d also like to emphasize on the importance of warming up, before starting a freestyle session. Since from my personal experience, by not warming up, it’s much harder to pull of soccer tricks and sometimes it can do more harm to your muscles. I had noticed once where my ligaments (or tendon, I’m not sure) were twitching each time I bent and twisted my knee to kick up and juggle. Me and my colleague believe that the easiest and most ideal way to warm up for freestyle is by doing a 2-3 minute light jog, then some stretching and a little light juggling. Mind you, this is just for a short and light freestyle trick session, not for a full soccer game. As for now, it’s over and out, I’ll try updating again once my soccer fitness level is much better to see if there is a large noticeable difference.

Watch Us Play Soccer

Watch Us Play Soccer

Freestyle Soccer: Is Performing Soccer Tricks Worthwhile in a Football Match?

This question raised curiosity because people are still confused with it. Freestyler's ability to perform various combination of complex sequences of juggling and dribbling (ground) techniques makes them exciting to watch whether on the streets or through media such as internet. Nike launched freestyle campaign in the early 21st century through advertising and promoting competitions throughout the world enabling people to see the likes of Ronaldinho, Edgar Davids, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Francessco Totti, Ronaldo and others. But can freestyle football become practical to the "real" football game ?

Freestyle Soccer Benefits
Juggling and dribbling techniques is the process to improve coordination, balancing and ball control. Mastering a complex set of juggling trick requires time, dedication and patience to become an exciting freestyler. Freestyle football allows individual to express their creativity on inventing new soccer tricks either on juggling or dribbling skills.

There are many dribbling tricks like the step-over that can be learned and practise. Each trick has different levels of difficulty varying from beginners to advance. Choosing and performing the right trick during a football match can be a crucial strategy. Applying these tricks require good timing and execution. Execute it perfectly and you'll gain valuable seconds or create space for your teammates in tight situations. But make a mistake and you'll allow your opposition to crawl back to their positions or you'll lose the ball thus allowing them to hit on a counter attack.

Top professional football players such as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo may have many tricks in the bag. But they only master or specialize one trick in a match known as their "trademark" trick like the famous 360-roulette, flip-flap and dummy are there to be seen.

The Downside of Freestyle Soccer
Freestyle footballer has tremendous technical ability especially ball control but may lack in other attributes that are required during a football match.

Attributes are spread into three categories:

1. Physical
Many leagues especially in Europe require football players to meet the in-game physical demand such as stamina, strength, balance, agility, pace, speed, acceleration and jumping

2. Mental
Aggression, anticipation, bravery, creativity, decision making, determination, flair, influence, off the ball, positioning, team work and work rate

3. Technical
Ball control (technique), crossing, dribbling, finishing (shooting), heading, long shots, long throws, marking, passing, taking penalties, set pieces (free kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins) and tackling

Of course when you're involved in a football training or match, some coaches may discourage you from doing tricks on the pitch. Instead they focus on other factors like team spirit, team movement and tactical battle which in my opinion necessary to win a match.

Is All About Playing "Beautiful" Football
But who wouldn't want to see top football players displaying their brilliance on the pitch. The "beautiful game" is more about football teams winning with style rather than scrapping for victories. After all, the modern game is more about entertaining the football fans than just winning at all cost. Sadly, some teams still adopt this unhealthy mindset. Never-the-less, being able to pull-off a trick and out-manouvering your opponent is the best feeling in the world. Finally, let's raised the "beautiful game" to another level.

I would leave this article with a quote to ponder on:

"Ronaldinho is technically very good, but also very strong physically. He was against three players and I could not stop him. After that goal everything ended for us" John Terry

Still Searching for a New 5 Aside Soccer Turf Shoe

At the moment, I find it difficult to choose the best soccer turf shoe in the market, for 5 aside soccer or football de sala (futsal).

Recently I found out that Nike has just launched one of their latest soccer shoes including soccer turf shoe and indoor soccer shoe.

I’ve used the previous version of Nike’s soccer turf shoe, the Nike Secutor II, for both futsal and indoor soccer. The Nike Secutor II was great, comfortable and easy to juggle and dribble with the ball, as expected from Nike. But it’s getting worn out, as I’ve been using it since June 2004 and instead of finding a repair shoe shop, I’d rather search for a new shoe.

Out came the Nike Five-a-Side soccer turf shoe. The latest Air Zoom Control series. As I’ve said, I haven’t tried it yet, but consider buying it in the future. The soccer turf shoe comes in both set of colors; light blue and black.


(Picture taken from: Pro Direct Soccer)

As far as I know, the soccer turf shoe is quite similar to the previous versions but with added features on ball touches and on the sole of the shoe. You can find out more at Nike Five-a-Side.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned, as I will hopefully write a comprehensive review on one of the soccer turf shoe, as I’m still figuring out the right ones to wear. What do you guys think of the shoe? Any suggestions, comments or other decent brands that you can recommend, feel free to do so.