The Rabona a.k.a "crossed-kick"
Call it rabona or crossed kick, this is one soccer trick that can look very impressive when done right. Recently, i came across news on the net that a 19 year old Peruvian playing for IFK Gothenburg in Sweden scored a goal using this soccer trick. More impressive is the fact that it was his first league goal and done while under pressure from a defender at the edge of the penalty box. In 2005, Dave De Jong scored using a similar trick when playing for German side Osnabruck, although it was less spectacular. Some say it was fluke and some say it was pure genius, all in all this has pushed me to write an article about the trick itself and how to do it, while practicing it myself.
The trick was first "invented" by Giovanni Roccotelli who played for Italian club side Ascoli in the 1970's. During the early days, it was just known as the "crossed-kick". Only recently has been referred to as the "Rabona" which is actually a tango dance move which looks similar when performed. Lately players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Joe Cole, Ricardo Quaresma & Roberto Baggio are known to have executed the trick successfully during a match.
Call it rabona or crossed kick, this is one soccer trick that can look very impressive when done right. Recently, i came across news on the net that a 19 year old Peruvian playing for IFK Gothenburg in Sweden scored a goal using this soccer trick. More impressive is the fact that it was his first league goal and done while under pressure from a defender at the edge of the penalty box. In 2005, Dave De Jong scored using a similar trick when playing for German side Osnabruck, although it was less spectacular. Some say it was fluke and some say it was pure genius, all in all this has pushed me to write an article about the trick itself and how to do it, while practicing it myself.
The trick was first "invented" by Giovanni Roccotelli who played for Italian club side Ascoli in the 1970's. During the early days, it was just known as the "crossed-kick". Only recently has been referred to as the "Rabona" which is actually a tango dance move which looks similar when performed. Lately players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Joe Cole, Ricardo Quaresma & Roberto Baggio are known to have executed the trick successfully during a match.
(picture showing Giovanni Roccotelli doing a rabona; picture from football.guardian.co.uk)
(Video showing Andres Vasquez scoring an amazing goal using the 'rabona' ; video from youtube)
The Rabona can be executed by a player when passing, crossing or shooting during a game. But in my opinion, I do think that it is easiest to perform this trick when taking a shot as you wouldn't have to be too accurate. It can also be done by a left footed player who wants to cross from the right side to the left/center without having to stop and turn inside to use his left foot. The same scenario applies for a right footed player who is on the left wing.
The Rabona can be executed by a player when passing, crossing or shooting during a game. But in my opinion, I do think that it is easiest to perform this trick when taking a shot as you wouldn't have to be too accurate. It can also be done by a left footed player who wants to cross from the right side to the left/center without having to stop and turn inside to use his left foot. The same scenario applies for a right footed player who is on the left wing.
This trick is performed by moving the kicking foot behind the standing/supporting foot. When done correctly, the players legs would crossed one behind another when he hits the ball. There a few variations of this, which all depends on the objective of the player, whether he is shooting, passing or crossing the ball. Well, this wraps my introduction for this audacious soccer trick. I will be doing a step by step guide with pictures on how to pull off this trick in the next article. Do check out the pictures and videos for now. In the next post i will try my best to do a step by step guide on how to do ( or improve) a rabona.
Picture showing Diego Maradona attempting a rabona, while playing for Newell's Old Boys ( picture from vivadiego.com)
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