I am a firm believer in first time touches on the ball. For those that don’t understand, I am talking about hitting the ball as it comes to you without any additional touches to get the ball under control. This may be a first time pass or having a shot at goal while the ball is rolling out of your control. Striking the ball first time can be the perfect sneak attack on any goal keeper or any defender for that matter. So let’s have a look at the two different types of first touch plays that could be used on the field. The pass and the shot, as I mentioned above.

First Time Shot On Goal

I have to go with Wayne Rooney’s goal that I covered the other day which was about the goal that I scored a weekend ago. This is just a great example of having a shot at goal with the first touch. The fact that Dida didn’t see the shot coming was the beautiful part about the goal and illustrates my point convincingly. The only thing that you need to weary of here is the opportunities you take to have first time shots. Understand that there are times and places for these wild strikes at goal, so be aware more than anything of the goal keeper, the ball which isn’t under your control and the defender who is on you. The goal by Rooney can be found below.

First Time Passes

Anything better than a shot on goal is the passes that lead up to a goal and I can’t go past the recent goal that was scored by Drogba of Chelsea in the F.A Cup Final against Manchester United. This goal came about in the 2nd set of extra time. What I need you to see here is that the goal here is not important, but rather the one-two passes that lead up to the goal. In particular Frank Lampard’s mid-air pass to Drogba. This is purely great football to watch and I personally love the pass more than the goal in all honesty. Not to mention the flick from Drogba to Lampard. Here is this goal and the lead up. Pure magic.

One Of The Hardest Things To Master

The use of first time touches is truly a very hard thing to do, accurately and with enough power. The best in the game still get first time touches on the ball wrong. But rarely. You need to practice this skill a lot because it will help you towards your journey to being a great footballer like Ronaldinho. I want to stress again the importance of practicing your first time touches on the ball because it becomes a great skill to possess in the future, your game will flourish and you will feel great when you team mate scores a goal off a great first time touch from you.