Soccer Skills

Are you looking to improve your soccer skills and get a stronger team?

This book is the answer to your questions.



Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. In the Summer of 2018 the latest World Cup Finals take place in Russia, with some of the best (and, perhaps, luckiest) teams in the world participating. The competition will see teams divided into mini leagues, based on their world rankings and a draw. The top two teams from each group go forward to the knock out stages.



The best two will compete the final. There is a more than reasonable bet that existing champions 

Germany will once again lift the trophy, although Brazil, Argentina, Spain and France will all fancy their chances. The Belgians have the team of a life time, and could triumph, while the likes of Saudi Arabia and Panama should make the most of their time in Eastern Europe – it will probably be short lived. As for Russia itself, the lowest ranked side in the competition, well, who knows? Home advantage can count for a lot.



This short focus on the World Cup is of great relevance to the book that follows. Consider the team below:



Goalkeepers: Jan Oblak, stalwart of the Spanish giants Athletico Madrid – a team whose recent success in challenging the established giants of La Liga, Real Madrid and Barcelona, has been built on gritty, defiant defending; Gianluigi Buffon, legendary player between the posts. 

Defenders: David Alaba, kingpin of Bayern Munich; Antonio Valencia, rampaging wing back of Manchester United and Virgil van Dijk, the most highly rated defender in England’s Premier League, just transferred for a record (for a defender) fee approaching $100 million, Giorgio Chiellini, tough, no nonsense centre back with more than a touch of skill.

Midfielders: Christian Pulisic, Borussio Dortmand’s well regarded midfielder; Arjen Robben, the Bayern Munich and former Chelsea wizard of the wing; Daniele De Rossi, a central defensive midfielder who would walk into any team in the world.

Attackers: Alexi Sanchez, at the time of writing, European powerhouse Arsenal’s outstanding player; Gareth Bale, the Real Madrid attacking maestro; Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, one of the most promising strikers on the planet.



Those of you with good football knowledge will spot that these great players, along with many more, are some of the giants of the game who will not feature in the World Cup Finals, other than perhaps in the commentary box, pundit’s chair or newspaper columns of June 2018.

How can this be? How can such individuals not represent their countries on the biggest stage of all?

The answer, as we know, is that soccer is team game, where the collective talents of the players outweigh the individual skills of the maestro. The great sides do, naturally, incorporate such talents within their squad, but it is so often th...