- Joined
- May 2, 2019
- Messages
- 831
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- Florentina
Zidane never did an elastico. Does this mean he was never as skilled as Rivelino, Thiago Alcanara, Raphinha or Antony?
Messi doesn't use the typical Brazillian skill moves like elasticos, pedaladas, rabonas, etc., that's true, but these are just a different type of skills. Messi e. g. uses la croqueta very often and most importantly he is a master of the gambetta dribble. Your classification just doesn't make sense. What you're talking about is actually style of execution, not skill. There are more spectacular skills as well as more subtle ones. But they're skills anyway. In essence, skills just mean ability and if Messi wasn't one of the most skilled players every, yoi'd see more people pulling the stuff of he pulls off.
I also strongly disagree with the idea of not distinguishing between skill and technique. The actual movement of an elastico is actually very easy to learn. It is nothing difficult by any means. What's really underrated int erms of dribbling is to recognize the right opportunity, have the anticipation and awareness to see and exploit small openings in the opponent's posture or his foot work, etc. as well as always being aware of your surroundings, how quickly you can process information, etc.:
This stuff is so underrated. You probably can find footballers who are as skillful as Ronalinho quite easily. Many street footballers are probably even far better than him. But they are nowhere near him because they lack the cognitive skills.
A good example is Falcao (the futsal legend) Based on the shall we call it “elastico” criteria, that dude is probably the GOAT of futsal AND football