When was the last time you watched a soccer game and thought, “I've never seen anything like that before''?
Last Sunday, Manchester City's first team prepared for Arsenal's visit to the Etihad, while City's Under-17s took part in the annual youth tournament hosted by Dutch club Ajax last Saturday. He was participating in the Future Cup and was my opponent.
At the Etihad Stadium, there was little room for unpredictability or instant brilliance as Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta kept their teams under close watch as they locked into a 0-0 stalemate, talkSPORT Radio host Jeff called it “one of the worst games of the season.” Stelling. Only if you have never watched a football game before will you be able to walk away from it inspired by something new and unique.
Fortunately for us, in Amsterdam, City youngster David Chigwada was freed from the creative shackles that many expected him to be as the Premier League title decider.
In the 33rd minute, with City leading Ajax 1-0, Chigwada chased the ball towards the left touchline with his back to the goal. With no players in City shirts in sight and Ajax defenders hounding him, the 16-year-old's options were limited. Hold the ball in the corner and wait for reinforcements. Hook a pass from the side to a teammate 20 yards back near the halfway line. Or you can create a magical moment where you lose your opponent and rush towards your goal.
He chose the latter. Let’s break it down…
Oh, just hit me without saying anything… 👀🥜#FutureCup pic.twitter.com/1RNMIRlXiB
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) March 30, 2024
The England youth international took a quick look back and realized he didn't like his options. He then shapes up to play a pass in that direction, inducing his weight to drop slightly towards his left foot with his marker upright. This leaves defenders with his legs wide open, opening the way for a goal if Chigwada can make a sharp and clever turn.
A yard out to his marker, he shapes the ball away from goal and appears to be moving away from danger.
But importantly, he begins this maneuver while lifting his standing left leg off the ground and behind his right leg. Rather than letting the ball roll away from goal, making the 'Cruyff turn' made famous by Ajax legend Johan Cruyff, Chigwada turned the ball with his right foot to the left while pulling the marker towards him by the shirt. Backheel to.
Then, in a stroke of genius, he spun around with the outside of his left foot to knock the Ajax defender away. The backspin on the ball means that when he catches up to it, the ball is almost stationary.
The momentum of his body pushes him backwards and takes the defender in that direction, but he uses his left foot to shake off the opponent, recover the ball, and show great power as he breaks through toward the goal.
To the defender's credit, he caught up with Chigwada and helped nullify City's attack.
ESPN's first reply to a tweet of a clip of the Dutch move, translated into English, reads, “If I had done that move, my cruciate ligaments would be behind the sign.”
We asked some experts for their opinions.
“What stands out to me is the freedom and individuality to try something like that,” said Harry Brooks, director of RH Football, a football coaching, coaching and analysis company for academy players. “If you ask any football player to do that skill in isolation, they'll be able to do it. Technically it's not that difficult. But doing it in the moment, doing it on the spot. The instinct to make it happen is what’s so impressive to me.”
It felt fitting that this turn would reach the next stage of his evolution on the grounds of Ajax's academy, where Cruyff rose from a prodigious talent to one of the greatest players in football history. Although he later said he did not practice any “tricks”, in his view Cruyff's turns were intuitive and natural, from Cruyff to Dennis Bergkamp to Frenkie de Jong. It has been a breeding ground for generations of technically gifted Dutch talent.
“I never did a trick in training or in my free time,'' Cruyff said, recalling his trick against Sweden at the 1974 World Cup. “I saw something, I tried it and it worked. I had an opponent there, so I had to outdo him, but (Cruyff's turn) was the easiest way. Ta.”
Whether the same applies to “Chigwada Spin” and “Chigwada Chop” is not clear yet, although better suggestions are welcome in the comments section. Still, given the complexity of the three-part movement, it would be fair to conclude that there was something more deliberate in the process of this case. Chigwada may have taken inspiration from Yannick Bolasie, one of the Premier League's most maverick tricksters and entertainers of the past decade.
“Two things stand out about that skill set,” said Rickie Lee Griffith, a free agent coach and analyst. “Firstly, how fast he moves his body to turn in the opposite direction, and secondly how fast he moves his feet. It reminds me of Bolasie when he was at Crystal Palace. He ends up being forced into a corner. But he was able to move his feet so fast that the defenders didn't have a chance.”
In December 2014, Bolasie debuted his self-titled 'Bolasie Flick' for Palace against Tottenham Hotspur. On his half-turn on the touchline, he dragged the ball from his right foot to his left and flicked it over Christian Eriksen. At waist level.
🌪Bola Sea Flick🌪
Although it is a skill of 10 years, #Palace10YearMoment?
You decide 👉 https://t.co/uZRgqC5qnI #CPFC pic.twitter.com/ypbBsIQypH
— Crystal Palace FC (@CPFC) December 19, 2019
“Sometimes you have guys who step outside the box, and you have coaches who allow you to do that,” Brooks said. “I would like to think that was Bolasie's experience and that's what happened here as well. Now, coaches are asking players to try things in certain areas and stick to certain roles, so these Skills aren't always the most natural and free-flowing, which can hurt a player's ability to build ingenuity.
“Even at a youth level, you don't always have that kind of freedom. But sometimes you get a personality that goes beyond that.”
Bolasie later claimed that he first demonstrated this trick in his junior high school playground and was encouraged to use it in the Premier League by a former classmate.
Chigwada, who joined City from Blackburn Rovers in 2022 and is still at school, was asked to recreate the trick by his friends during this week's five-a-side Jumpers for Goalposts match. Must. I hope he continues to be encouraged to perform those playground tricks on the pitch as he progresses through the ranks of academy football.
