The weather’s growing colder and the winter’s first snow storm is imminent, but that doesn’t mean your soccer game has to go into hibernation too. These indoor soccer tricks and skills are guaranteed to humiliate your opponents and drive your game to the next level.
Indoor soccer provides players with an opportunity to work on their close control, to try tricks and skills that would normally land you a spot on the bench and to focus on scoring the golazo of your dreams.
Now is not the winter of our discontent. Now is the time to play beautiful, my friends.
Indoor Soccer Skills And Tricks To Rule The Field
1. The Drag Back (a.k.a. "V-Drag")
The most basic and effective move in indoor soccer is the drag back. Whether it’s being used to provide yourself with a new angle on available passing lanes or to gain a bit of separation from your opponent, mastery of the drag back is a must for close control.
By rolling the ball under your foot and bringing it closer to yourself, you're protecting possesion and altering the landscape in front of you.
Players like Xavi Hernandez are consistently using this move to adjust their passing options. A quickly executed drag back will give you a different visual angle on the action.
Photo: @Nd_ndumiso | Twitter
As Xavi told FourFourTwo, ”If I’m under pressure, I’m looking to play with one or two touches, or control the ball in such a way that my marker can’t intercept it. Basically, I’m looking to earn myself a few meters of space.”
The drag back can also be performed right as your opponent thinks they have a legitimate chance of taking the ball off you. As soon as the challenge comes in, you can quickly drag the ball away from their tackling foot, leaving them off balance and subsequently in your wake.
The drag back in action:
Learn the V-Drag here with our step-by-step video.
2. The Cruyff Turn
The Cruyff turn is simple, elegant and the quickest way out of an ill-positioned jam. Essentially, it’s soccer’s version of a Get Out of Jail Free card.
The Cruyff turn in action:
Best used near the sidelines or while trapped in the corner with a marker that’s playing you too tight, the Cruyff turn mixes a fake pass/shot with a quick turn.
When executed correctly, this move should see your defender lunging one way while you take off in the completely opposite direction.
Learn the Cruyff turn here with our step-by-step video.
3. The Roulette (a.k.a. "Zidane Turn")
In indoor soccer, errant passes lead to a situation where you’re arriving a fraction of a moment before your opponent. If your opponent is sprinting after the ball, but you’re going to get there first, the roulette provides you with an opportunity to spin by your defender and then continue forward unharassed.
Photo: @si_soccer | Twitter
With the subtle sensuality of a ballerina, this move looks absolutely glorious to all onlooking spectators. The defender's only option at this point is to flail wildly in your direction, trying to grab a hold of where your shirt once was.
The Zidane turn in action:
4. The Nutmeg (a.k.a. Panna)
Photo: @thefutboladdict | Twitter
Nutmeg, meg, panna or tunnel – whatever you call it, it’s the ultimate humiliation for a defender.
Executed in a variety of different ways, this skill always ends with the ball rolling through the defender's legs, leaving them horrified and falling over backwards while you carry on to retrieve it like the game’s ultimate boss.
This move is best used in abundance.
The nutmeg in action:
5. The Akka 3000
The most difficult move on the list, this trick is a mixture of pure skill and showmanship. Invented by Dutch street legend Issy "Hitman" Hamdaoui, who is featured in the FIFA Street game, the Akka 3000 requires a touch of genius.
How to perform an Akka 3000:
In a single fluid motion, you must flick the ball up to waist height, and touch and roll the ball down your opposite calf before finally flicking the ball with your foot. It’s simultaneously disorienting, mesmerizing and lethal.
The final result of this skill could be a shot, a pass or a way to play the ball behind your marker before chasing after it yourself.
The Akka 3000 in action:
Now get some friends together, hit the court and practice these indoor soccer tricks and skills until you're ready to pull them off in a game.
Want More? Check Out Our Video Training Series.
We've designed a series of videos to teach you the critical skills you need to play like your heros. Skills you'll learn include:
The Maradona
Behind Foot Flick