Recently I wrote about the great Brazilian player Dunga. I explained how he was the one who delivered the masterful passes to Romano or Ronaldo in World Cup play. He was unseen by the world wide audience because the TV cameras were focused on the receiver of the pass and not on who delivered the beautiful pass.
Clocking Your Passes by Alan Maher
Recently I wrote about the great Brazilian player Dunga. I explained how he was the one who delivered the masterful passes to Romano or Ronaldo in World Cup play. He was unseen by the world wide audience because the TV cameras were focused on the receiver of the pass and not on who delivered the beautiful pass.
Dunga. (Varsity, about here print the face of a clock. No hands, just the face.) What did Dunga do and how did he do it?
Imagine the face of a clock. Dunga was at nine o’clock. From that position he could see across the field to the other side. He could see two o’clock, one o’clock and three o’clock. And they could see him.
As they ran ahead they could see him out of the corner of their eyes. With practice, the pass and run could be perfected. A pass to twelve o’clock could be one touched to one, two or three running ahead. Practice and timing will lead to perfection. Even four o’clock could run an overlap around three on the outside and receive the ball. With practice and timing will lead to perfection. So there are all kinds of options for the player at nine o’clock. Dunga. With his strong and accurate passes to the far side.
Now let us assume that Dunga played on the right side. At three o’clock. Now he has only problems. One and two o’clock are right in front of him. If they run away they must look over the shoulder to see the advance of the ball. Or they can turn their backs to the goal and face the ball and Dunga. What good is that? Really? It does not hasten penetration with the ball.
Or the player at four o’clock can run the overlap down the touch line in front of Dunga. Then what? Look over his shoulder? Run away from the ball? Draw a defender? No. The left side is better.
The great players of the game who pass well pass from the opposite side to the advancing player. Frank De Boer comes to mind. He is a left defender who runs forward and then delivers deadly passes to the right side of the field. My friend in Holland had Mario Been play for him. Mario was also on the back line and he delivered deadly passes to the right side of the field.
Go back to the clock. Look at the two positions. Nine o’clock and three o’clock. Who has better field vision bearing in mind that most attacks come from the right? You’ve got it. Nine o'clock...where Dunga played.
You can control the pace and flow of the game just like Dunga. Long live Dunga!
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