Skills / Beating a player

The double touch

Shift the ball sideways from one foot to the other, faster than a defender can reach it.

Defender L R 20 cm
  • Foot on the ball
  • Ball's path

From about age 8

When to use it

When a defender commits to a tackle, or to slip between two players.

Get it right

  • Touch the ball across your body with the inside of one foot.
  • Catch it with the inside of the other foot and push it forward in one movement.
  • The ball should travel only about a metre across.
  • Time it for when the defender reaches in.

Watch out for

  • Moving the ball too far sideways, so it's easy to follow.
  • Two separate touches with a pause between them.

Drawn for the right foot. Learn it on your weaker foot too: it doubles the number of ways you can go.

More beating a player: The step-over, The body feint.

In a match

Practising a skill is half of it. Here is when it turns up in a game, and what to look for.

Where
Midfield and in the box, in tight spaces.
The moment
A defender commits to a tackle in front of you.
Match mistake
Going too early, before the defender has committed.

Try it in your next match. Let a defender lunge, then double-touch past them.

Match moments where it counts: We have just lost it · A winger runs at you

Practise it

Drills where you will use this skill again and again.