‘Rei do drible'
Not exactly something you'd tell the leggy blonde at the bar unless you were absolutely certain that she was a football fan.
However, as a football fan (not a leggy blonde unfortunately), I am delighted to hear this about Victory's latest signing, that he can dribble until the cows come home. It's a skill that is largely devoid in this humble little league of ours, a skill which is so basic that many players, at least in the A-League, feel they don't need to master.
This is despite the fact that some of the modern greats in the form of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Ryan Giggs have wowed us over the years with their sublime dribbling skills. It is one thing I have lamented over the years of the A-League, and that is the incredible lack of close ball skills players possess. Not since season 3 have I seen any close ball control and dribbling skills close to what is expected at this level:
Not only is the goal spectacular, but as you watch him hare down the field, you see the ball is never more than half a metre in front of him. Many a time have I seen an A-League attack by a player falter by either booting the ball too far in front of him, leaving the ball behind or even stepping on the bloody ball. The game quickly degenerates into a long ball fest because players aren't confident in their own team mates ability to be able to hold on to the ball.
Some of you might be asking:
‘So what if he can dribble? He's a striker, he's supposed to SCORE GOALS!'
A valid point, and one I pondered before sitting down to write this.
As I was pondering the great dribblers of the modern era, I noticed another thing about them: They score goals, lots of them.
Which leads me to the conclusion that having Ricardinho join the club without a mountain of goals beside his name is not such a bad thing. The thing about being able to control the ball on a string with your feet is the fact that whenever you're in and around the box, you'll ALWAYS have an opportunity to pull the trigger and fire a shot at goal. You can't do that if the ball is 3 metres in front of you, or if you're trying to rope in a long ball. With the ball at his feet, he should be able to fire more shots at goal than any other player in the league, simply because he has given himself the opportunity to do so.
Some of my esteemed colleagues wished for a goalmouth predator. I would have had no problems if we had signed one. However, I don't think this signing is as bad as people make it out to be, at least on a performance level. As for whether he is marquee material, well, only time will tell. Until then...
Welcome to the family Ricardinho.
