As a rule almost in soccer, especially for wingers or outside midfielders, when you have the opportunity and are open, swing the ball in for a cross. Besides finding your intended target with the cross, and them scoring, you never know what else could happen. The soccer ball could take a deflection and go in off the other team and into the goal or get flicked on to a teammate who can then take a shot. A good whipped in cross always causes trouble for the opposing team.
If you’re out wide, try crossing the ball right when you get it. Do this the next two or three times you get the soccer ball. Then, when the defense is anticipating you to cross the ball again, that’s when you take the player on the dribble, beat them down the line, and cut the ball back to a teammate. Of course, you can always go right towards the goal and take a shot yourself if the opening is there.
The idea with crossing the ball on a regular basis is to make the defense think you’re always going to serve the ball into the box, and then that one time you cut by them and go at goal. It’s also helpful to your teammates who are making runs. If they know you’re going to cross the ball when you’re open out wide they can time there runs accordingly.
Need an example of how to cross the soccer ball? There is no better crosser of the ball than David Beckham, just mimic what he does when crossing the ball. Yeah, I know that’s easier said than done. See how Beckham puts the ball in with pace, so all the attacker has to do his redirect the ball on goal. That’s what you want to do when you cross the ball. No lofted balls when you cross it – whip the ball in at speed.
In this video, we go over how to cross a soccer ball like Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in the EPL and Belgium! KBD is one of the free kick takers, deliverers, and cross taking players in the world. So we take a look at his technique and how to practice it.