"Every disadvantage has got it's advantage." J. Cruyff
As with all other tactics, the soccer free kick requires constant training. To become a good free kick taker you will need a lot of practice. But when you master the art of free kicking your team will have an great advantage on your opponents.
Usually, a direct free kick, whether it is an indirect or direct free kick is often taken in front of you opponents 18 yard (penalty) area. Just to mention, an indirect free kick may be taken inside the penalty kick area but this type of situation is uncommon.
Properly performed free kick
Taking a soccer free kick will require certain cunning from you. If you team is awarded with a free kick on the left side of your opponents penalty area, then the best option is to take the free kick with your right foot. And if you are taking a free kick from the right side, your left foot will be the best option.
Just before kicking the ball take a look at the position of your opponent’s wall and goalkeeper. Check whether some of the players in the wall are shorter than others. This will give you opportunity to send the ball over his/her head. It is therefore a good practice to always check for weakness in your opponent’s defense.
How to practice on your free kick by yourself
Check also if there is a wind and in which direction it is blowing. To find out which direction the wind is blowing you could just take a look at the corner flags. You need to know also whether the referee is going to blow the whistle before you take the free kick. This because in some countries the referee will just waves you on with his/her hand.
If this is the case, you could take the free kick quickly before your opponent’s goalkeeper understand what is going on. I have scored few goals on this way and all goalkeepers were standing on the goal line and wondering how they could be so stupid, hi hi :-)
Try also to figure out how difficult the angle will be if you plan to send the ball straight over the top of the wall. Make also sure it doesn’t go over the crossbar as well. You need to do this because you will usually not have so much space for the ball to fly over the wall and past the goalkeeper into the net.
When taking a soccer free kick you should normally prefer to curve the ball. This because even thought it hasn’t so much force the chances to get the ball over wall are pretty good. Remember that a free kick will often decide the result of a game. You should therefore try to practice on it regularly. Keep in mind to practice and the results will come. Good Luck
