2010 Soccer MVP: Inside-of-the-Foot … Structure

Author\’s Note: This post is one in a series of posts that breaks down the 2010 Soccer MVP Tournament competition. Be sure to look at the final results to review how \’Inside\’ was crowned champion.

The first discipline that the four main parts-of-the-feet were evaluated on was its structure. Specifically I looked at the flatness of the surface as well as the forgiveness level. The forgiveness level is how forgiving a surface is when the ball does not make contact with each surfaces\’ respective sweet spots when trying to receive, pass, or shoot the ball. \’Bottom\’ was crowned the \’Structure\’ winner with \’Inside\’ coming in a close second (see table below).

Flatness

Imagine playing billiards with cushions (bumpers) that were not flat/straight. You would have little idea how the balls would ricochet off the cushions.  However, since they are straight, you will always know how a ball will behave coming off a bumper (unless the ball has spin or English on it).

The same principle carries over to soccer. The flatter the surface, the easier it is to control a soccer ball. A flat surface eliminates a lot of unpredictability in terms of how a ball will respond when it is received, passed, or shot.

With that in mind, \’Bottom\’ won the \’Flatness\’ secondary discipline, \’Inside\’ and \’Laces\’ tied for second, and \’Outside\’ came in last (for this discipline, I measured flatness of the foot with the shoe on.)

• Despite the studs/cleats, the undercarriage of a shoe is flat across the entire length of the shoe (represented by the lime green line in image \’A\’).
• The flat surface of the inside-of-the-foot extends the full length of the foot\’s arch, from the ball of the foot in front to the heel in back (represented by the blue lines in images \’A\’ and \’B\’). Note that this surface is slightly concave (it is more pronounced in image \’A\’). As it turns out, a concave structure has a significant advantage in controlling a soccer ball. Concave shapes have a way of drawing a ball in for better control. Some examples of concave shapes that are very effective are the position of a football receiver\’s or soccer goalie\’s hands when catching or receiving a ball. The shape of a baseball glove is also concave. In my Loopball curriculum, I like to refer to the inside-of-the-foot as a glove, especially with younger players.
• The top-of-the-foot is also relatively flat. While it appears to be slightly concave (represented by the purple line in image \’C\’), the top of the bare foot is relatively flat). \’Inside\’ and Laces\’ tied for second because \’Inside\’ had a slightly longer surface area but \’Laces\’ was straighter.

• The opposite is true for \’Outside\’. Its shape is more convex (as shown by the yellow lines in images \’A\’ and \’B\’). This makes controlling a ball much more difficult.

Forgiveness

Everyone has heard of hand-eye coordination. A vast majority of sports as well as simple daily activities require and develop this coordination. Soccer, on the other hand, requires good eye-foot coordination. Since this is a skill that is extremely difficult to develop and there is not much opportunity to develop this skill other than on a soccer field, there is much value when a surface has a lot natural \’forgiveness\’ built into its structure. Each foot surface has a natural sweet spot. I measured forgiveness by the additional area around the sweet spot where ball control can still be achieved with some degree of success.

In this discipline, \’Bottom\’ and \’Inside\’ tied for first. \’Laces\’ came in a respectable third and \’Outside\’ a distant fourth.

• The sweet spot for the bottom-of-the-foot is in the front-center portion of the foot (dark red spot in \’image \’A\’). Its forgiveness area radiates out to the edges of the foot and down to the heel (red transparent area in image \’A\’).
• There is a protrusion of the talus (ankle) bone near the top of the arch (red spot in image \’C\’). That is the main sweet spot for the inside-of-the-foot (red transparent area in image \’C\’). The forgiveness area is not quite as large as the bottom area. However, \’Inside\’ has a secondary sweet in the front of the foot (smaller red spot in image \’C\’). This spot is namely used for passing or shooting the ball with a curve (like \’Bend It Like Beckham\’). By virtue of this second sweet spot, \’Inside\’ earned a tie for first place.
• \’Laces\’ has a great sweet spot (red spot in image \’B\’) but its area of forgiveness is smaller.
• The sweet spot for \’Outside\’ (red spot in image \’D\’ below) is in the front of the foot. The area of forgiveness is the smallest of all the surfaces.

Conclusion

The \’Structure\’ competition was close but \’Bottom\’ pulled out a narrow victory.

The other disciplines evaluated in this competition were: receiving, dribbling, passing, shooting, popularity among professionals, and ease of learning.