Lost art of the chip in football

Daniel Sturridge’s delightful chip against West Brom stood out as one of the most beautiful goals in recent weeks.

Luis Suarez may have netted his first Anfield hat-trick against West Brom this weekend, but the most beautiful goal of the game was scored by the other half of Liverpool’s strike partnership, Daniel Sturridge. Shrugging off the attentions of Youssouf Mulumbu, he glanced up for a spilt second to catch the goalkeeper marginally off his line and produced a delightful, inch-perfect chipped finish from 25 yards right into the corner of Boaz Myhill’s net. Having displayed his pace, trickery and power on numerous occasions this season, he scored a goal of extraordinary skill, control and, above all, supreme confidence in his ability.

Barely two hours later, Alexis Sanchez repeated Sturridge’s feat on a much bigger stage to seal all three points for Barcelona and lay down an early marker for Tata Martino against fellow new boss Carlo Ancelotti. Latching onto a through pass from Neymar, Alexis first cut inside Raphael Varane and then brought it into his right foot to lob the towering Diego Lopez from a similar sort of distance, though Lopez being much further forward than Myhill and the better angle made it a relatively easier finish than that of Sturridge.

Any highlights package or YouTube compilation of the best goals of a year, season, player or team can usually be split into some typical categories of spectacular goals. The first, and overwhelmingly the most common, is the long-range screamer. Contenders this season would be Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s third goal against Anderlecht or Pajtim Fasami’s outrageous chest control and volley. The second kind is the solo run or mazy dribble leaving confounded defenders in the striker’s wake. Aaron Ramsey against Norwich and Edinson Cavani against Bastia come to mind. Third come the freekicks, whether curled round the wall, dipping under the crossbar or simply hammered with extreme power. And the fourth kind is the team goal, such as Jack Wilshere’s exquisitely crafted gem that consisted of seven gorgeous first-touch passes in two seconds around a stunned, static, helpless Norwich defence.

And then there is the chip. It lacks the power of a long range strike, the technique of a volley, the close control of a solo goal, the accuracy of a freekick and the vision of a tiki-taka team goal. But as a statement of style, it stands alone. It is the mark of the confidence of the striker who attempts it that sets it apart. Any striker who has misplaced his shooting boots may put his laces through the ball or wrap his foot around it to score spectacularly, but only one at the top of his game, scoring for fun and oozing self-belief will attempt to lob the keeper, for an unsuccessful attempt can end up making him look silly.

Typically attempted in a one-on-one situation with the keeper, a well-executed chip simply removes the keeper from the equation. Much like the nutmeg, it can embarrass the keeper and end up playing on his nerves. In certain situations, it can be a cruel way to score, particularly if it gives the last defender a bit of hope that he can hook the ball away, before both the ball and the man find themselves entangled in the net. It adds an element of suspense whether it is on target and whether the last defender will get there. That two-second gap in which the striker is waiting before he can wheel away in celebration, the defender is bursting a lung to make a last-ditch effort, the crowd is on the verge of exploding and the commentator is going berserk, stretches for an eternity, and as far as providing on-field drama goes, is unmatched.

Relative to the various other ways one can score a brilliant goal, the chip has today become a rarity. Yet, once upon a time it was not so. Footage from the 70s and 80s is far more replete with chipped finishes as compared to the goals scored in today’s game. What has changed over the years, taking such a beautiful art away from the game?

The blame can perhaps be laid at the doorstep of the light plastic footballs used today. Traditionally, football was played with leather balls heavier than the ones used today, but over the last 20 to 30 years footballs have become increasingly synthetic and, as a consequence, lighter. This has resulted in a game faster than before, but the lighter balls compromise control for speed and excitement. As a result, it is that much more difficult to bring a ball up over the keeper and down in time and that much easier to plant it in the crowd behind the goal in trying to do so. This has also affected freekick-taking techniques, with fewer players wrapping their foot around the ball and increasingly more players simply blasting it goalwards a la Ronaldo or Bale, relying on the unpredictability of the light ball to unsettle the keeper.

A few players, such as ex-Arsenal and current Real Sociedad forward Carlos Vela, display the propensity to chip the goalkeeper more than others do, but on the whole the chipped goal today remains very rare. Which is sad indeed, because, for me, the chipped finish is one of the most beautiful sights in football.