How To Become A Better Soccer Striker [Detail Explanation]

How can I be a better soccer striker?

If you want to be one of the best soccer strikers, you need to keep working at it. It’s not going to happen overnight and it doesn’t matter how much money or fame you have — no one is perfect.

A striker is a player on a team who is closest to the opposing goal and whose primary role is to score goals for the team. The name striker comes from the fact that this player is known for striking the ball in an attempt to score a goal.

But there are some basic things that can help improve your game and make the difference between being just another player on the pitch and becoming a great striker:

Important tips to become a soccer striker

• Learn The Fundamental First

All soccer strikers must first master the fundamental drills. Precision shots and innovative dribbling will follow eventually. You will not be able to perform these advanced moves if you have not mastered the fundamentals.

Without the ability to dribble and pass, players like Lionel Messi would struggle to weave in and out of defenders. Ronaldo would struggle to get the ball under the crossbar if he didn’t have a good shooting technique.

• Study The Game

Observing and watching football matches is an excellent way to improve, it’s like studying for a school exam. You must learn how the game works as a whole so that when you’re on the pitch, you know what to do. Take significant note of how the players move.

Remember that professionals do not always try to pass the ball straight at the opposing goal, but rather take their time controlling possession. Before moving forward, the players would frequently pass the ball sideways and backward in order to find a free player.

• Fuel Your Body

Look at professional soccer strikers and you’ll realize how in shape they are. Professional athletes aren’t in shape just because they practice, play, and run up and down the field.

Exercise and a nutritious diet regularly force your body to become more resilient and efficient. To be able to support your legs, you must train your entire body. While your legs do the majority of the work, a full-body workout can help you avoid injuries by exercising properly.

Strikers burn an average of 1500-3000 calories per football game. A well-balanced diet isn’t the only way to stay energetic during a game. It is also crucial for strength and aerobic fitness.

It is impossible to improve as a player unless you take care of your body and mind. A healthy diet will keep you energized and focused, as well as reduce your risk of injury.

READ ALSO | 10 Of The Greatest Attacking Trios Of All Time

• Be Creative

Strikers are often among the most creative and ingenious players on the field. We sometimes watch boring soccer matches where they just seem to pass the ball from one spot to another. The difference in those games is usually due to a striker’s willingness to try something completely different to change the game.

The vast majority of Brazilian players are extremely creative. Brazilian strikers typically outperform their opponents due to their creative genius. These players consistently spot opportunities that others do not. Besides that, they can devise plays that other players simply cannot implement.

• Play Smart

There is no denying that the best strikers are also smart. We are taught in school that only smart people get good grades. They do not recognize the existence of multiple intelligences or the importance of developing one before participating in a sport like a soccer.

In a real-life gaming situation, there will be multiple choices for action. Make the best decision for the team by thinking quickly and making an intelligent decision.

Intelligence, in my opinion, is something that develops over time. As you gain experience, train, and play more games, you will improve your skills.

• Be Fast

Being fast on your feet is always a good weapon; it decimates even the most powerful defenses. It’s the most essential part of a striker’s game. Every day, the beautiful game of football becomes faster and faster. Defensive players are no longer thought to be slow.

Footballers who are faster tend to stand out from the crowd. When used correctly, speed will give you an advantage unlike any other. Soccer is more than just running fast and shooting, contrary to popular belief. You must quickly change directions as well as your speed.

Players such as Kylian Mbappe, Mo Salah and Thierry Henry. Aside from speed, their skill is in knowing when and how to use speed.

• Self-Confidence

As a striker, you must be self-assured in order to succeed. A striker must be confident in his capabilities and know he can achieve great things, especially when finishing the play. Consciousness is the most valuable confidence-building tip.

The most important daily conversation you have is with yourself, and what you say to yourself matters more than you realize. Strikers who learn to support and motivate themselves will score more during difficult times, especially if everyone else does not.

• Be A Team Player & Don’t Hoard The Ball

The beautiful game is a team sport, the game cannot be played by a single player. As a striker, you must understand that your first priority is your team, not yourself. It’s even better if you can’t score goals but can contribute to the team’s success.

If you know your teammates are in a better position to score, pass the ball to them as soon as possible. Dribbling, for example, is completely useless on its own, but when combined with a well-timed pass, it can break down even the best defense.

Your teammates will stop passing the ball to you if you don’t pass it back. Your teammates will not give you the ball if you consistently miss shots or lose the ball on the run. Remember it’s a collective game that requires everyone’s effort, which implies there’s no special treatment for you and you cannot win on your own.

Make good passes and learn to let the ball go when the time comes. If you don’t hoard the ball and instead learn to pass, you’ll probably get it back more often.

• Expect Goal Drought

Even the greatest players in world football have periods of a goal drought. You are incapable of consistently scoring for your team. The striker’s job is to score goals, but you must sometimes wait your turn. It’s not uncommon for teammates to become desperate after failing to score a goal in one or two games, which is more harmful than beneficial.

Goals will come when you are at your best in every match and season. You will have bad games no matter how good you are, so don’t let that whelm you down.

• Know Your Best Foot

You probably have one relatively strong foot that you use for passing and shooting. To improve your skill, you must be able to control the ball with both feet. Being able to handle the ball with both feet increases your ability to pass, move, and score more.

Because many players prefer to play with their right foot, using your opposite foot will frequently confuse and deter an opponent.

• Plan, Practice 

It is critical to decide what you will work on before commencing any practice. If your tryouts are poorly run, your skills will not improve. There are far too many players who simply pass the ball around or dribble. The most effective strikers Identify their weaknesses and work to turn them into strengths.

Put a specific time aside for training. If you are serious about it, you could devote an hour a day to it. Set aside specific times during that hour to practice a particular skill. For instance, you could spend 20 minutes practicing ball control with your off-foot.

• Control The Pressure With Confidence

With over hundreds of audiences and uneven noises from every angle, a football stadium can be a very intimidating place to be in the middle of a soccer game. If a player hasn’t learned to stay calm under pressure, they’re going to make a lot of mistakes.

A soccer striker role is one of the most under-appreciated and highly pressured positions. To win the game, the team needs goals, and the striker is the player who is expected to deliver them.

The best strikers know how to remain calm under extreme pressure. Their confidence in their own abilities accounts for a large part of their calm. They are aware of their capabilities, and no degree of pressure will deter them from achieving their goal.

• Keep Your Head Up

Keep your head up to see the ball. If you’re in a good position and you have an opportunity to score, keep your eyes on the ball—don’t look at where it’s going or what’s happening around it.

Some strikers try to score by looking at everything except for their own feet; this isn’t helpful and can make scoring harder for yourself than if you keep track of things only in relation to yourself (your goal).

Keep your head up so that when a goalkeeper receives a pass from one teammate, he knows where his next move should be made: toward the goalmouth or away from it?

You don’t want him confusing these two options when deciding whether or not he should square up with his defender(s). This way there will always be an advantage as well as some sort of disadvantage—and both sides will know what they need to do next during each situation without having any confusion whatsoever!

• Practice Shooting Daily

Shoot in different ways, from different angles and positions. Shoot from different distances, and speeds, as well as at different heights.

The right team: A good striker needs to play on the same side as their teammates, so they can work together to get goals. This means you want to be playing with other strikers who can help make goals happen, like an attacking midfielder or two or three defenders who play well together in front of you and protect your space.

The right coach: A good striker also needs someone who understands how to build up play from defense into attack—someone who knows what it takes for players like yourself and other strikers in different positions within your team’s formation.

How best use those spaces created by their movement off ball-nearside runs toward goalpost area runs made by forwards moving diagonally away from goalpost area runs made by defenders moving diagonally toward post area runs made by midfielders moving straightaway toward post

• Shoot With Accuracy

Your goal is to put the ball in the back of the net, so it’s important that you shoot accurately. Don’t shoot too hard or soft, high or low, and keep your shots from being too far away from goal (too far left), too close (too far right), or even just off target entirely!

If you can hit a bull’s eye every time then great! But for most people this isn’t possible so what can we do? Well, there are several things that will help us improve our shooting technique:

• • • Take a touch

Touch is a great way to slow the game down, set up your next play, and even create space. For example, if you’re a forward playing against an organized defense and they have two defenders marking you on every touch—you need to take that touch so that they will have to move or risk leaving one of their players open.

The same goes for when you get possession of the ball in midfield: if there are two defenders covering each other (the sweeper) and one unmarked defender (the libero), then it’s best to pass back through this area rather than going directly at goal because then only one person will be covered by those three defenders’ attention while still giving yourself time on goal!

Know that you’re not going to be an overnight success and keep working at it.

You are not going to be an overnight success. It takes time for a striker to become great and you need to keep working at it. If you don’t put in the practice, then there won’t be any improvement.

READ ALSO | 12 Of The Worst Strikers In The World Since 2010-20

• • • Shooting

This is one of the most important parts of being a striker because it’s how you score goals! So try practicing shooting with different types of balls or just with your feet, but always try using different angles so that when someone comes into defense they won’t see where the ball is going until right before it hits their hands/shoulder/neck, etc.

This way they won’t have time to react since they won’t know where exactly was hit from what angle or distance until afterward when they see all pieces fly into different directions after hitting other players’ bodies (or sometimes just go straight up into the air).

Passing: Passes are also very important because if someone gets past us then there’s only one person left defending our goal which means we lose possession easily unless we do something about this problem first thing during the next play – maybe even after though depending how lucky we feel today 🙂 At least now everyone knows what happens if no one pushes back too hard against an enemy attack.

• Always Lose The Marker

If they pass the ball out wide in the final third, you must then make a run into the penalty box and disrupt their movement. You should always try to get ahead of their defender and on the receiving end of any crosses that come their way.

This is best accomplished by alternating their runs to the front and back post. As a soccer striker, you should be able to shake off their defender and gain the extra half-yard of space needed to put the ball in the back of the net with a quick movement.

You must be able to avoid defenders without the assistance of teammates. Once you have possession of the ball, you must be able to dribble around defenders and toward the goal using a variety of “moves” such as the Maradona, step-over, or scissors.

Shoulder feints and stepovers are two good dribble moves. Not all forwards need to play silky, technical soccer like Lionel Messi, but you do need a few tricks to make defenders step up and respect you instead of hanging back and waiting for you to pass.

• Bang The Net With Goals

With your exceptional anticipation abilities, dangerous movement, and fantastic finishing abilities. You are expected to bang on the net.

The best strikers graciously take these demands because their self-belief and confidence in their abilities allow them to remain calm while under pressure and consistently back themselves to score.

Because the striker is responsible for the majority of the team’s goal-scoring, he or she must possess a diverse set of skills in order to consistently breach the opposition’s defense.

Practice putting the ball on the net as soon as it comes out of the air. This is usually a header on goal or a “volley,” in which you strike the ball before it hits the ground. A great forward can redirect an aerial ball towards the goal without settling the ball, giving the defense time to react.

You can easily practice this with a friend by hitting crosses and corner kicks, but keep a few things in mind.

>>Continue on your path to your goal. For headers, this means turning your shoulders to face the goal. On accurate kicks, the indicator is usually your hips, which turn with the shot to face the goal.

• Challenge Yourself & Set Goals

Set your own objectives: You are your greatest implacable adversary. If you only scored one goal last week, challenge yourself to two this week, and maybe the next week you’ll push yourself even further!

Keep track of every goal you score, the idea is that in order to continue developing and becoming the best player possible, you must constantly challenge yourself and learn from each game and session. Setting your own goals will be critical to your continued development as a soccer striker.

There is no magic formula for becoming a top goal scorer; instead, there is advice, and good training, and you must set new goals for yourself and identify areas where you can improve to become a goal-scoring striker.

Conclusion

With great responsibility comes a bigger reward, do your best to achieve the best. A striker’s role in soccer can be thankless and open to criticism if they fail to deliver in front of the goal. However, if the team is successful, strikers will be lauded and credited as one of the main reasons for the team’s success.

Strikers require a wide range of skills to thrive in their position and lead the team to victory, whether it’s getting in front of the defender to put the ball in the back of the net or shielding the ball with a defender breathing down their neck.

We hope that this article has helped you understand the many ways in which you can improve as a soccer striker.

FAQ

What skills do you need to be a striker in soccer?

• Confidence without arrogance.
  Touch. The ability to control a football, or ‘touch’, is the most important skill for a striker to possess
  Speed
  Shot Accuracy.
  Smooth Move.

How do I become a powerful soccer striker?

To be a soccer striker, you should have the following qualities: speed, a good shot/cross, control, strength, positioning, and instincts about where the ball will go and when to make a run.

Even if you lack these qualities, you can always improve with practice, and some things, such as pace, are not required but ideal.

Is the striker role hard in soccer?

Not exactly, only if everything seems hard to you. Football success requires speed and precision. Use the best passing drills to improve your passing skills. A striker must score, but without the ability to pass the ball, it will be difficult to reach your full potential.

Do strikers have to be fast?

The two most important attributes a striker needs are speed & quickness. Speed allows a player to outrun a defender and win a 50/50 ball. Quickness provides a striker with a first step that enables them to get past a center-back.

How tall should strikers be?

Bear in mind that as of 2020 the average height of a male is around 1.75 meters, soccer players as a rule of thumb are generally a bit taller than this.

How many goals should a striker score?

There’s no official count, if you can score 100 or more it’s your call. However, every club wants a striker who will deliver goals when called upon, at least be ready to score 15 goals upward.

What is the role of a soccer striker?

While the primary role of strikers is to put the ball into the back of the net, they also have to help their teams in defense by pressing the opposing defenders and goalkeepers, forcing them to make quick passes which may lead them to give up possession.

What is a false 9 striker?

A false 9 is a center-forward who repeatedly moves towards the ball in deeper positions from a high starting position, often dropping to receive centrally. The main intention is to get on the ball away from the opposition center-backs – and, in doing so, to draw players out of position and disrupt the defense

How do I become a powerful striker?

To be a powerful striker you need ideally: Pace, good shot/cross, control, strength, positioning and instincts as to where the ball will go and when to make a run. Even if you don’t have these attributes, you can always get better through practice and some things like pace are not essential but just ideal.

What do scouts look for in a striker?

The main thing scouts want to see in a striker is Goals.

• Confidence.
• Composure.
• Finishing ability.
• Heading ability.
• Off-the-ball intelligence.
• Pace.
• Relative Strength.
• Technical ability

What is the easiest soccer position?

So, the fullback can be seen as the easiest soccer position, because they don’t have to run as much as other positions.

What is the slowest position in soccer?

Goalkeepers run the least in soccer. They have a very important job, as they are the last line of defense to keep the ball out of the goal.

What age do scouts look at soccer players?

First, scouts who observed 12-year-old and younger players perceived they could predict at older ages (13.6 years old, on average) whether a player has the potential to become a professional soccer player.

Should I lift weights before soccer practice?

Ideally, you should lift weight following regular practice on scheduled resistance training days. Practice is your first priority during the soccer season and performance training should integrate into the practice schedule.

What position in soccer gets the most injuries?

Forward

They are the most frequently injured players among all soccer athletes.

Who gets the ball most in soccer?

Midfielders have to run the most, but they also generally have the ball the most, too. Perhaps the most important soccer position besides the goalkeeper is the center midfielder.

How do I know if I am a good soccer player?

• Excellent Conditioning.
• Excellent Ball Handling Skills
• Strong, powerful legs
• Excellent mental toughness (ability to stay focused, determination, competitive spirit, ability to perform under pressure)
• Strong, but not overdeveloped arms.
• Team-oriented (not ball hogs)

How do I know if my kid is good at soccer?

• Your Kid is the Fastest Player on the Field.
• Kid Never Gets Tired.
• Kid is Super Quick.
• Kid is Physically Strong.
• Kid Thrives in the Spotlight.
• Kid Thinks Fast.
• Kid Scores Goals Consistently.
• No One Can Get Past Your Kid on Defense.

What do soccer recruiters look for?

Physical Ability: While your height and size aren’t super important, your speed, quickness, explosiveness, and strength are crucial for playing at the next level. College soccer is more physical and the speed of play is quicker. Players will need to adjust to that. Tactical Ability: How well do you know the game?

Is squatting good for soccer?

Researchers concluded that a strength training program involving front and back squats led to a positive improvement in the sprinting performances of young soccer players.

How long does it take to become good at soccer?

So, how long does it take to be good at soccer? Well, the short answer is that it will take a considerable amount of time, at least a year or two, for you to be good at soccer.

How do I stop being scared of soccer?

Positive visualization can be used for other situations in soccer as well, not just for taking penalties. Think about what you’re afraid of on the soccer field. Then, visualize a positive outcome and execute it. It’s a great way to become comfortable and play soccer without fear.

What is the hardest soccer trick?

The snake or ‘Elastico’ is an incredibly difficult move to pull off. It’s perhaps the hardest in football. A few players may have performed the move before Ronaldinho, such as Rivelino or Zinedine Zidane, but the current Flamengo play-maker has utilized it more than anyone else.

What are the best soccer drills?

STRAIGHT CONE DRIBBLE DRILL.
FORTH & BACK CONE DRIBBLE DRILL.
ONE-ON-ONE CONTROLLED DRIBBLE DRILL.
CIRCULAR CONE DRIBBLE DRILL
RANDOM DRIBBLE DRILL
ONE AGAINST TWO DRIBBLE DRILL
ROUND THE CYCLIC CONE DRIBBLE DRILL
ROUND THE SQUARE DRIBBLE DRILL