Dribbing skills are in danger of meeting a violent end
On YouTube you can find a grainy, black-andwhite video clip from a 1968 game in Brazil, between Santos and Botafogo. It shows Santos forward Kaneko dribbling into the Botafogo penalty area, where he suddenly performs the perfect “donkey manoeuvre”, flipping the ball up with his heel, over his own head and over the defender. The execution is perfect and Kaneko runs on to set up Toninho to score.
Kaneko never became a great player, but he was long remembered for that “lambretta”. We now leap forward 47 years, to the 2015 Spanish Cup Final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Another “lambretta”, this one from Barca’s Neymar. But whereas Kaneko’s effort had been greeted with cheers, smiles and celebrations, Neymar’s caused…
