Soccer: Should The 'Paradinha' Be Banned?

Should This Move Be Banned?

Excerpt:

The tactic, which in Portuguese means "little stop," was first popularized by Pelé in the 1970s but has recently been adopted, and sharpened, by many leading Brazilian players and by an increasing number of stars from other countries, like Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

The paradinha (pronounced par-a-JEEN-ya) is performed on a penalty kick by the shooter, who pauses unexpectedly before striking the ball—or even swings his foot through the air several times—before making contact. It's designed to throw off the goalkeeper's timing. When executed properly, the move can have jaw-dropping results.

Last month in a Brazilian professional game against São Paulo, an 18-year-old striker for Santos, whose name is Neymar, lined up to take a penalty kick. He began jogging slowly up to the ball, then suddenly accelerated his pace, then stopped abruptly, almost backpedaling. São Paulo's goalie, Rogério Ceni, jumped off his feet toward his right side, leaving Neymar, who has been dubbed by some as "the new Pelé," free to kick the ball into the opposite lower corner for an easy goal. The striker, who is being courted by a slew of European teams, high-fived a teammate and celebrated with a short samba dance as the crowd went wild and the announcers screamed: "Paradinha! Goooool!"

"He should take advantage of doing this while it's still permitted in Brazil, because when he goes to Europe he won't be able to do it," Mr. Ceni, the goalkeeper, said after the game, complaining that Neymar's paradinha was more of a "paradão," meaning "big stop."

Comment: I'm not much of a soccer fan but found this interesting. Read the article first. You may need to watch the video a couple of times.