Pele runaround move

The Pele runaround move is a soccer/football move designed to get around an opponent. [Roger Kenneth Macdonald, Scientific Soccer of the Seventies, Pelham: 1971, pp. 8-47] Pushing the ball past a defender and running around him is one of football's most spectacular individual techniques, but it is also one of its oldest. It requires plenty of space to succeed, and sharp acceleration as the opposing player is bypassed.

The Pelé runaround variant was demonstrated during the 1970 World Cup against Uruguay. The variant involves letting a pass from a teammate or a loose ball approach, then tapping it slightly around an opposing player, sprinting to the other side and collecting the ball to continue the attack. In the Uruguay game, Brazilian center-forward Tostao played an excellent through pass to Pele as a counterattack started. Sprinting up the middle, Pele was immediately confronted with the experienced Uruguayan keeper Mazurkiewicz who came off his line quickly. Pele let Tostao's pass approach and then tapped it very slightly around the far side of Mazurkiewicz. Sprinting to collect, Pele's shot went just fractionally wide of the Uruguayan goal.

Pele's variant is a combination of the "selling the dummy" feint and the classic straight push runaround techniques, and can be useful in tight situations. It is discussed in such books as Scientific Soccer of the Seventies, by soccer historian Kenneth MacDonald, who also discusses Pele's contribution in Brazil's 1970 World Cup victory in detail. (Roger Kenneth MacDonald, Scientific Soccer of the Seventies, Pelham: 1971, pp. 8-47)

The Blomqvist shuffle

Swedish player Jesper Blomqvist managed to perform a perfect Pele runaround move resulting in a goal when his IFK Göteborg played Helsingborgs IF in the Allsvenskan in 1995. Blomqvist relied more on deception than Pele. Whereas the Brazilian had to move with utmost speed to avoid Mazurkiewicz, Blomqvist had more time. Receiving an excellent through pass, the Swede totally confused the approaching keeper - letting the ball run - and faking left, while sprinting right, around his opponent. He collected the ball on the other side and finished with an easy goal. As demonstrated by both Blomqvist and Pele, the runaround move can thus work in "emergency" situations where speed and split-second timing is all, or where there is more time and space to fake out an opponent. In both scenarios it can lead to spectacular results.

References

ee also

*Cruijff Turn
*Marseille turn
*Seal dribble
*Step over
*Nutmeg (football)