What do Soccer Scouts Look for in a Striker?
Pele, Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi, Zidane or Maradona are often classified as strikers but, in reality, can play anywhere on the field. What makes them strikers is their ability to score.
Soccer strikers are easy to spot. When the ball gets near the opponent’s goal, the closest player to the ball is usually the striker, looking for that shot, the opportunity, the setup from one of his teammates to put the ball in the back of the net. On the field, that is the soccer striker’s main job, to score goals.
What do soccer scouts look for in a striker? When judging a prospective player as a potential striker, soccer scouts look for a well-rounded player who excels in several areas:
- Finishing ability
- Composure and Leadership
- Field Sense
- Technical Skills
- Speed and Strength
Understanding these traits and abilities and how they combine to make a great soccer striker is what every soccer scout tries to accomplish when looking at new talent. You can accomplish the same sort of analysis for yourself. Your enjoyment of the game can be taken to a new level with just this sort of deeper appreciation for the talents you are watching.
The Soccer Phenomenon
Soccer is undeniably the most popular game in the world. Estimates put the global soccer following at around 4 billion people. Every country in the world boasts local club soccer teams as well as semi-professional and professional clubs that compete in the world arena. There are many reasons soccer is so popular. Some of the most cited are:
- It is inexpensive. Other than a ball, no other special equipment is necessary
- Soccer is easy to understand and crosses language and cultural barriers
- It is highly competitive but relatively safe to play.
Go almost anywhere in the world, find a group of youngsters, toss a ball onto the ground, and a soccer game will start. Some experts believe that soccer is the fastest growing team sport in the world.
The Traits of a Striker
Great soccer strikers exhibit a similar set of traits that soccer scouts have learned to look for when evaluating up and coming soccer talent. Different scouts rank these in different orders of importance, but they inevitably come to the same criteria when discussing the great strikers in the game.
The Ability to Finish
The ability to finish or put the ball in the goal is the most often mentioned trait that soccer scouts look for in players during an evaluation. This is the soccer striker’s primary job responsibility. Points scored is a major evaluation point for most soccer scouts evaluating a potential striker.
Arguably one of the best soccer strikers in today’s game is Robert Lewandowsky. Lewandowsky racked up an incredible .94 goals per game during the 2019/2019 season. His record speaks for itself.
- 12 game-winning goals
- 28 percent of his successful goal shots were headers
- He made 15 percent of his scoring shots left-footed.
- His stats also include 11 assists.
This is an incredible feat in a 40-game season against some of the best teams in the world.
Strikers Must Have A Head for the Game
Mentioned almost as much by soccer scouts is the ability to score goals that go together to create the head for the game. These traits are:
- Leadership – On the field and off the field, great strikers tend to be leaders. They work for and with the team. Soccer scouts look for these leadership traits. It is said by some soccer scouts that a great striker can inspire his teammates to play better, making the striker even more valuable to the team.
- Composure – The ability to remain collected even when circumstances seem to be going completely against the team is a mark of a soccer striker that soccer scouts value. Composure is a part of leadership and having a calm head who thinks straight on the pitch can make the big difference between success and failure.
- Competitiveness – A fierce competitive nature drives all great players and even more so the great strikers. This aggressive attitude in the position closest to the competitor’s goal and with the capability to score the ball when and where it is directed makes great strikers.
- Knowledge – Knowledge of the game and the opponent, are the smaller things that make great strikers. Soccer scouts look for that ability and willingness of potential talents to become students of the game and their opponents. Great strikers study their opponents, the opposing teams, and the game.
In the Zone
Soccer scouts look for a player’s ability to sense the ebb and flow of the game while on the field. It is difficult for most people, even professional players, to have a grasp of the overall picture of what is happening on the field during a game. A great soccer striker has an innate ability to be in the zone of the game and know:
- How the game is developing – A soccer pitch is large, and the action is not always centered around the ball. The ability to recognize how the opponent’s strategy and tactics are working gives the great soccer striker a feel for how to adjust and respond.
- Player movement – Soccer scouts want to see a potential striker’s ability to know where his teammates are at any given time without having to stop and look around. This feel for how his teammates move and react is as much a product of practice as it is the striker’s ability to think,
- Sensing the moment to strike. – Sensing the correct moment to make the move, the pass, or the feint are important assets to a striker. Soccer scouts speak of seeing the understanding of when to strike as a singularly important trait in great soccer strikers.
The Moves and Grooves
Surprisingly, the last things that soccer scouts look at are the skills and abilities of a potential striker. The reason for this is obvious when explained by a professional soccer scout. When a scout gets the call to look at a player, the player obviously already has the skills and abilities to play soccer at an extremely high level.
Yes, there are things that soccer scouts look for. Heading ability is one of these. Scouts don’t ignore physical ability or talent, but they safely assume that any player to whom the scout’s attention has been directed, is already playing at a level far above everyone else.
Staying Power of Striker
Last but by no means least, soccer scouts look for strength and agility. Soccer is a strenuous and demanding game. The position of a striker is even more so and requires players to exhibit physical attributes beyond even the regular player.
- Stamina – The striker is the spearpoint on the team. Without the lead striker on the field, the team is at a definite disadvantage. The stamina to play long stretches is a trait looked for by soccer scouts when they are evaluating a prospective player.
- Strength – While soccer is technically not a contact sport, the ability to hold one’s own against aggressive and sometimes physically opposing players is a plus in the eyes of soccer scouts.
- Speed – Leading a charge downfield against a rival team required the striker to be able to accelerate and maintain sprinter like speed while controlling the ball.
- Durability – A player on the sidelines with an injury is of little use to a soccer club. Great strikers exhibit great durability. The great soccer strikers play long seasons with few or no injuries. The ability to play without injury is a factor that many scouts consider to be important.
The Striker Defined
So how do soccer scouts sum up and define great soccer strikers? By and large, soccer scouts look for a total package. They want to see not only ability and talent but the intelligence to understand the game, the feel to know what is happening on the field while the game is being played, and the aggressive spirit to make things happen during the game. Number one above all else is the ability to score goals.
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