Double trouble: why aren't there more two-footed footballers?
From Brehme to Cazorla: a brief history of ambidextrous footballers
By Adam Hurrey11:30AM BST 20 Jun 2015
My so-called weaker left foot is as strong as the right. My left foot shots are more powerful, the ones with the right are better placed, like all penalties. It's like choosing a weapon.
If the German national team ever wanted to shake off their reputation for ruthless efficiency, former World Cup-winning left-back Andreas Brehme wasn't doing them any favours. Brehme was so confident in his two-footedness, that he trusted either boot in the most high-pressure situation of all. At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, he stepped up in the quarter-final penalty shootout against the hosts and drilled a left-foot shot past Pablo Larios.
Four years later, in the dying embers of a wretched final against Argentina, Brehme again placed the ball 12 yards out after regular penalty-taker Lothar Matthaus refused the opportunity. This time, it was to win the World Cup and, this time, Brehme opted for his surgical right foot over his sledgehammer left.
Brehme's YouTube showreel (and who doesn't have one of those?) offers only the slightest clue as to which side was his more natural and Franz Beckenbauer - his manager in both 1986 and 1990 - once claimed: "I have known Andy for 20 years and I still don't know if he is right or left-footed".
Curiously though, in football (reminder: a sport played almost exclusively with the feet) it is a rare thing for one of its elite players to be equally comfortable with either boot. Three decades after Brehme's nerveless switching of feet, the Premier League's most naturally ambidextrous player is Arsenal's Santi Cazorla, whose stronger foot remains somewhat of a mystery even to Arsene Wenger. Cazorla himself says this is down to hard work, necessitated by an injury as a youngster:
QuoteI have always preferred the right foot, ever since I was younger. I was a little bit hurt in my right ankle once, and that is when I started to use my left foot a lot more. Being able to use both feet is something that came quite naturally to me ever since I started playing. However, it is something I continuously work on in a very strong manner to ensure that my level never gets any lower.
Before exploring the whys and why-nots of genuine two-footedness, it's worth looking at the unbalanced playing field that already exists. There is a long-established bias of appreciation towards left-footed footballers, almost to the point of fetishisation: notable left boots are invariably "educated" and "cultured" magic wands that can proverbially open a tin of proverbial beans. Any neanderthal, presumably, can swing a right foot.
Throw in the widely accepted popular science that left-siders are demonstrably the more creative among us, and the likes of Rivaldo, Gheorghe Hagi and Steve Guppy suddenly become stuff of footballing legend, while a young Gareth Bale was said to have been banned from using his left foot at secondary school to give everyone else a chance.
But what of the ambidextrous? Paolo Maldini spent a quarter of a century cruising up and down the left flank for Milan and Italy, but not many observers knew he was naturally right-footed.
Given the dedication, practice and sheer competition involved in reaching the pinnacle of football, it could be argued that to be two-footed is to dilute your potential. However, other sports have been mastered, more or less, by the bilaterally talented - Rafael Nadal's double-handed backhand is a force of nature, Ronnie O'Sullivan can pot almost as well with his left arm as with his right, and Kevin Pietersen's mischievous switch-hitting has been scuppering bowlers for years.
Does being able to use your left and right side with equal force and precision simply make you double the player?
Fortunately these days, if something exists, there's been an academic study on it. In 2009, some painstakingly thorough research by the London School of Economics found "robust evidence of a substantial salary premium for two-footed ability". According to their data, the majority of players (60%) are predominantly right-footed, 22% strongly favour their left and only 18% of the players in the top five European leagues are comfortable on either side. Compared with your run-of-the-mill right-footed journeyman, that lucky 18% are quite simply coining it:
QuoteIn a large cross-section covering players from the top five European leagues...it appears that two-footed players enjoy a pay premium of around 14 to 15% over right-footed players. Left-footed players also receive a pay premium in most of our estimates using this European cross-section, though it is considerably smaller than the premium for two-footedness.
Despite the commensurate riches on offer, another study - which monitored players at the 1998 World Cup in France - suggested that even elite footballers are disinclined to improve their less-favoured side:
QuoteWorld Cup players are as right-footed as the general population (~79%). The remaining players were largely left footed and as biased towards the use of their preferred foot as their right-footed counterparts. Very few players used each foot with equal frequency.
Football remains rather confused about whether it is in a footballer's interest to cultivate genuine two-footedness. On one hand (so to speak) there is a whole football academy dedicated the idea of improving young players' weaker foot. Nevertheless, Steve Burns, assistant director of Aston Villa’s youth academy, told When Saturday Comes magazine:
QuoteLess talented players might need to practise with their weaker foot but if a player can do everything with one foot then why bother with the other? When Paul Merson came to Villa, he hit everything with his right foot and everything went in. We could hardly tell him to go away and practise with his left.
While Brehme, Maldini and - to an extent - Cazorla have been able to graft their way to two-footedness in less critical areas of the pitch, what about the goalscorers? As the designated exponents of the most important kicks of a ball in the game, they would surely stand to benefit most from being able to strike the ball powerfully and accurately with either foot. The numbers, though, remain defiant.
Of the top 50 goalscorers in Premier League history, only three have scored more than a quarter of their goals with their "weaker" foot: Gabby Agbonlahor's trusty left foot (33%) leads the way - kudos to anyone who has ever contemplated which is Gabby Agbonlahor's stronger side - while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (29% with his left foot) and Robin van Persie (27% with his right) complete this elite set. Incidentally, should you care about such things, Benito Carbone is the highest-scoring player in the Premier League never to have notched with his left foot.
• They all count: 73 ways to score a goal
Perhaps modern football, tactically coordinated to within an inch of its life, doesn't need players to do any more than their specfic roles demand. The rise of the inverted winger has given a licence to roam to the world's most one-footed, culminating in Arjen Robben's surprising durability out on the right wing for club and country, and the startling resurgence of Ashley Young on Manchester United's left flank. Meanwhile, other players remain accommodated at the top level, despite doing everything within their power to avoid having to use their unfavoured foot. The prospect of Antonio Valencia cutting in from the right and curling a left-footer into the top corner seems like a quaint fantasy, while Wayne Bridge's career - largely spent running around the ball to save his right foot the humiliation - only came to an end last summer.
Taking things to an extreme, the rather more artful Ricardo Quaresma's penchant for a trivela - hitting the ball with the outside of his right foot - has elicited sighs from Jose Mourinho along the way:
QuoteHe will have to learn, otherwise he won’t play, and I am sure he'll change and become more tactically disciplined. He likes kicking the ball with the outside of his foot, but if you ask me about him in a few months' time, we'll be talking about a different Quaresma.
For now, Santi Cazorla's bilateral brilliance remains the exception rather than the rule, but the fruits of his labour suggest that plenty of young footballers have a good 50% of their potential yet to unlock. Lionel Messi's right foot needs some work, for a start...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/babb/11680631/Double-trouble-why-arent-there-more-two-footed-footballers.html