Review - Learn to Play The Brazilian Way DVD

As the old saying goes "the English pioneered football whereas the Brazilians reinvented the game". In this case, it's true and time and time again we've witnessed the great Brazilians displaying eye-catching soccer tricks and skills along with slick passing movements and clinical finishing. Even I myself would've love to watch at least one of the Brazilian player such as Ronaldinho in a soccer match.

Fortunately, this DVD came right after Brazil won their fifth World Cup in 2002. The DVD is guided by Simon Clifford, one of the most influential person in development of the soccer game especially in the UK.

Pop-in the DVD into your DVD player or PC and you'll see menus featuring Play, Skill Selection and Extras. The DVD is easier to navigate with it's user-friendly interface and particularly on soccer skills selection which in my opinion the most addictive section.

Play

The very first time I watched this DVD is by going through all the sections from soccer skills to soccer juggling tricks and finally the interviews.

Skill Selection

This is undeniably my favourite section featuring all the world-known soccer skills and tricks performed by the greats like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Juninho and more. Simon guided a group of youngsters by explaining each skills step-by-step and also shown in real-time ( e.g. Ronaldo's step over on the group stage World Cup match against Costa Rica ) from the World Cup 2002 footage.

Brazilian Soccer Tricks and Skills

One of the great features of this DVD is that Simon shows on doing the soccer skills and applying it against a defender. One of my favourite skills, the Ronaldo step-over ( though some people may refer as the "Rainbow" step-over ) for example, is shown and are broken-down into simple steps.

Applying the soccer trick against a defender is also explained clearly by Simon including the timing of execution of the soccer skill.

Brazilian Juggling Skills and Tricks

Simon Clifford encourage the kids to juggle and hone their soccer juggling skills in a group of circle. Each kids display various soccer flick-ups and juggling techniques. The best part of this is that it encourage the kids to share their soccer skills and enjoyment in soccer.

Passing, Long Ball and Shooting Skills

Simon teaches the kids on various passing, long ball and shooting techniques. He even showed one of the famous long ball technique which Pele called as the "falling leaf" technique used by Ronaldinho in the free kick against England in the World Cup 2002.

The kids also have the chance to shoot one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The drill is simply routine practice to improve your shooting abilities and one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

My Recommendation

The DVD is great for football or soccer players and also for freestyle soccer players as well. The soccer skills, drills and tricks are build around the brazilian environment which include factors such as mentality. A brazilian rythm music is suitable during each drill along with the quality of the sounds are clear.

The only downside for this DVD is the lack of slow-motion feature which I'm dissappointed at especially when learning Ronaldinho's elastico. I had to rewind and play it at slow motion which becomes annoying after a while.

Overall the DVD is great for those who really wants to learn and play like the Brazilian way as it equips with proper mentality and various soccer skills and tricks applied during any situations of a soccer match.

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