Nutmeg (football)
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A nutmeg (or tunnel or panna) is a technique used in football (soccer), in which a player plays the ball through an opponent's legs and retrieves it himself.
According to Alex Leith's book Over the Moon, Brian - The Language of Football, "nuts refers to the testicles of the player through whose legs the ball has been passed and nutmeg is just a development from this."
In southern England the term nutmeg is often shortened to "Nuts" in informal use.
To be nutmegged is commonly seen as showing you are lacking in footballing skill and so amongst amateur players (particularly children) nutmegs are frequently tried so as to show up the opposition player and prove your own skill. Technically however a nutmeg is not as skillful a move as it is often made out to be as you still have to collect the ball once it is passed through the opponents legs making it much easier for the opposition to retrieve it.
Further reading
- — stills of a player executing a nutmeg, demonstrating the trick of pulling the ball back in order to force the defender to open his legs
- — John O'Shea's nutmeg on Luís Figo
- — A well-positioned goalkeeper may be vulnerable to a nutmeg.
References
External links
- [A selection of video clips of nutmegs]
- [FineSoccer Drill 138] — a football drill involving nutmegs
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