The nutmeg: a move so spicy that you only need a little to cause massive damage on the field of play.
Anybody who’s ever played soccer on the streets, in parks, or after school will know how crazy it can get if one player gets the ball passed between their legs.
The shouts from those watching usually make executing the move even more fulfilling. It’s a skill that’s not only particular to soccer, though: Ice and field hockey, as well as basketball players, regularly execute nutmegs, although this skill has different names among different fans of the sports where it’s a staple.
In this article, you’ll learn all about this silky-smooth skill, why it is called a nutmeg, and which players use it to devastating effect in soccer.
What is a Nutmeg in Soccer?
Now, a nutmeg is a simple skill that involves one player passing the ball through the open legs of another player and running around him to pick it up and continue on his path. It is important you take note of the fact that I wrote “simple”.
The simplicity of the skill lies in the result – the ball doesn’t follow a convoluted or zig-zag path; it just goes straight through the player’s legs when initiated. It is also important that you take note of the fact that it is quite difficult to execute.
Defending players usually stand with their legs apart when marking an attacking player because they need both legs to be able to take off in whatever direction the attacking player chooses to go.
To make their marking more efficient, they tend to reduce their center of gravity because this helps them accelerate better in case they’re beaten.
At this point, the attacking player spots the gap between the defending player’s legs, and the nutmeg is the first skill that comes to mind.
If they manage to play it through, they must be able to beat the defending player and pick up the ball to execute the skill completely. Experienced defenders will not allow this to happen, making it an incomplete nutmeg.
So you see, it can be devastating but its simplicity makes it easy for defenders to recover and reclaim the ball.
Why Do They Call It a Nutmeg in Soccer?
As for why it’s called a nutmeg, nobody really knows. My take is that the move is so spicy and adds flavor to the attacking play just like nutmeg does in any delicacy it’s used to prepare.
When I looked up why, I discovered that the word “nutmeg” was a slang used to describe “being duped”. As in, if someone wanted to say, “I was duped”, they’d say, “I was nutmegged”. It makes sense if you tie it to soccer because nutmegging a defender is like conning them.
Further research showed me how “nutmegging” came to mean being “duped.” In the Victorian era, the spice was in high demand, so swindlers would fill bags with stuff that looked like the thing to sell to unsuspecting people, who, after discovering the scam, would be told they’d “been nutmegged.”
As explained by Peter Seddon in his book, Football Talk The Language and Folklore of the World’s Greatest Game, the slang caught on in football and described the player who had been nutmegged as being the victim of a scam during the game.
But as for how it became mainstream in football, that goes back to a Cockney rhyming slang that described the ball going through another person’s “nuts” (slang for testicles, as soccer was mostly played by men and boys back then).
How to Nutmeg in Soccer?
Every nutmeg follows these simple steps.
- Dribble your way to a position where the defending player will be forced to stand directly in your path to the goal. This is a good reminder to keep practicing your dribbling to be able to beat defenders.
- Keep leading the defender in one direction by either the orientation of your body or by the movement of your legs. The defender will believe they stand a chance of getting the body this way, and you would have opened up a patch you can escape through to pick up the ball behind the defender.
- Pass the ball between their open legs once the defender tries to tackle for the ball or relax their marking stance a bit. Then, run in the direction of the ball from the opening you created.
Who is the King of Nutmeg in Soccer?
Lionel Messi is the undisputed king of the nutmeg.
There are a lot of players who have the nutmeg in their skill arsenal: Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Juan Roman Riquelme, Luis Suarez (who was so notorious with this skill that fans raised a banner one time saying, “Suarez can nutmeg a mermaid!”) and Ronaldinho. But what makes Messi’s nutmegs so devastating is the speed at which he does it.
Watch Messi to learn how to nutmeg, especially in high-intensity offensive situations.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know what Nutmeg is in soccer, I hope it’s easier for you to spot this magic move. If you also happen to play the lovely game, I hope you can practice this move and implement it in your gameplay!
