Ivan Solander: The jump was out – Kane’s toe-kick was the rescue

Screaming dads, pieces of gravel in scraped-down kneecaps and toes. The six-year-olds in the Red Crocodiles, who to the great delight of the profit-oriented coach Roffe were in the process of wiping out the Yellow Tigers in Tallkrogen’s rabbit cage, had few similarities with the world star Romário. But they had the toe shots in common.

Three years earlier, Sweden had taken the lead against Brazil in the World Cup group stage. Thomas Ravelli had played great in the first half, when Romário set the pace against the four defenders who stood between him and the goal.

Then just narrow it down. Somewhere in the star’s lightning-fast step, the ball had gone off without anyone having time to react.

The ball bounced twice before landing in Ravelli’s left corner.

28 juni 1994, Pontiac Silverdome, Michigan, USA

Sweden 1 – Romários right big toe 1.

Sweden finished third in the World Cup, Brazil and Romário’s toe won gold.

27 years later, another is underway championship. The European Football Championship is entering its final phase. We have seen dreaded offensives like Italy and Belgium dissecting Turkey and Russia, giants falling, and a Swedish loss the football gods designed with a single purpose: To cause maximum pain.

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But in recent years, I have missed something when I watched football, without knowing what. In the match between Denmark and Russia, when a Danish player for the third time in a short time allows himself to be surrounded in the penalty area and the situation flows into the sand, it strikes me: Where is the toe jerk?

The search begins – but with only a few matches left, it is still missing: Not a single toe-fist goal in the European Championships, out of 131 possible. Has it disappeared?

Urban Hammar is responsible for coach training at the Swedish Football Association. He does not want to state that the toes have decreased, but is happy to discuss the shot.

– In the beginning, when you have not trained yourself, the toe joint is a natural movement. It’s like poking something with your foot, if you’re walking down the street and there’s an apple in the way, you will not use a wide side.

– When you think of history’s great goal carpenters, who lived their lives in the opponent’s penalty area, they whipped their toes no matter how much.

Urban Hammar remembers the goal from the Pontiac Silverdome down to the smallest detail.

– Romário is the uncrowned king of toenails. An outstanding goal scorer almost unparalleled, he scored in any case. He was number one when it came to toe fists, and for him it was a position he was actively seeking.

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The evidence that the shot has become a footnote in football history is anecdotal in nature. But is it wrong?

– As a weapon, the toe joint is fantastically good. But I have not answered your question if I think there are fewer. I have never thought about it and have not made the observation you have made, and then I watch football all the time. But I have not hooked myself on it, says Urban Hammar.

I have proof of that. But to scientifically try to determine whether the use of toe joints has decreased would be a project with monumental proportions. Counting how many shots are fired, and then trying to determine how many of them were fired with your toes, would take astronomically time and ultimately contribute absolutely nothing to the benefit of society.

If such a project was nevertheless carried out at, for example, a state university, the person who approved the study could probably be prosecuted for gross misuse of public funds. So ocular assessments will probably suffice.

Perhaps the answer to the hidden role of the shot lies not only in its unglamorous aesthetics or technical difficulty. The names toe jerk, toe pie, toe hunter or the even more degrading toe fist probably make no one think of the sport’s great moments.

– There is a slightly pejorative tone in that, that the toe kick is a primitive end that only people who can not shoot properly do, but I do not agree at all, says Urban Hammar.

Former striker Marcus Allbäck has scored goals in all possible ways, both in the national team and in clubs such as Heerenveen, Aston Villa and FC Copenhagen. When DN reaches him, he laughs.

– You call me because you think I mostly scored ugly goals?

The answer is no. When asked if he believes that the attacking game has changed in recent years, he hesitates.

– I think it’s too harsh to say, for example, that you did that then, but you do not do that now … But I see extremely little toe fuss these days. If you look at the Allsvenskan and the Superettan, it is extremely rare, even though it is so sickly effective.

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He is now a player agent, but also works as an EC expert on the gaming site Rekatochklar. In the first-mentioned professional role, he is in constant contact with young football players.

– I try to nag holes in their heads to finish as soon as they can and to always be on the move. Often, if you do not have an absolutely fantastic first touch, the chance disappears otherwise.

It is possible that the high level of skill that today’s players have means that the toe joint is forgotten. Today’s players have also grown up with all the world’s football highlights a video away. Maybe a classic toe pie has nothing to oppose bicycle kicks and exteriors.

– When you tell young players about things like this, it is clear that they are listening. But they have so incredibly many other influences in social media, and there you do not see so many toes, says Marcus Allbäck.

According to Urban Hammar, the development of the equipment can also play a role. Both balls and shoes have become lighter.

Until the turn of the century, the football boots were quite strong constructions that were very much suitable for a toe kick, not to mention what it was like when you go back even further back in time. Today’s soft shoes do not benefit the toe.

It is also difficult to completely rule out that I’m wrong. That the number of toe shots per shot has not been unchanged since the sport was invented.

– It may be that you make an unconscious selection. You think you do not see toe creases and then you have affected your own perception so you only see the shoots that are not toe creases. But I do not say that it has to be that way, says the football association’s Urban Hammar.

It is an opportunity that is difficult to rule out, but the lack of toe-fitting goals in this year’s European Football Championship is indisputable.

– Also think about what level you are looking at. That is the absolute top level. This is where you refer to the fact that there are not that many, but that may not be the case at any level, says Hammar.

He may have a point. The ultimate world elite that makes up for the European Championship gold is probably not representative of professional football in general. To compensate, a counterweight is required. But what is the antithesis of the full-time paid football players to Europe’s top scorers? It can be the players in the Gothenburg Athletics and Sports Association (Gais).

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For the past two years, the classic club has secured the Superettan contract in the final round. The current season started strongly, then lost six of the last seven matches and went into the summer break with the usual three points down to the qualifying line. The team has, just like last season, scored less than one goal per game on average. I’ve seen them all.

How many of the ten goals they have actually managed to score are toe-splitting? Zero.

– Now I think you are unfair to the Mackerel. But if you say that it is so, then you are probably an eyewitness that they do not use that weapon, says Urban Hammar.

In the European Championship match between Russia and Finland in St. Petersburg gave the Russian star Alexei Mirantjuk an excellent toe-waving position. Surrounded by three defenders, another alternative seemed impossible. But he trampled a step back and eased the ball in an arc up the left cross. The Russians celebrated – I felt robbed.

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A football goal with an incredible degree of difficulty. But wasn’t it just such a shot that in the long run leads to me being forced to continue to watch Gai’s striker twist the ball ten meters over the goal, ten times out of ten, for the rest of my life?

Marcus Allbäck tries to be diplomatic and is clear that what he says also applies to his mother club, local rival Örgryte IS.

– When you are in such a situation, in a club that is not a top team that more or less always wins, it may not be time to think about screwing up the ball in the crossbar. It does not have to be nice, it just needs to hit the target and go fast.

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In the end, the question of the role of the toe can be as difficult to answer as the one about what the purpose of the sport is. If everything is just about getting the ball into the goal more times than the opponent, the loss of the toe joint seems unforgivable.

But if there are more beautiful values ​​that can be extracted from 22 people chasing a ball, then maybe the ugly shot is not even something to miss.

I’m starting to think that the toe has been buried in the rabbit cage after the match against the Yellow Tigers. Then it happens.

21.04, 3 July 2021, Olympic Stadium in Rome.

England’s Harry Kane storms towards Ukraine’s goal, against a deep lead ball that looks to be lost. But the Englishman flickers forward and reaches it at the last second. Toe meets ball in perfect harmony, 1-0 England.

Hope is restored.

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