Your passing may be a thing of beauty and your positioning a joy forever. No matter. Sooner or later you will come face to face with an opponent standing between you and where you want to go with the ball.

You're going to have to take him on and pass him through clever dribbling and feinting, usually in limited space.

Beating a man one-on-one has great advantages. It can pop open a tough defense, give your club a decisive though brief numerical advantage, and loosen a previously tight situation. But it can also drive coaches and players crazy because passing an opponent is so intensely individual as to be almost uncoachable.

Most soccer skills are learned with a kind of Arthur Murray rote simplicity. You do A then B then thus and so. One, two, cha-cha-cha. Beating a defender is more like disco dancing. If it isn't natural it isn't going to work.

So I caution coaches against overcoaching in this area. And to players, I will suggest certain principles with the understanding that, in the end, what is best is what works for you.

We begin with sound dribbling. This is the basis for all feinting. You want your trunk slightly crouched and forward, weight on the balls of your feet. Hips, knees and ankles loose. This puts your centre of gravity low and over the ball, permits protection of the ball, and gives you the needed balance for shiftiness and acceleration.

Also work on peripheral or split vision. Don't be a ball watcher. You have to look at the ball as you contact it but even then keep the field in view peripherally. After contact, raise your head to look over the situation while viewing the ball peripherally.

You also need raw speed and a good change of pace. Without speed off the mark you can beet your man only to have him recover and overtake you. As for changing pace, there are many ways of passing opponents but all are predicated on changing direction and or speed sharply or subtly, or feinting the defender off balance then quickly accelerating. And your feints must be convincing. If you can't sell don't expect your opponent to buy.

A classic example: Sir Stanley Matthews, the English international, could repeatedly beat fullbacks with the same "Matthews dribble". Slowly, almost at a walk, he'd dribble along the touchline, right up to the fullback. The defender, it seemed, had Matthews where he wanted him, trapped on the touchline and forced to go inside. But as Matthews dribbled closer to the fullback he would also be working his way farther from the touchline. Sure enough, he would make the expected inside move which the fullback would go for. then he would slide off the ball, check it and push it with the outside of his foot, accelerating into the open inside area his skill and patience had created.

It worked because Matthews played to his strengths - patience, timing, maturity and great acceleration. What works for you is what plays to your strengths. And in that, you know best.

Fools rush in - true in love, war and tackling. Tackling, while an important technical and tactical weapon, is still a gamble. Like any good gambler you want to put the odds as heavily as possible in your favor.

And I'm not just talking to the defenders and midfielders. You forwards should pay attention, too, because today's game puts new emphasis on the interchanging of positions. Anyone on the field can end up tackling. The big questions are how and when.

How - that is, how to executive a good tackle - is a technical matter. We'll talk about that in the next two columns. When, and more important, when not to tackle are tactical matters. If you don't know when, knowing how isn't going to help.

First, you want to study your opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Is he right or left-footed? What are his favorite moves. These are clues as to how he will try to beat you.

The tackle must follow a fail-safe philosophy. That is, your challenge should take place in an area and a time when there is least danger should your tackle fail. Timing is the key. You must be alert to the flow of the game and have speed off the mark to be in the right position at the right moment. Ideally, this is just when your opponent is playing or receiving the ball.

The genius of a good tackler is that he strikes in that eyeblink of time after the ball carrier commits himself to his move but before he has full control. It is then that a good tackle is devastating.

But the ball carrier isn't your only concern. You must know where your teammates are and hold off on the tackle if necessary until there is cover behind you (the exception is a last-ditch situation).

If your opponent has control, if there is danger of leaving your teammates exposed, then you must be cautious. To rush in is foolish. A nimble ballcarrier could leave you stranded.

Wait. Stalk your opponents' every move and try to pressure him into an error of control. You must be aggressive. Don't let the attacker dictate the situation or the area into which he moves. Shepherd him away from the goal and toward the touchline. The closer you get him to the touchline the less room he has to work.

Keep him moving and be ready to pounce on any mistake. If it's your teammate who's preparing for the challenge, give him cover and call to let him know you're there to support him.

One last word. Try to make your first tackle a good one. This is psychologically important. Show the player you are making with absolute determination and the strongest possible resistance. Such strength (within the limits of the rules) can have your opponent looking for you instead of the ball when he should be trying to control it. This makes it easier for you to dispossess him of the ball and clear the danger.

Most people think of charging as something done in hockey, basketball and department stores. A costly habit.

In soccer, charging is neither illegal nor costly but is an essential defensive tactic, one that lets you meet strength with strength and gain quick physical dominance over an opponent.

That charging is legal does not mean you can go out and blast the first opponent you see. Strict rules govern use of the charge and knowing the rules is as important as mastering the technique.

You are allowed to use your shoulder or any part of your upper arm against an opponent. You may also charge an opponent from behind if his is obstructing (i.e. shielding) the ball. In this case contact must be shoulder against shoulder blade. Any other contact, for example chest to spine or hip to hip, is illegal.

Any charge must also be made within playing distance of the ball - that is, against an opponent who has or is about to gain possession or when two of you are fighting for possession. The charge must not be violent or dangerous and you cannot charge an opponent whose feet are off the ground as he tries to head the ball.

I think the real key, in the eyes of the referee, is that both you and your opponent are truly playing the ball and not simply teeing off on each other.

The best charge is not a big hit but a nudging or riding action in which you use your body weight to throw your opponent off balance an force him to lose control of the ball. The shoulder charge is usually used to ride an opponent off the play when you are running alongside him chasing a loose ball. Timing, not force, is crucial. Sometimes a well-timed brush is all you need to knock him off balance.

The first thing you want to do is try to adjust your rhythm to his so that your charge will be a legal charge and not a öpushä. Make your final thrust - the charge itself - when your weight is over your outside foot. Pushing off a well-bent outside leg will add power to your charge and will also lower your centre of gravity, giving you better balance.

Pushing off the outside leg also offers a fail-safe mechanism since, if your charge misses, you can quickly recover by transferring weight to your inside foot. And don't overlook the fake charge. By faking a charge and withholding it at the last second you may force your opponent to brace himself or flinch and stumble off balance.

One other tip: The goalkeeper is fair game for a charge if he is obstructing or outside the penalty area. There are several obvious ways to practice charging, most of which are easily arranged two-man contests in which you and a teammate fight for possession with one of you as ball carrier and the other challenging for th ball via charges.

But my favorite practice for timing and technique is the rooster fight. You and a partner hop on one foot, arms folded in front. They try to knock each other off balance by shoulder to shoulder charges or fake charges. No elbows. Change from one foot to the other at agreed upon intervals.

You should learn to do more with your body than just play the ball. Judicious use of your body can be a tactical asset. Take screening, for example. Screening means keeping your body between the ball and your opponent. It enables you to 1.) protect the ball, 2.) impede the tackle, and 3.) gain time for a teammate to move into position to receive a pass.

The move is legal as long as you honestly try to play the ball rather than simply obstruct your opponent. That means that you have to keep the ball within playing distance.

While screening a ball doesn't take a lot of finesse it does require a good measure of courage and confidence to face up (or should I say back up) to an aggressive tackle from behind.

Looking at the screen from your opponent's point of view, the only way he can get the ball from you is either by means of a well-timed tackle or by going around you and challenging you face to face. Getting around is nearly impossible since you need only make a quarter-turn, or series of turns to maintain position between the ball and him. So he will most likely try the tackling route in which case you will have to be careful to maintain good body balance while screening.

Other than balance you just need reasonable dribbling skills (to keep the ball close enough to control) and the ability to keep adapting your body position according to your opponent's efforts to move in for the ball. Unlike more mechanical skills the true skill of screening can best be practiced against real-life opponents.

In the beginning it may be necessary to ask the player you practice with to offer only token resistance until, as you get better, there can be a true fight for the ball. Working with a teammate, you take turns with one of you dribbling and screening while the other offers a challenge from the rear or from either side.

As you become more proficient at screening you can make your task harder by restricting yourself to a certain small area or by trying to keep possession of the ball for a predetermined length of time. Or you might try to see how many times you can touch the ball before the challenger dispossesses you.

If there is no one around to work with it is possible to work on screening by yourself. Simply run with the ball and imagine an opponent approaching from either right of left. Screen the ball by using the foot on the opposite side. In other words, if you imagine your opponent coming from your left, then you want to lead the ball with your right foot as you move to screen.

Screening is not an end in itself. It is usually the prelude to a feint, pass, or shot. But a good screen enhances these moves by gaining you the time and space to make them. In soccer, time and space are a bargain at any price.

So common is the sight of a player controlling the ball with the inside of his foot that you know this technique has to have something extra going for it. It does. In fact it has four things going for it: Safety, versatility, maximum control and relative ease.

The wide surface of the inside of your foot permits good control and delicacy of touch.

The versatility of the move is such that by using the basic trap - formed by the inside of your foot, your ankle and the ground - you can either stop the ball dead or sweep it along and move off instantly.

You'll also find using the inside of your foot offers a measure of safety when controlling the ball within close challenge of an opponent. Since you trap the ball under your body, you can either screen it or sweep it out of range.

You should place your support foot comfortably alongside the ball. The support leg must be well bent for stability. Your toes should point in the direction you are going. The trapping angle is made by leaning and turning slightly sideways into the direction you intend to go. This leaning takes your weight off the trapping leg helping you to rotate that leg out ward from the hip. Your support foot and trapping foot should form a right angle.

Now bring your trapping leg back with the knee well bent. Make certain that your ankle is dorsal flexed (i.e. toes up). Keep your leg relaxed and loose.

Your eyes must follow the ball into the trap. At impact put the inside of your foot on top of the ball, squarely across its path. Ball should meet foot at right angles. Give gently to absorb the impact of the ball or "kill" it.

Sometimes you'll have to do this at a standstill. But one trademark of an advanced player is ability to play the ball on the move. To do this you don't want to kill the ball nor do you want to meet it at a right angle. Instead, make contact more on the back of the ball. With the inside of your foot held semifirm, you can then sweep the ball along in a half-volley move in the direction you want to go. This is a bit like a hockey player playing the puck up off his skate blades.

Judgement, concentration, coordination and a deft touch are vital in controlling a ball on the move. In most cases you'll be moving before the ball even gets to you so any mistake is disastrous. There is no chance of recovery.

The biggest risk of error is in moving off too soon. This leads to placing the inside of your foot too high on the ball and killing it with the embarrassing result of your tripping over the ball rather than dragging it along with you. (But some players will do anything for a laugh.)

You don't have to wait for a teammate to practice ball control with the inside of your foot. Simply toss a ball in the air and trap it. Get it right and you've got something going for you.

Einstein would have loved soccer. The game shows the direct relationship of distance to time. In soccer, distance is time and time is everything.

Stand around waiting for a ball to fall to your feet so you can control it and you won't wait alone. There'll be a defender on you. But run forward a few feet to take the same ball sooner, say, by playing it with your chest, and you gain a precious second or two. Also, you don't have to be Einstein to figure out that playing the ball with your chest offers the advantages of a large controlling surface and the chance to protect the ball with the whole width of your body as a screen.

So much for theory. Practically, there are two main ways to play a ball with your chest. You can either play it directly down to your feet or you can ride it back into the air - "semi-controlling", I call it - and play it on the volley.

To play it to your feet, keep your eyes on the ball as you run to it. Move across the balls flight path. Keep your legs in stride position, knees comfortably wide, arms out for stability. Now prepare for the ball by expanding your chest in exaggerated Marine Corps fashion. You want your chest way out, your chin tucked in and your shoulders and elbows pulled back.

On impact, collapse your chest as if you were pushing air out of your lungs. Roll your shoulders forward to form a concave cushion for the impact.

When the ball strikes, straighten your knees and rise on your toes so you can bend forward. This deflects the ball straight to your feet so you can take off immediately.

Be careful to judge the ball's flight correctly so you will arrive in time to puff up your chest for the impact.

Semi-controlling the ball is a good play for times when you're in heavy traffic and you know that playing the ball to your feet would be suicide.

Here, you're just riding the ball off your chest. Instead of collapsing your chest, puff it up and lean your body back so your chest becomes a platform to take the pace off the ball and give you a nice little pop-up of a rebound. After the ball has rebounded off your chest you can either play it on the volley - a spectacular play - or turn with it and screen off the defender with your body.

This move makes it tough for anyone to legally challenge you for the ball. If a defender comes in with his foot he'll be called for "dangerous play" If he tries to head the ball they'll call him for "charging."

You can practice chest control alone or with a friend. If alone, toss the ball in the air trying first to play it to the feet and then working on the tougher "semi-control" move. With a friend, one player can juggle the ball before booting it into the air for the other to play with his chest. This will add some realism to the velocity and angle of the ball.

The dive header, which is exactly what its name implies, separates the sheep from the goals - the player who merely wants the ball from the player who positively must get it. Flinging your body head first at a ball takes considerably skill, a lot of courage, (or at least a disregard for getting kicked in the head), and , I think, a dab of charisma. It is, after all, a spectacular, crowd-pleasing move.

• The dive header is used on offense and defense, by forwards diving after balls they can't reach with their feet and by defenders making no-tomorrow attempts to intercept low balls.
• The takeoff for a dive header may be single or double-leg, depending on the time you have available and the distance you have to cover. If standing or required to travel only a short distance to the ball, you'll use a double-leg takeoff. If on the move or required to cover a great distance you'll need the single-leg takeoff.
• The chief difference between a normal header takeoff and dive header takeoff is that in the dive header you need horizontal, not vertical power.
• There are two types of dive headers, the torpedo header and the salamander header.
• In the torpedo header the approach and dive coincide exactly with the direction of the header.
• You want to throw yourself into a complete layout, cock your head, and kick your heels to assure heaving power. From this position, identical to the classic heading position except that you are prone instead of vertical, you snap your forehead at the ball as hard as you can.
• The salamander technique is used for a sideward header. It is the same as the normal vertical technique except that the bending and sideward twisting is coordinated with a horizontal rather than a vertical leap. Hence the salamander label.
• The best landing after a dive headers is feet first, then rock in sequence over your thighs, stomach, chest and hands to dissipate the force of the landing. If you find yourself landing chest first then your best bet is to try to absorb the force of the fall with your hands.
• In practicing dive headers start from a crouched position and concentrate on a proper landing. The dive header itself may involve total abandon but the landing doesn't have to. Get the feel of breaking the impact of your fall with your hands or with the feet-thighs-stomach-chest-hands sequence.You can serve the ball to yourself by just tossing it into the air ahead of you and heading it on the bounce.
• As you improve you can graduate to dive heading from a semi-crouch and then a standing position, finally working your way to practicing the move with teammates in all-out game condition situations.
• One other tip: Practice on soft ground at first if you can.

Either you get it out or they get it in.

That's the one unnerving, irreducible fact of all defensive play. One of the best ways of getting the ball out of danger is the defensive or 'clearance' header. Unlike a head shot on goal, the defensive header emphasizes power over accuracy. When you've got to get that ball away from your goalmouth, accuracy may be nice but height and distance are essential.

The clearance header is used chiefly in cutting off high crosses. It requires that you get up high and head the ball powerfully, even when working against aggressive opponents.

One advantage to a defensive head is that you will almost always be facing the ball and so will have a slight edge over the attacker who may be trying to play the ball as it comes from the side or behind. However, you will sometimes he backpedaling as the ball goes into the air, thus giving you the problem of getting lift and power despite your running backward or sideways.

There are two positions from which you will head the ball out-either with your feet on the ground or off the ground.

When you have the luxury of clearing with both feet on the ground, you should start the heading action down in your legs. Fight to get into position where you can shift your trunk backward and forward without danger of imbalance. Keep your eyes on the ball, your trunk bent back, and your forehead drawn back. Face the ball squarely. Now drive off your back foot and throw your forehead at the ball, straightening your body at the same time. Your leg drive should cause your hips, trunk, and head to move forward in whip-like sequence. Try to hit the ball at your hairline and drive through the lower half of the ball to get it into the air and out of danger. It's tougher when you have to get both feet off the ground and find yourself crowded as well. Here, timing is important but determination is the clincher. You've got to want it.

Don't wait for the ball and don't draw your head down into your shoulders. This is no time for self-preservation. Try to jump first so the attacker can't block you from the ball.

You'll likely only have time for a two or three-step run-up. Make the last stride long while gathering your body for the jump. Rock over your well-bent takeoff foot and drive forward. Kick both heels well backward and upward so your body is arched in the classic header position.

When the ball gets just above your chest, jack-knife forward and get that hair line on the lower half of the ball. Your body thrust ensures power and the angle of your head determines the height. You need both.

Any heading drill is bound to improve all your heading skills but there is one drill in particular that is helpful for defensive headers. Have several teammates, scattered around the field, serve balls to you as you head them out. Vary the frequency and angles of the serves. Work for height and distance. And remember, either you get it out or they get it in.

You won't always have enough space or time to afford yourself the luxury of playing a ball to your feet before passing it. Once in a while you're going to have to pass a ball that comes to you in the air. A volley lob pass with the inside of the foot is one of the quickest, safest ways to do this.

Technically, the move is much like the push pass, except that the ball is off the ground. But the beauty is its tactical application. It is a little like football's screen pass - just a nice easy toss over the heads of the blitzing linebackers into the arms of an open receiver. I like to see quarterbacks do it. I love to see soccer players do it. It's a heads-up play.

To make a good volley lob pass, make sure your passing foot is raised to the level of the ball, Lifting your leg will cause your trunk to fall slightly back and sideways to maintain balance. If the ball is above waist level you'll have to run completely sideways in order to raise your foot high enough to play the ball. You want your leg bent at the knee with the lower part of the leg almost at right angles to the thigh. You make the pass using a short, stabbing action with your lower leg. Don't try to swing the whole leg like it were some sort of bionic club. Just snap the lower leg out to send the ball to its target.

Obviously the position of the inside of your foot on impact is vital to proper direction. The ball can only go in the direction your foot is pointed, much as golf ball will only go in the direction of the club face. Thus, you must keep the horizontal plane of your foot adjusted to the angle of the approaching ball and the angle of the intended pass.

Only practice will give you the sensitive touch you need to guarantee accuracy.

In lobbing the ball up over your opponents - a la the screen pass - remember to keep the inside of your foot facing upward and swing your leg up.

Even in playing a ball to a teammate's feet 1 advise inclining the foot slightly upward to make the ball travel in a gently arc. This kind of pass is much easier to receive than a hard line drive. You can practice a modified version of the volley lob pass by having a teammate toss the ball to you so that it lands in front of you and play it back on the bounce. After you get the feel of it, have your partner toss the ball around knee height and you volley it right back to him. As you get better try varying your return passes. One time give him a gently pass to his feet. The next time practice lobbing it over the head of an imaginary opponent.