He then looked at Logan Grant, shaking his head firmly: “You can’t learn shooting.”

“Why not? I’ve already learned how to juggle the ball…” Logan Grant was confused. “I think if I learn how to shoot, I’ll be able to play in matches.”

Hearing such a naive statement, the youth team players behind him couldn’t help but burst out laughing again.

Someone this clueless actually dreams of challenging Kaka…

“I admit you have a strong ability to learn, Grant. I don’t doubt that you’ll learn how to shoot, but that’s not the point. The key isn’t shooting, it’s everything else. Even if you learn to shoot, it’s meaningless. Can you pass the ball? Can you trap the ball? Do you know how to position yourself? How much do you know about the rules of football? You don’t know any of this, so even if you learn to shoot, what’s the point? Even if you get on the field, what can you do? You can’t do anything, you won’t even get a chance to shoot. So what you should be doing now is still basic training. You’ve already learned juggling, so start learning passing and receiving.” This time, Warren didn’t glare at his own players, because he also found Logan Grant’s lack of knowledge alarming…

“Passing and receiving?”

“Yes, passing and receiving—the most commonly used technical skills in football matches. They’re also the most important. When a player gets the ball, over eighty percent of the time, he passes it to a teammate; the rest is shooting or dribbling. So passing and receiving are the most important. If you want to get on the field as soon as possible, then passing and receiving are the most important skills you must master.” Although he didn’t know why Logan Grant was so eager to play in matches, he thought that using this as a carrot on a stick might help Logan Grant focus on basic training.

“But before every training session, you still need to do thirty minutes of juggling practice. And juggling isn’t something you can stop practicing once you’ve learned it—ball control needs to be maintained regularly, so juggling practice will always be with you.”

Although Logan Grant was still a bit unwilling, he had no other choice but to accept the reality of training passing and receiving. When will I finally get to play in a match…

“So overconfident… tsk tsk!” Seeing the unwilling look on Logan Grant’s face, someone in the youth team mocked him.

Watching Logan Grant turn away with a slightly unwilling expression, Warren thought about Logan Grant’s learning ability… He suddenly became very curious—if Logan Grant keeps progressing at this rate, just how far could he go?

It’s really something to look forward to!

Warren didn’t pay any attention to those mocking voices at all…

Chapter 7: Shooting

Passing and receiving training is the foundation of Brazilian football training, the most important technical training item, and even after mastering it, players continue to practice it regularly. Even now, São Paulo’s under-18 youth team schedules two dedicated passing and receiving training sessions every week.

Coaches use a variety of ever-changing running and passing drills to train players’ ability to pass and receive while on the move, requiring them to make quick, continuous, one-touch passes during the drills. This training method is highly effective for developing the Brazilian style of short-passing teamwork.

But that’s advanced training content.

Right now, what Logan Grant needs to do is the most basic, most fundamental passing and receiving training.

He and Lucas stood facing each other, passing the ball back and forth.

No need to run back and forth; both passing and receiving were done while standing still.

In a ten-yard (about nine meters) by ten-yard square space, Logan Grant and Lucas passed the ball to each other. They started with the simplest, but also the most commonly used pass—the inside-foot push pass.

The push pass is the most reliable technique for making accurate, short-distance ground passes. When passing, the kicking foot turns outward and the part of the shoe that contacts the ball should be at the correct angle to the ball. The ankle must be tense and kept firm, or else you can’t control the direction of the pass. Also, to avoid kicking the ball into the air, the shoe should strike as close as possible to the horizontal midline of the ball.

The supporting foot should be far enough to the side of the ball to allow the kicking leg to swing freely.

Receiving with the inside of the foot is also very simple. Just like the push pass, except one is striking the ball and the other is cushioning it—when the ball rolls over, the receiving foot should pull back slightly to cushion the ball, so that if the incoming ball is too strong, it won’t bounce away and be lost. This is where all of Logan Grant’s juggling practice comes in handy.

Thanks to juggling practice, he was already used to the feeling of pulling his foot back to cushion the ball. With juggling, after cushioning, you have to immediately flick the ball up again, but with receiving, you don’t need to do that—just cushion the ball and stop it dead.

So for Logan Grant, who had already mastered juggling, receiving with the inside of the foot was very easy.

After Lucas broke down the key points of passing and receiving, he stepped back and began practicing with Logan Grant.

“Come on, pass the ball to me.” Standing about nine meters away, Lucas raised his hands and called out to Logan Grant.

Meanwhile, on the training ground, the youth team players were also watching this training session.

They turned their heads to look at Logan Grant.

They saw Logan Grant step back, then swing his right leg and kick the ball!