Shadowing Practice: The 4 Habits Behind Messi's World Cup Hat Trick - Learn English Speaking with Video

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There's no doubt about it, Messi is slowing down with age.

At 38 the quickest thing about him isn't his feet anymore, it's his mind.

He's just scored a World Cup hat-trick so I'll show you four habits

that allow him to still compete at the elite level.

Whether you think Maradona is the greatest of all time, Cruyff, Pelé or Ronaldo is your GOAT, honestly it doesn't matter.

The one thing we can all agree on is this little man is a genius.

Let's learn as much as we can from him.

So first I'll show his habits, then I'll show how those habits got him all of the goals he scored yesterday.

So I'm going to start with the habit that he excels at, and that's dismarking.

Here, Messi starts in the centre of the pitch, as he was playing as a striker.

To make himself difficult to mark, he's going to drift to areas the defenders don't want to follow him.

And that's what dismarking is.

Here you'll see three separate players marking him.

First, a second, and now a third.

Then as the game moves back central, he just stays still.

Everyone else follows the ball, but he holds his position so that he has space.

Okay, the pass is over here, but it was a good chance to get on the ball in space

and from the resulting throw-in he manages to show us the next main element of dismarking

and that's being on the blind side of your defenders.

Okay so let's watch that back.

Here you can see Messi checking to see the situation and here's what he sees.

8-0 has a problem because he has a wide player to deal with

and the defender inside is ball watching so because he can't see him Messi is already thinking of getting behind him.

Then because the pass is played quickly, both defenders can't react in time.

Then if the final pass was a split second earlier, it was a goal.

Using the same strategy, he only had to wait 10 minutes till he got his goal.

So just watch this, it's the same thing.

Being blindside of both of those defenders.

Then dropping into areas they don't want to go.

See, he has to return to the middle to help his teammate, which creates a big gap between him and Messi, which as the ball circulates round,

gives Messi time and space to build the attack from deep.

Remember, this is where he started from, but really, to learn the most I want to look at his next position.

Ok we'll stop it here, so why is he here?

we agree he's specifically chosen this place to stand.

Let's rerun it.

So he starts here, he scans twice, both sides, and adjusts his position to be exactly here.

Why?

Well let's look at it.

So first, these two poor guys who've been given the job of tracking him, being behind them in the pocket means if he gets the pass, he can turn and they'll always be chasing him.

Second, if he was further inside close to this attacker, the defender could mark both.

and then most importantly with Lattaro Martinez pinning

and distracting these two other defenders it's not possible for them to jump

and press Messi so it's a perfect position let's see if

that pans out

so there's the pass the two midfielders can't catch him the furthest centre back's been dragged away by Messi's teammate

and the other two defenders have to track Lattaro

and Messi with time and space in this zone there's only one outcome what a fantastic goal

and all made by the sharpness of Messi's brain rather than his pace.

The next habit is how Messi goes against the flow.

You're going to see the flow of the game all head towards this corner.

Watch all of the players carefully.

They're heading towards that corner where the ball is.

But watch Messi.

He's the only player who is making movements against the flow.

He's not following the ball, he's heading to where he thinks space will emerge.

So against the flow is usually when teams are following the ball and by moving against that you can find big spaces.

This happened for Messi's second goal.

First what an unbelievable touching pass, but then as the ball breaks to the edge of the box, watch all the players again.

They all go towards the ball except Messi.

He's one step ahead, thinking of where the ball will be, not where the ball is now.

This gets him an easy finish for his second and that was Messi moving against the flow.

The next habit is when Messi is behind the attack.

I'll explain what that is.

When Messi was younger and he had pace he would have probably have made this run

but now he has to find ways to be effective without that pace.

How can he affect the game from behind the attack?

And not in this space.

So when he's behind the front line he's often following up passes

and arriving later after the front line of attackers have already hit the box.

Like here which ends up being a nice move but nothing comes from it.

But good habits get you rewards so he does get a goal from doing this too.

As the ball's played forward, watch Messi here.

He raises his hand to his teammate to indicate that he wants him to run behind.

Then Messi will switch roles and drop in to carry the ball.

Then, as he passes it, again, instead of running direct into the box, he holds to be behind the attack.

and here we go again it's Messi in this zone with time

and space so there's only one outcome and that's his third goal and his hat trick from arriving behind the attack.

Lastly there's a fourth habit that Messi has that I wanted to show

because it should have got him a fourth goal on the night

and whether you have pace or not you should be doing this as a forward player and that is to run behind.

It's so simple but it has so many benefits.

So Messi even without pace is always looking to run behind whenever a teammate has got his head up

and he's facing forward.

So here it's a well-timed run but this time it was ignored.

This next time he runs behind but this time is to push the defense back.

So there's other benefits rather than just getting in on goal.

So this creates a small pocket for him to drop into and get combining with his teammates.

So running behind still created all of this situation which was great play again and just a bit unlucky at the end.

So then the big chance that could have meant him scoring a fourth.

So there's Messi on the right wing again.

He's watching the situation, he's scanning the situation and then this is the key scan.

He sees his strike partner is going to drop in.

This could drag the centre back with him.

So as before Messi is already thinking one step ahead and thinking about the space behind that defender.

So as the pass comes through and before his teammate has even touched it, Messi is already running behind.

He's not the quickest but he's set off first.

So he's ahead of the defender, he can protect the ball and he should have made it four goals on the night.

Which was a fantastic performance.

A hat-trick has gone level with all-time top goal scorers for the World Cup.

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So as a recap, Messi dis-marks all the time.

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That's when he goes wandering, taking defenders where they don't want to go.

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He also looks to move against the flow.

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Don't just follow the ball and follow all of the defenders.

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Look for pockets of space that happen against the flow.

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The Messi always looks to arrive behind the attack.

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The Messi at this stage of his career always looks to arrive behind the attack.

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You don't have to be the first into the first into

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the box to score you don't have to be first into the box to score

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and lastly Messi looks to run behind it's the biggest threat you can have as a forward

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if you time that run and the pass is good it's an easy 1v1

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and you should score a lot of goals so

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that was four things to help you understand the genius of Lionel Messi all four are not technical skills.

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They're not difficult skills to learn.

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These are simple concepts that you can look for while you're playing that will improve your game.

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And why not try them in your next match?

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Again, thanks for all your support.

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Hit like and subscribe and I'll catch you on the next video.

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Thank you.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Este vídeo tiene 118 frases y 1501 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 9:13. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 163 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 87 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es fácil de seguir.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

15 palabras menos comunes del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

defender /dɪˈfɛndə(ɹ)/ (sustantivo) — defensor, defensora. Someone who defends people or property.
habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/ (sustantivo) — costumbre, hábito. An action performed on a regular basis.
teammate /ˈtiːmˌmeɪt/ (sustantivo) — compañero (de equipo), equipero. One who is on the same team.
pace /peɪs/ (sustantivo) — paso. A step taken with the foot.
arrive /əˈɹaɪv/ (verbo) — llegar, arribar. To reach; to get to a certain place.
pocket /ˈpɑ.kɪt/ (sustantivo) — bolsillo, bolsa. A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
trick /ˈtɹɪk/ (sustantivo) — truco, artimaña. Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
scan /skæn/ (verbo) — escrutar. To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
skill /skɪl/ (sustantivo) — destreza, habilidad. A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
outcome /ˈaʊtkʌm/ (sustantivo) — resultado. That which is produced or occurs as a result of an event or process.
genius /ˈd͡ʒin.jəs/ (sustantivo) — genio, genia. Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art…
lastly /ˈlæstli/ (adverbio) — postreramente, postrimeramente. Used to mark the beginning of the last in a list of items or propositions.
attacker /əˈtækɚ/ (sustantivo) — atacante, asaltante. Someone who attacks.
ignore /ɪɡˈnɔː/ (verbo) — ignorar, desoír. To deliberately not listen or pay attention to.
carefully /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ (adverbio) — cuidadosamente. With care; attentively, circumspectly.

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

look at (verbo) — mirar, funar. To observe or watch.
look for (verbo) — buscar, lambisquear. To seek.
come from (verbo) — ser de. To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
deal with (verbo) — tratarse de, ocuparse. To handle verbally or in some form of artistic expression; to address or discuss as a subject.
end up (verbo) — terminar, ir a parar. To bring to a conclusion.
follow up (verbo) — dar seguimiento, dar un seguimiento. To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify.
get on (verbo) — montar, cabalgar. To board or mount (something), especially a vehicle.
go against (verbo) — ir en contra de. To violate; to breach; to break.

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 25 contracciones y formas reducidas, como don't, I'll, can't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Palabras largas — cuida el acento: importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como defender, habit, teammate.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	who've been given · back's been dragged · have made
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is played · who've been given · been dragged

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: The 4 Habits Behind Messi's World Cup Hat Trick - Learn English Speaking with Video

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