Up to now, Puskas has been a big symbol in Hungary, and every young player there dreams of becoming like him. Puskas is often used as an example by teachers when they work with young players.
Puskas is only 1m72 tall, but he plays on the offensive line. When he played, his skills were having a low centre of gravity like Maradona, very strong thighs, and… small feet.
Dominik Szoboszlai, a youngster for Liverpool, was greatly influenced by the great Ferenc Puskas.
Which is the reason Dominik Szoboszlai’s feet are so small?
With a height of 1m85, Szoboszlai has a very different body shape than Puskas. They are only alike in that they both have small feet. According to British standards, both of them wear shoe sizes 7 and 8, which are pretty small for experienced athletes.
I want to share a video from Hungary—Szoboszlaiból európai topjátékos lehet—on YouTube.
Szoboszlai often wore shoes that were one size too small for her feet when she was a child. An friend of this player said that this choice was made by Mr. Zsolt, who is Szoboszlai’s father. In his younger years, Mr. Zsolt was also a good player, and he thought he was doing the best thing for his son by letting him play. This person remembered that Szoboszlai’s movements as a child, like running through plastic bottles while holding a golf ball, seemed very strange to them.
A lot of people think that your feet will stop growing if you wear shoes that are too small. Because of this, the player still feels good on the ball during practice.
“That’s a tip for young players,” said someone with ties to the Szoboszlai family. For most players, having a big foot makes it hard to keep the ball in your hands.
You need long legs and small feet to kick well. That’s why Dominik’s dad was always very strict with him. “Now look at him.”
Messi is another name that comes up a lot when people talk about the story of small feet. El Pulga wears size 41 shoes, which is another reason why the Argentine captain has better control of the ball and can dribble in any direction with ease.
Do short feet make you good at football?
The claim above might not be supported by science, though. However, some experts say that there is no proof that having small feet will help a football player do better. A lot of teachers also believe that players with big or medium-sized feet can still play elite football without any problems.
“Does foot size really affect the ability to shoot?” asked Rene Meulensteen, who coached Manchester United’s first team from 2007 to 2013. Not much, because how well you hit the shot also matters. technique, posture, legs, arms, and hands.
It’s not true that Ronaldo doesn’t know how to shoot; he’s 1m87 tall and wears size 42 shoes. Ibrahimovic is the same. You can count on both of them to score goals. I think they know how to get the ball and finish. So, does the size of your feet still matter?
Another striker coach who has worked with many foreign players agrees: “Technique, not foot size, is the most important thing.” Your shot will have more power if you use the right method.
Just look at Kevin de Bruyne. He hits the ball really hard, and he’s not the short guy or anything. Still, he is a top player in every way.
To sum up, the question of whether feet are big or small rests on what each person thinks. Now that doesn’t matter for Szoboszlai either. Now he needs to show how good he is at Liverpool and give his all to the national team.
