The 2014 World Cup kicks off on June 12th. The best soccer players from around the globe will be gathering in Brazil to represent their countries.
Something that is overlooked in the game of soccer is the ability to draw a call and put your team in a place to score a goal. This is also known as flopping and most of the top players for each nation are also their best actors.
Flopping is the art of falling down on purpose to simulate contact and draw a penalty. It is and will always be a part of the game but is rather frustrated when your team is on the opposite end of a bad call.
Expect to see a lot of this in the upcoming World Cup where tensions will be high and nobody wants to go home early.
[new page = 10. Nani, Portugal]
Nani isn’t typically a flopper but when he chooses to try, he can succeed. He is more known for his ability to drag out a flop by rolling around on the ground and grabbing his legs in pain.
In the video above it is hard to see but simply put, how would he fall like that if it was an actual trip?
[new page = 9. Wayne Rooney, England]
Wayne Rooney is the highest paid soccer player in the upcoming World Cup. He got there by consistently being one of the best players in the world. He also knows how to draw a penalty.
He has always claimed to be an honest player but Ronaldo must have taught him a thing or two during their time together with Manchester United.
[new page = 8. Dani Alves, Brazil]
Brazil has its fair share of bad actors, but they will all typically try to get a free call or two. As for Dani Alves, he could be in movies. In the above video he does not get touched by Pepe and yes his fall probably hurt a lot, but grabbing the ankle and squirming on the ground was his true masterpiece.
[new page = 7. Fernando Torres, Spain]
Fernando Torres is one of the most famous floppers in the world. Had this list been made seven years ago, he would be number one.
At the end of the above video his dive against Chile in the 2010 World Cup got a Chile player red carded.
[new page = 6. Neymar, Brazil]
Neymar is a young player who could very well be the next Christiano Ronaldo. He could very well be the best player in the world before the start of the 2018 World Cup.
He could also completely erase Ronaldo’s flopping legacy and replace it with his own. The video above is from one game… If he flops that much in every game, he will be there sooner than we think.
[new page = 5. Luis Suarez, Uruguay]
Entering the top five, the rest of the names are the best actors in the game today. Suarez is certainly one of them and not for his constant flops, but his placement on the field.
He is constantly trying to get a call in an opposing team’s danger area. He wants a close free kick or a penalty shot because that is where he excels.
[new page = 4. Sergio Busquets, Spain]
Busquets might be the most frequent flopper on this entire list. He would be higher but he doesn’t get as many calls as he tries for. His shining moment however happens 2:51 into the above video when he awards Sergio Ramos a red card for ‘elbowing him in the face’ however if you keep watching, his face is never touched.
[new page = 3. Arjen Robben, Netherlands]
Robben is lethal with this left foot. He has also been building a portfolio of clips for his potential acting career after soccer. His signature involves flying through the air to draw a call.
Typically when the ball in on his right side and he sees little opportunity to get the ball onto his left foot, he will try and draw a call. He succeeds most of the time that he isn’t in the opposing team’s box.
[new page = 2. Angel Di Maria, Argentina]
Di Maria must love the taste of grass because more times than naught he will fall to the ground by his own doing just inside or outside the opposing team’s box. His most famous and very successful dive comes 2 minutes into the above video when his flop sets up a free kick that earns Real Madrid the game tying going against Villarreal CF.
[new page = 1. Christiano Ronaldo, Portugal]
There is a lot to like about Ronaldo’s game, but also a lot to hate. He is one of the two best players in the world, but he stands alone when it comes to flopping. He loves it.
It almost seems as if every time a play doesn’t go his way, he takes a dive. But no, he doesn’t stop there. With every dive comes the much needed acting that follows. Basically he will squirm on the ground for a minute and grab a body part that he is claiming to be hurt.
The absolute best situation occurs when he “injures his foot” to get a call. Then as soon as you know it he is back on his feet and kicking the ball with that same injured foot like nothing had happened.