Back in 2001, I've managed to balance the ball on my neck and I thought whoa! I did something unusual to amaze my friends. Fast forward to date, balancing

the ball on the neck may look like a child's play to everyone. In fact, there are soccer tricks that's even impossible to do in the naked eye. So a couple

of weeks back, I had a conversation with my friend discussing about professional football or soccer because he's just won some amateur league in Australia

and to my amaze, I wanted to know more about his winning team. After the conversation I realised that he prefers professional footballers rather than

freestylers. So I decided to take initiative and find out who's the best in the world of football.

First, freestylers have the ability to perform a series of soccer tricks in combination ( combo ) like Palle doing foot stall then the ATW followed by the

crossover for example. Normally a footballer would juggle the ball with simple tricks and plants but freestylers combine these tricks to make it look like a

freestyle combo. Each freestylers have their own styles of performing combos which is why freestyle allow players to express creativity and improve on ball

control. In fact, I even admit that freestyle can be addictive at times especially when I managed to pull-off a combo for instance, recently I almost

managed to do the Touzani Around the World ( TATW ) which combines the ATW and crossover. Billy Wingrove once said in his DVD that freestylers tend to

create their own tricks from different angles of their upper and lower parts of their body. But the lifestyle of a freestyler is often more flexible and

earn their living by performing freestyles in various TV advertisements, TV programme shows, soccer clinics and others. However in the early 21st century,

Nike one of the largest contributors promote freestyle through adverts and allowing users to submit their own freestyle videos on the web. Other sites like

Youtube is also the best place to learn any soccer tricks step-by-step. In general, freestyle soccer is relatively easy to learn than being professional

footballer because the learning curve is less steep and may take about a month or two to learn any particular soccer trick.

Anyone can pick-up a football and play with his friends on the pitch or at the park. A footballer begins his career through playing in leagues or

tournaments with his team and get selected by one of the scouts or attend football team trials whether for school team or in football academy. In fact,

being selected for the team is the toughest part as footballers like David Beckham had to go through numerous trials to eventually being selected to play

for that team. Thus determination and courage are important attributes to achieve a winning mentality. The positions in football are varied from goalkeeper,

defender, midfielder and forward along with other supported positions like sweeper, winger and striker. Each position has their own relevant attributes like

stamina, passing, positioning, long ball, finishing etc. Normally at an early age, kids will explore these positions and also develop soccer skills and

tricks to improve their game. As they reach to higher level, the coaches will determine the positions that's suitable for them via training. But footballers

are not dependant on one position and has proved the fact that great players have the ability to play in different positions such as Thierry Henry drifting

wide from his forward position.

The highest level in football demands great first touch which is why I believe that freestyle complements football in improving ball control. In fact,

great players from Maradona to Cristiano Ronaldo plays freestyle football as a hobby to express their creativity by inventing new soccer tricks whether

juggling or ground moves while simultaneously improves their ball control as well. It's the first touch that allows a footballer to gain invaluable seconds

ahead of their opponent to either make a pass, cross the ball or score a goal.

However this is only a small piece of the jigsaw and skill alone is not a single factor to determine the best players. Footballers at higher level cope

with media day-in-day-out answering post-match interviews, signing autographs for the supporters, performing in front of the millions of football fans etc.

Thus they have to set good example and maintain healthy diet to prolong their career as a footballer. Freestylers are more flexible and may handle less

media pressure than footballers along with eating healthy diet and practicing their freestyling skills to improve their freestyle football. In fact, the

lifestyle as a freestyler is less complicated than being a footballer as they have less commitments but the price of being a footballer is worthwhile when

perceived as a superstar in the industry.

It's still early to say that freestylers are better than footballers as it's a growing industry and only started back in the early 21st century.

Footballers arise to these challenges and commitments to become the best player in the world of football and this factor alone determines why footballers are better than freestylers at the moment and as the saying goes ' there's more than meets the eye'.