This is two moves back to back: a chop that slices the ball sharply across behind your front leg, then an elastico that pushes the ball out with the outside of the foot and snaps it back with the inside. No coaching source we found teaches the pair as one move, so this lesson builds it from the sourced technique of each part; linking them is a variation. The analyzer reads your body through both parts (the chop's landing and cut, the elastico's out-and-in foot whip, and your balance), not the ball.
Set up
Own each move on its own first, with both feet. Start slowly and build speed only while you keep the ball under control.
Two clean parts before one combo.
Dribble at the defender with the ball close and your head up. Ease off a little on the approach to draw them in.
Close ball, eyes up.
Combo
Start the chop: push the ball slightly ahead, then hop so your non-chopping leg goes in front of the ball and both feet are briefly off the ground.
Legs out, airborne.
Chop the ball with the inside of your other foot, ankle locked and toe up, slicing it diagonally back across behind your front leg. Inside of the right foot sends it left, and vice versa. Your hips set the angle of the touch.
Snap it out of your feet.
Land on bent knees with your foot under you, not out wide. Keep the knee over the toes, not caving in, and your chest upright or leaning slightly toward where the ball went.
Soft, low landing.
Go straight into the elastico with the foot that landed in front of the ball. Use the front part of the outside of that foot to guide the ball a short way on in the chop's direction. Guide it, don't kick it.
Ball on a string.
Wrap the foot around the ball and snap it back the other way with the inside of the same foot. The two touches should merge into one quick motion, with the ball kept close.
Out, wrap, snap.
Sell the fake with your shoulder and head: drop the shoulder toward the outside touch, but keep your hips and weight near your midline so you can go the other way at once.
Shoulders lie, hips stay home.
Exit: take a bigger touch away from the defender, change pace and get your head up.
Burst out.
Feel it
The chop feels like a hop and a slice: you're in the air when the inside of your foot snaps the ball across. You land low and soft, and the elastico follows straight away, with the foot guiding the ball out and snapping it back as if it were on a string. Your shoulders and head do the lying while your hips stay under you. Then you speed off.
Fix-its
- The chop is flat-footed and the ball barely changes direction Get airborne with your legs moving out before contact, then chop with the inside of the foot, ankle locked and toe up.
- You land stiff-legged, wide, or with the knee caving in Land with a bent knee, the foot close under you and the knee over the toes. Slow the chop down until the landing is clean.
- The elastico's outside touch goes too far to wrap around in time Use the front of the outside of the foot and guide the ball a short way. Keep it close to your boot.
- Your whole body lurches with the fake and you can't get back Sell with the shoulder and head only. Keep your centre of gravity low and near your midline.
- The move works but you stall after it Plan the exit: a bigger touch into space, a change of pace and your head up.
Drill
- Each move alone: in a 15x25 yd area, dribble at a centre cone, chop, and join the far line. Swap direction to train the other foot. Repeat for the elastico, starting slowly and building speed.
- Link them: dribble at a cone, chop, go straight into the elastico, then exit. Speed up only while the ball stays close and the landing stays soft.
- Cone defender: set 3–4 cones as a defender. Run at them at speed with your head up, then chop, elastico with a dropped shoulder, and burst out.
- Semi-opposed: in the same 15x25 yd area, a passive defender goes live on your first touch. Use the combo when they get in front of you, and work both sides.
- Fully opposed: the defender can win the ball. Score by dribbling over the far end line. Do this after a full warm-up and while fresh, and stop if a knee or ankle hurts.
Sources
- GOAL — Best football skills: how to do the Ronaldo Chop, Elastico, Cruyff Turn and more (2022)
- Premier Users' Club (Sport Session Planner) — U12 Ronaldo Chop CGSC
- Premier Users' Club (Sport Session Planner) — DWB change of direction: Ronaldo Chop
- Ironbound SC (Sport Session Planner) — Change of Direction: Ronaldo Chop
- We Make Footballers (WMF Coaching Team) — How to master a flip flap (elastico) (2021)
- Sportplan — Flip flap / elastico 1v1 drill
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting Deception in Movement: The Case of the Side-Step in Rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
- US Youth Soccer — Skills School Manual (2017)
- Donelon, Dos'Santos, Pitchers, Brown & Jones — Biomechanical determinants of knee joint loads during cutting: systematic review and technical framework, Sports Medicine - Open (2020)
Last checked 2026-10-26.