The McGeady cancel is a fake turn. You show the start of a McGeady spin, stop it as the defender reacts, and take the ball the other way. The McGeady spin is a turn associated with Irish winger Aiden McGeady. The "cancel" version comes from football video game move lists, and no coaching body describes this exact move, so this lesson builds it from sourced feint and sole-turn technique. We read the fake: you begin the rotation, then cut it short and reverse your weight the other way, staying balanced. The ball and the defender's read aren't visible to the camera.
Set up
Dribble at the defender with the ball close but not under your feet. Keep your head up and your body relaxed, not stiff.
Ball close, eyes up.
Slow down before the move with shorter strides and bent knees, doing most of your braking on the step before it, so you arrive under control instead of stopping in one stride.
Brake early, stay springy.
Show the spin
Put the sole of your foot on top of the ball as if you're about to drag it into the spin.
Sole on top, ball still.
Turn your head and shoulders toward the spin. Keep your hips and weight over your standing foot so you can still come back. Don't let your hips swing round.
Shoulders sell, hips stay home.
Cancel
Watch the defender. Cancel the instant they shift their weight or step toward the turn, not before.
Wait for the lean.
Stop the rotation, turn your shoulders back, and with your very next touch push the ball the other way with the inside or outside of your foot.
Stop, flip, touch.
Push off with your knee bent and your chest up, not leaning sideways, and accelerate into the space. Don't stop with the ball dead at your feet.
Go, don't admire it.
Feel it
Your head and shoulders tell the defender you're turning, but your weight never leaves your standing foot. When they lean, you're still balanced, so stopping the turn and going the other way takes one touch, not a recovery step. Then you're away at speed.
Fix-its
- The fake doesn't sell: only your foot moves Sell it with your head and shoulders turning toward the spin. A sole on the ball with a square body tells the defender nothing.
- You commit to the spin and can't come back Keep your hips and weight over your standing foot. Turn the upper body only, so the cancel is one touch, not a stumble.
- You cancel before the defender reacts Wait until they shift their weight or step toward the turn, then go.
- The ball dies under your feet or drifts away Keep the ball close and keep moving. Your next touch after the fake pushes it into space.
- No burst after the cancel Accelerate the moment the ball goes the other way. The fake only buys a gap if you use it.
Drill
- Walk-through: dribble to a cone, show the spin, cancel and go. Do each side at least twice, with both feet.
- Line run: cones 15 m apart. Dribble at the far cone, fake the turn one way and go the other. 4 reps with each foot.
- Defender progression: stationary defender, then a defender allowed one step toward the fake, then two or three steps, then fully live. Set up several 1v1 stations rather than one long line.
- Spin or cancel: in live 1v1s, do the full McGeady spin on some reps and the cancel on others, so you don't become one-dimensional.
- Great escape: 35x35 yd area with four gates and two guards inside. Dribble in and escape through a gate using the cancel or any feint. Rotate the guards every few minutes.
Sources
- Off The Ball (Calum Atkinson) — "Aiden's unbelievable": Meyler on McGeady (2021)
- John C. Harves, Coaching American Soccer — Intermediate dribbling: first fakes and feints
- FIFA Training Centre — Branimir Ujevic: Mastering ball control (2024)
- England Football Learning — Moving with the ball and turning session: moving with deception (2025)
- England Football Learning — How using the sole of the foot can benefit players (2023)
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting deception in movement: the case of the side-step in rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading: a scoping review, Sports Medicine (2019)
Last checked 2026-10-30.