If you’ve been watching the World Cup closely — really closely — you’ll have spotted the cow’s tail.
It made a rare appearance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Saturday during the second half of the Brazil versus Morocco game, close to one of the corner flags and with about 15 minutes of normal time remaining. It was beautiful, too.
In case you think the heat is starting to get to us and that we’re going slightly mad, we’re talking about the wonderful piece of skill used by Ismael Saibari, Morocco’s prodigiously talented forward, to nutmeg the Brazil left-back Douglas Santos, leading to gasps from the crowd.
Saibari’s 180-degree sweep turn is called ‘la cola de vaca’ in Spanish, which translates as ‘the cow’s tail’, and is a move that was popularised by the Brazil and Barcelona legend Romario in the 1990s. It also happens to be one of the 10 skills that features in the first part of our How To Series, which breaks down some of the best dribbling moves and turns used by the world’s greatest players with the help of video tutorials.
Watch and learn, and you could be sprinkling magic at your local five-a-side pitch next week with Ronaldinho’s ‘hocus pocus’ move.
Across the six-part series, we’ll also be demonstrating the art of shooting, exploring some of the best types of passes in the game, looking at a wide range of set pieces, hearing golden tips about goalkeeping, and showing you how to take on and master the ball-juggling challenge that was inspired by a Diego Maradona warm-up in 1989.
To guide you through it all, we’ve got four players with more than 1,500 appearances in professional football between them, including current and former internationals and a cult hero who takes penalties while pretending to tie up his laces and performs like a seal — literally.
We also have a content creator with a knuckleball free-kick technique that’s straight out of the David Luiz playbook, a talented schoolboy from Liverpool’s academy, and three other teenagers who are just starting on their journey in the world of professional and semi-professional football.
Meet the cast…
Eman SV2
Football YouTuber and global content creator who has more than five million subscribers. Eman Balogun had aspirations of becoming a professional footballer before another career took off online. A proud Nigerian and a lifelong football fan, Eman has played and managed in the Baller League, shared a pitch with Thierry Henry and Eden Hazard, and loves a free kick of any description.
Tom Huddlestone
Compared to an NFL quarterback by his former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp because of his ability to “deliver passes on a sixpence from anywhere on the pitch”. An elegant striker of the ball, Huddlestone spent eight years at Spurs, where he made the majority of his 242 Premier League appearances, playing alongside Luka Modric and Gareth Bale and winning four England caps.
(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Lee Trundle
Nicknamed ‘Magic Daps’ and known as the king of the showboat because of his flamboyant playing style in the lower leagues in England, where his repertoire of flicks and tricks, including a famous ‘shoulder roll’, reached a wider audience courtesy of Sky Sports’ iconic Saturday morning television show Soccer AM. Aged 49, Trundle is still totally in love with playing football.
Tom Davies
Broke through in the Premier League at the age of 17 at his boyhood team Everton, scored a superb solo goal in a man-of-the-match performance against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City a year later and became the club’s youngest-ever captain under Marco Silva. Davies, aged 27 and now a free agent, made 179 appearances for Everton before joining Sheffield United three years ago.
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Lawrence Vigouroux
International goalkeeper for Chile, where he has established himself as the country’s No 1 after impressing since making his debut against Brazil at the Maracana last year. After spending his younger years with Spurs and Liverpool, Vigouroux played for Swindon Town, Leyton Orient and Burnley before signing for Championship club Swansea City in 2024.
Rafferty Bolshaw is a Liverpool Under-14 midfielder who started his academy journey at Southampton. A student of the game from an early age, he combines technical ability with a deep understanding of positional play. He has spent lots of time studying concepts such as scanning, awareness and decision-making.
Shay Dunn signed for Coventry City in January after enrolling at Volenti Academy in London, alongside left-wing back Jimmie Basquine and goalkeeper Kieran Bassom.
Right, let’s find out more about how to do that cow’s tail…