Word of the Week: Bananenflanke
June 21, 2016
At the EURO 2016 in France, top from across the continent squads are fighting to stay in the competition, and capitalizing on each and every chance they get to score a goal.
Just one tiny mistake or wasted opportunity could be enough to send a team packing. Every pass, corner ball, and free kick counts. And for some players, that means pulling off a winning Bananenflanke - literally, a "banana cross."
It's a curling ball with so much spin that it appears to be traveling on a banana-shaped trajectory. Soccer players use the Bananenflanke when they're crossing from the sideline, or booting a free kick, in the hope that it'll curl around a wall of defenders, catch the keeper off-guard, or swerve towards the goal.
It's the Magnus effect - named after German physicist Gustav Magnus - that makes the spinning ball change direction in the air.
Not everyone can carry out a successful Bananenflanke, though. It takes skill, precision and a cool head. In a recent Euro Cup match against Austria, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo didn't quite manage the Bananenflanke he's otherwise so good at - and took some heat from the press after that. But fromer British player David Beckham is perhaps best known for the skillfull way he could "bend" the ball.