The Best Tackles in Football

By: Daryl | April 23rd, 2009

I’ve almost certainly bored you with this rant before, but here it comes again anyway: The art of defending doesn’t get anywhere near enough love. Not when the awards are given out, and definitely not on YouTube.

Everyone’s favourite video source is full to bursting with stepovers, rabonas and dribbles. But you have to look pretty hard to find footage of a quality block or slide tackle. Both Paul McGrath’s triple block vs Italy and Bobby Moore’s legendary tackle on Jairzinho took some serious detective work to track down, and those are supposedly two of the great defensive moments.

But all is not lost. One YouTuber out there took the time and effort to find some of the best tackles in recent football. Jaap Stam’s above pictured tackle on David Ginola is sadly not featured, but below you’ll see some quality defensive work from the likes of Fabio Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos, Steven Gerrard and others, all compiled into one action packed video:

(The images at the bottom are “kicks”, which you can click to visit the relevant website)

It’s just one video, and defensive highlights are still outnumbered something like ten billion to one by their more conventionally attractive attacking cousins on YouTube. But the above is proof that slide tackles can be just as exciting as stepovers, especially with some decent editing and a bit of music.

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: World Football

Tags: blocks, defending, defensive, highlights, slide tackles, tackles, World Football, World Soccer

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• Nick |  April 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 am

  
  
  

  Alessandro Nesta. Look no further for awesome tackles.

  Posted from United States

  

• Wayne Farry |  April 23rd, 2009 at 6:07 am

  
  
  

  You’re dead right Daryl. In my opinion a great tackle is just as breathtaking as the best 40 yarder or piece of skill.

  Posted from United States

  

• Gianfranco |  April 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 am

  
  
  

  The worlds greatest tackler of all time is the one and only Paolo Maldini, talking about tackles and not mentioning his name is almost sacrasant…observe

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ukH2AgNrw&feature=related

  Posted from United States

  

• Angelo |  April 23rd, 2009 at 7:32 am

  
  
  

  yeah…we hate defenders and players like Ronaldo just humiliates them no matter who it is. muahahahaha….

  Posted from United States

  

• alessio |  April 23rd, 2009 at 8:22 am

  
  
  

  daryl, I´m guessing you play as a defender?

  I do too, and I´m not sure if it´s because of that or becuase I´m a fan of Serie A, but I love great defensive work. Not clusterfuck in the box and someone clears over 90 minutes, but I just love to watch quality tackles.

  Posted from Spain

  

• Musab |  April 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 am

  
  
  

  Let’s not forget the skill that goes into these tackles. Flashy Brazilian playmakers aren’t the only ones who need to perfect their skills.

  Greatest Tackler: Bulent Korkmaz. He would always try to hurt his opponent after executing pinpoint slide tackles. When asked why he answered: “they have to understand that it’s just not worth it”

  Posted from United States

  

• dp |  April 27th, 2009 at 11:59 am

  
  
  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AH7aG0wc8U (Watch the first tackle)

  I still don’t know how Mascherano got the ball without breaking Kaka in half…amazing.

  Posted from United States

  

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