If you aren’t keeping pace with them and they start to get ahead of you, don’t slide tackle as you’ll be more likely to get carded for tackling behind. Your opponent should be at most about 1 step ahead of you, as you’ll make up that ground with the slide. Slide tackling is only recommended as a last resort if your opponent is getting too close to scoring. If you can get the ball away by other means, you should do that instead of a slide tackle.
You’ll want to perform the slide when the ball is either out away from your opponent, or at least being kicked with the leg closest to you. This will give you the best chance of stealing it.
If you simply want to kick the ball away from your opponent, you don’t need to worry as much about your exact foot placement. If you want to hook the ball toward you and keep possession of it, then you need to have good control of how your foot connects with the ball.
You need to know if you are close to the out of bounds or the middle of the field and if you have teammates nearby or if you are alone. Watch the ball but have the rest of the area in your side view so you know what you’re dealing with. If you intend to steal the ball away but you are too close to the out of bounds line you may lose the ball unintentionally, so be extra careful in this case.
Your foot should go slightly out to the side of your body so that you don’t land directly on it. Immediately after the tackle, your bent leg will help you pop back up onto your feet.
An effective slide tackle needs to be one fluid motion that includes bending one leg, extending the other, sliding onto the ground and connecting with the ball.
Pointing the toes of the foot that will make contact with the ball is one of the best ways to avoid having your cleats up. It’s also the best form for hooking the ball, so there are 2 benefits.
Best case scenario is that you make contact with your laces as this gives you more control. Never make contact with the bottom of your foot. This is the point when timing is most important because you can easily miss the ball and make contact with the other player, which is not what you want to do. To knock the ball away, simply make good contact with your laces and your opponent should lose control. You can try to knock it out of bounds, or you can try to knock the ball toward one of your teammates
This is the trickiest part of the slide tackle as you may end up knocking it away even if you wanted to keep it. If you successfully pull the ball away, it’s important to get up and start dribbling it immediately before your opponent has time to react and steal it back.
Use your bent leg to push back up onto your feet quickly. It’s also helpful to use the arm on the same side of your body that kicked the ball to push yourself up.
Quickly scan the field to find your opponents. Try to get a pass off to a teammate if you aren’t in good field position.
A slide tackle that launches the ball across the field may not be the most helpful tactic, but if it does happen, you still have time to recover. If you locate the ball, make a quick decision about what you need to do to get back into the action.
