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Football

25th Jun 2018

WATCH: Tim Cahill embarrasses teammate with nutmeg during skill game in training

Wayne Farry

This is how it’s done

Nutmegs are one of football and life’s greatest joys. They involve a player standing there with their legs wide open, like an unsuspecting seal just swimming calmly through what they perceive as safe waters.

Then, out of nowhere, a shark emerges out of the water to swallow them whole. This is what a nutmeg is, plain and simple.

It is the most humiliating act on a football field, and there is no coming back from it. Nowhere is this more true than on the training pitch, when not only are you humiliated but you are humiliated in front of and by your own teammates. It’s tragic.

As such, we were left with a mix of delirium and pity for one of Tim Cahill’s Australia teammates, who had his own soul handed to him during a Socceroos training session this week.

The training session saw the squad undertake the Rondo, which sees the majority of players congregate in a circle while passing the ball between, as a small number of players stand in the centre trying to get the ball back.

This particular Rondo was simply sublime, as the passing players ran the players in the centre into circles of confusion, before Cahill sent the squad into what can best be described as delirium with a nutmeg which will live long in the memory.