Gifted deal-ball expert Carlo Armiento has won an Adelaide United A-League scholarship
Adelaide United scholarship holder Carlo Armiento says he now practices his free kicks with the Reds’ dead ball expert Craig Goodwin.
It’s definitely no fluke for Adelaide United’s Carlo Armiento, the Reds new scholarship holder: His set pieces are works of art.
So many footballers cannot master the skill even at the top level.
When Armiento, 19, takes a free kick outside the box his style is similar to Reds’ teammate, Socceroo Craig Goodwin.
The teenager says he owes his rare trait to his ex coach Damian Mori — an Adelaide City and Socceroos legend.
“Now I practice free kicks with Craig Goodwin,’’ Armiento said.
“We practice many after training for maybe 20 to 30 minutes and it’s great he’s a leftie too.
“I have always had an OK left foot and when I went to Adelaide City, Damian brought a new striker and he made me a winger.
“He took me to one-on-one sessions, shooting practice and wanted more finesse.
“I was taking set pieces for City, more at training until we played MetroStars in the (NPL) preliminary final in 2016.
“I was on the bench and Damian said to me “if you go on, you take the set piece if we get one outside the box.”
“That was my first ever free kick shot at Oakden, I scored and that goal took us to Hindmarsh (for the grand final).
“It went top corner. I hit the ball hard and put a lot of topspin on it.
“If I hit it hard enough, the top spin will do it, I wrap my foot around the ball.”
Armiento has been playing the game since he was in Adelaide City’s under-6s.
When he turned 11 he was picked by the SA federation’s Skilleroos program.
He was part of Adelaide United’s youth set-up, suffered from a long term injury before making a return to his first club Adelaide City where he had to virtually start all over again.
Former City coach George Tsonis played Armiento in the club’s under 18s before Mori took notice and promoted him to the first team.
He did enough at City to warrant a return to Adelaide United where he scored 12 goals in 22 NPL appearances this year before Reds boss Marco Kurz rewarded him with new A-League status.