Strasbourg’s Martial Godo is going viral for his cool eye routine before scoring a goal.
Martial Godo was seen doing eye exercises during his warm-up before Strasbourg’s big 5-1 win over Auxerre – and the cool video is quickly gaining attention. Strasbourg scored five goals on Sunday, with Godo, Dario Essugo, Conrad Harder, and Gessime Yassine (who scored twice) leading the way.
It was a special day for Godo, who scored his first goal of the season after doing some eye exercises to help sharpen his vision before the game. In the video, you can see him moving his fingers in front of his face while shifting his gaze and closing one eye repeatedly. Research shows this can improve how well you notice and understand what’s around you.
After the match, Godo shared his thoughts: “As an attacker, I like to do visualisation before the match. It helps me feel like I’m already in the game.” Eye exercises are becoming more popular in football. Optometrist and sports vision expert Patrícia Rodrigues, who’s worked with teams like Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Leeds, recently talked about this.
Alexandre Carvalho said Patrícia found that six weeks of visual training helped improve players’ skills. For a striker, this means being able to read defenders just a bit faster. “The key is that players don’t react to what’s happening—they react to what they see. And training your vision works just like training your body: tracking the ball, seeing around you, and processing things quickly.”
Godo isn’t the only player using these techniques. Recently, Wout Weghorst was seen doing similar eye exercises, using his fingers to boost awareness. Even Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has been working on his vision. The former Liverpool player did a six-week program with eye expert Dr. Daniel Laby, involving eye patches, peripheral vision drills, and virtual reality exercises to help spot passing options better.
Alexander-Arnold said, “If I can see the whole pitch and all the options, I can make the right decisions every time.” He added, “I hadn’t really focused on my vision before, and I don’t think many players have. It was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.”