You should look at both
WTF MkII. Seriously? Kicking A Football 101 - watch the ball onto the boot.
Look at the target, then watch the ball hit your boot. To me it looked like Astbury would glimpse at a target the watch his boot the whole time and not at the ball going to his boot. But WGAF what someone on the internet says
No-one GAF but it's an interesting point you make. Of course you might look at the target but that has nothing to do with the kicking action which is what was being discussed. It is quite possible and normal to kick 'blindly' - to a voice or on instinct rather than make visual contact but at no point ever in the kicking action should you be looking anywhere except ball onto the boot as you strike. And I would like to know how you can tell from either a TV screen or live at the ground, whether a player is actually looking at their boot or the ball during the kicking action. Some interesting theories and observations about the basics of football in this thread. 
Quick question, do you count the follow through as part of the kicking action, or once it hits the boot is that the end? In my mind I count the beginning (wind up and target spotting which as you said can be verbally but in this case he did look for the target), "the kicking action" and the follow through. I saw it live and on the TV and I could be wrong but as I said
to me it looks like he stares at his foot.
A bit relevant to this debate about looking at the ball is this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSL-gPMPVXI from the 19.30 mark till whenever that bit finishes. Obviously a bit different and Ronaldo is a different kind of beast but its interesting and would recommend watching the whole thing if you have time
