Yes but once you make that glance and scan to find your teammates, which should only take a second, your focus is back on the ball coming into your feet. Put it this way, ball coming in you can focus on it OR see it in your periphery. Moment ball makes contact, your eyes should be on it solely. But that is but a split second, then your eyes are back up.The whole idea is that you're gathering information. Info about the ball, teammates, and defenders. Between what I see of the ball (periphery) and my touch on the ball, I have plenty of info on where it is and what it's doing (bouncing, settled, rolling slowly, etc.). The brain is an amazing computer, it'll fill in the blanks. So it's just a series of split second glances all over the field and at the ball—you'll hear the expression "he's taking pictures" to describe certain players who have an uncanny ability to pick out teammates.
But to answer your thread title, again, knowing where the ball is, defenders, and most importantly spaces between defenders. Having your head up/look up does not mean you cannot see the ball.
Dribbling is done for two purposes, dribble to penetrate and dribble to possess. I assume you're talking about beating defenders, then you need to see that space between and behind defenders because that is what you're trying to exploit—can't do that if your head is down too much.
I coach a 10 YO who is new to competitive soccer (played recreational previously). She can't pick her head up yet, so it's all head down dribbling, and she'll dribble until she loses it or makes a blind pass. You don't want to play like a 10 YO rec player
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