Saturday, July 19, 2008

Advanced Offense - Wingman/Corner Kick

This offense works great on corner kicks or kick-ins close to the goal. It is by far our most copied play, with several teams going on to win nationals using this play as a staple. Normally, on corner kicks, teams try to kick it to another player who deflects or heads the ball into the goal, which works about one in twenty times. The wingman play, when you learn how to run it (and if your players have good touch), scores 50% of the time or more. It isn’t uncommon for this play to score several goals in a game. It also looks really good.

The set up is similar to the kick in (switch) play in that a player is on the ball, another by the sideline with the other forward in the middle of the field. The difference is that the two players by the ball (near the corner) are closer, roughly 10 feet apart, and they should be your best touch players, while the player on the other side of the field should actually stand far away in the midfield center circle.

1) The main play is for the player in the corner to pass the ball to the player on the side line. From this position, the side line player will attack the first defender; meanwhile the corner player will be moving down the end line, toward the goal, and the player in the middle of the field will also begin his run toward the goal. When the first opponent pushes up to stop, simply pass to your end line player who will dribble down the line and have three options against their last defender. Because all of your players are closing in on the goal, the end line player can either: a) pass the ball back to the player who had come from the sideline, in essence a give and go; b) pass the ball to the player who ran in from the midfield; or, c) if the defender tries to block the pass, simply shoot the ball directly into the goal.

2) If, after the initial pass out of the corner, the defender rushes in and tries to block any pass back to the end line runner, simply dribble around the defender. Again, your player will have three options against the last defender of passing off to either of the two players or shooting the ball in the goal.

3) If on the initial pass, or if they send everyone to stop this play, your player in the center circle should see this and make a run toward the goal. Simply pass to space in front of this player for a redirect into the goal, in essence, a normal corner kick play.

All seven of these options have produced goals for us; and you don't have to wait until a corner kick to use this play as any kick close to the corner will work too.


Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Common Offenses and Defenses...

In 3v3 soccer, I don’t prefer one style. Instead, I let my team play different styles, especially in practice where one team is the scout team, playing various styles, while the “other” team plays the style to beat it. Over the years, we have faced the following styles:

Bumble Bee Defense: This is sometimes called the bee hive where everyone chases the ball. You see this style played by young teams. Simple passing beats this style.

Hog Ball Offense: This is where whoever has the ball tries to score and they never pass even when teammates are open. Actually, this is the favorite of my scout team because they want to see if they can dribble through everyone and score. This style has trouble against the bumble bee defense but can work when you have a 1v1 situation and teammates are covered. Another defensive strategy against this style is the funneling defense.

Counterstrike Offense: When the defense steals the ball, a player sends it downfield, with backspin toward the goal. This is effective if the counterstriking team has fast players and the opponents have pressed too far upfield. Back players need to be fast to stop this.

Running One-Touch Scoring Offense: On kick-ins on the scoring side of the field, intead of controlling the ball, the offense runs toward the kicked-in ball and tries to one-touch the ball into the goal. To stop this, defenders need to meet the ball instead of waiting for it to reach the player.

Planted Player, Offense and Defense: This is when a team plants their back player in front of the goal and the player doesn’t come out to help offensively. The two forwards are sent ahead, 2v3 style, to try and score. While this offense rarely scores many goals, it does make it difficult for the opponents to score. If the opponents do score, then it’s hard to come back because the winning team can play possession ball. Backdoor plays and 1v1 can beat a planted player style. A variation of this style is when the back player is very good and fast. As soon as the ball is stopped by the back player, the back player goes into hog ball mode or passes it up to another player. If the other team has pushed up too far, they are susceptible to a counter strike or a cross the midline shot. If you play against this style, make sure your team does not force the ball with long shots. When your team does take a shot, make sure it’s at the corners of the goal and midriff level so a missed shot goes out and your opponent’s feet cannot stop the ball easily. You do not want to shoot directly at your opponent’s back player because that is what they want.

Front Line, Offense and Defense: This is when no one plays back but everyone stays up. When this style loses the ball, they are susceptible to counterstrikes or balls passed into space behind them.

Long Ball Offense: This is a 50/50 style where you always fight others for the ball. If you play good teams, it usually results in a turnover. However, if your team is super fast this can work really well, especially against younger teams. The drawback is that it tires out your players. One hint, that's worked for us when we've needed a last second goal, is to send a long ball that bounces in front of their deep players (because that type of ball can be hard to control) with your forwards ready to pounce on the rebound off their players, which almost always happens against young teams. Again, your forwards should not wait behind the defense but slightly in front, expecting the rebound.

Crisscrossing Offense: This is when forwards, on opposite sides of the field, run past each other to each other's previous spot. Defenders need only keep their spot and allow the forwards to tire themselves out.

Long Shot Offense: You'll find teams that have sharp shooters, players that cross the line and take long shots that go in. Pressure man usually stops this offense because you're always covering someone and not allowing them to take the shot.

Triangle Offense: This is the most popular for good structured teams. Everyone stays spread out, like a triangle with the back player acting as the bottom point of the triangle. This style works well against bumble bee teams. Pressure Man Defense can stop this style. If everyone pushes up, this offense is susceptible to fast breaks or crossing midline shots.

Backdoor Offense: This is when two players attack the back defender on a fast break. The player with the ball runs wide, to force the back defender to swing around, trying to stay between the ball and the goal, which opens "the door" for the second player. To defend against this, your forwards must run back, and they must run into the passing lane, not after the ball. Your defender must be disciplined and understand that his job is to stay between the ball and the goal and force the pass. Forcing the pass allows for two mistakes: a bad pass or a bad redirect on goal. Many times, I see the back players trying to stop the pass, not realizing they are just leaving the goal wide open for an easy goal by the opponent dribbling in.

Pressure Man Defense: This is when one player moves in slowly on the ball while the other two players cover their man. (Posted in more detail earlier.) This style is only played by the good teams. Ways to beat it are switching plays (posted earlier), 1v1 if you have players that can dribble well, front line offense where everyone pushes back making them come up forward and then beating them with a pass into space.

Those are the basic styles you’ll face and each can be used effectively depending on the style you play against. There are four other styles which I didn’t mention because we rarely played against them, but we used to great affect. They are the wingman offense, crossing runs offense, give and go offense, and I-formation defense. I’ll post those later...