Advanced Defense - I-formation

The I-formation is a team defense that is somewhat complicated, but very effective against a triangle attack on your side of the field. Ordinarily, when a team attacks in a triangle formation and their back player is dribbling up with the ball, your team will also settle into a triangle formation. But as their back player dribbles up, your team realizes someone must challenge him or her, so when one of your forwards leaves their forward to challenge their back player, it leaves their forward wide open to receive a pass. I’ve watched players run ragged going between the back player and the forward.

Instead of having one player running between two players, I created the I-formation to more evenly distribute the workload and force the opponent into a bad pass or a long shot and take away the easier tap-ins and backdoor plays.

Setup: Your back player stands directly in front of the goal while the other two players stand one in front of the other, creating an I formation on the field.

Responsibilities: Your forward player at the front of the line is responsible for their back player, i.e. the back of their triangle. Your middle player is responsible for their two forwards, and your back player is responsible for staying between the ball and the goal.

Movement: The tricky part is the movement of your two forward players in a circular motion, i.e. BACK, SIDE, and FOLLOW. So, if their back player passes it up to their forward, to either side, your middle player rushes out to the SIDE to meet the player with the ball, while your front player drops BACK into the middle slot. If their forward passes the ball back to their back player, your SIDE player now FOLLOWS the ball back to their back player, while your middle player continues to lurk in the middle. When the back player passes it forward again, your player who dropped BACK into the middle slot goes to the SIDE to meet your opponent’s attack, while your front player, who had just previously FOLLOWED the ball to the front, now drops BACK into the middle slot. If their forward manages to pass the ball across to the other forward on the other side of the field, your middle player, who just BACKED into the middle position, will go out to the SIDE, while your player who was on the other SIDE will now FOLLOW the ball back to the middle slot. Are you getting the circular pattern? Basically, you never want a defender running backwards to chase after a ball. Instead, your team is always sending someone forward to meet an opponent who is receiving the ball. You continue running this until they make a mistake.

Hints: remind your players that when they challenge a player, not to allow the opponent to simply dribble around them. Instead, your defender is trying to force the pass. Also, this defense requires a lot of practice so your players know where to go. Most players want to attack, not drop back. And the back player must be willing to take punishment, i.e. stop balls with his body as teams will try to force shots in.



So if your opponents have the ball on their side of the field, use pressure man. If they get the ball on your side, go into the I-formation.

Advanced Offense - Give and Go

This offense works as a full field offense. I didn't think of this offense and our team never used it, but I saw another team use it to great affect. The coach that was getting beat, came over and asked me how I would stop it. He was our rival at the time so I didn't tell him. But pressure man would stop it.

Basically, you start off in an inverted “T”, i.e. the back player on the end line by the ball along with one of the forwards, while the remaining forward is down the field. The back player passes the ball into the corner, and from there, the forward makes a run all the way toward the other side of the field using his teammates for give and goes. This gets you by the first two defenders, setting up a 1v1 situation with their back player.

Advanced Offense - Crossing Runs

This offense works great from the triangle setup or a kick-in (switching play setup) or kick-off where one forward is by the ball, the other forward is by the sideline and your back player is between them and slightly behind - similar to the triangle shape.

When the ball is passed back to the back player, three options occur:

1) If your opponent sends a forward (and they aren’t playing pressure man) that leaves a player open, but the ball should not be passed to the open player (which is option 3). Instead, the back player should dribble hard, across the field, away from the attacking defender toward the other defender who is marking your remaining forward. As this crossing/diagonal dribble occurs, your forward who is being marked should make a crossing or diagonal run behind his defender. The ball should then be passed through the middle, meeting the crossing forward in the middle of the field. Now you have an easy 2v1 scenario because your other forward, who was already left open, should be running toward the goal for a backdoor play. [Hint 1: an effective way to receive the ball is through your legs, and redirecting the ball with your back leg, the Cruyff move as shown in my 1v1 moves post, allowing you to turn quickly on the ball to be ready to shoot or pass while the defender has to adjust to your quick touch.] [Hint 2: if their back player pushes up to stop the play, your other players should yell, “Man on!” so the receiver knows simply to one-touch to the open forward for an easy backdoor play.]

2) If your opponent sends a forward but the other front defender stays with his mark, i.e. runs across the middle to stay with your forward, your back player, who is dribbling with the ball should simply continue his dribble toward the goal. The forward (now in the middle) should continue to the other side for a possible backdoor play while the forward by the sideline should drop back to cover the vacated back position, thereby recreating the triangle.

3) If there is a breakdown, remind your team they can always pass to the open sideline player who is the safety option if the play doesn’t develop or the back player gets into trouble.



Here's a clip of professionals breaking down a team with passing. Notice how the assisting player moves across the field (rather than down the field), then passes (same concept)...



VARIATION: When your team is in a triangle shape and your back player has the ball and your forwards are covered, one forward can simply run across the middle and your back player passes the ball up through the middle, setting up a 2v1 for an easy goal. If the back player presses up, one-touch to forward (who should tell the receiver if the back player has come up) or cut wide with a move. When defenses stay wide, most teams have their back player dribble up through the middle until the defense collapses on the player who usually passes off or shoots; but that doesn’t set up a 2v1 scenario.


NOTE: This offense works best against structured teams. In one tournament, we struggled against a fast, scrappy unstructured team that we beat 3-1. They liked our style and changed in the next game to become structured. They won the rest of their games and made it to the finals for a rematch. We expected a close game, but we won 10-0. Why? When they played structured, we knew exactly how to beat them.