Defending Against The Dribble

In my last post I talked about a way to help your attack, but in this post I'm going to help you practice defending an attacking player dribbling. To become a great player you need to be what players call a "Two-way" player, which means that you're able to attack and defend. It is very important that you can learn the proper ways of attacking and the proper ways of defending in case you get caught in either scenario during a game. Here are the steps on Defending the Dribble in High Performance Soccer by Paul Caliguri.


Step 1:

                 When you are defending  a dribble, you need to have your eyes riveted to the ball at all times. Your weight needs to be on the balls of your feet as you bend down from your knees and your waist keeping your balance at all times.

Step 2:

                You need to be able to move as quickly as possible to the plyer in possession of the ball. If you can slow the player down you gain an advantage over them.

Step 3:

               Get close enough to the player to bring their head down towards the ball giving them less opportunity to scout up at their surroundings. NEVER charge a player as they can easily move out of the way and get past you, always stay close enough to the ball to slow them down but move with them as they run forward.

Step 4:

         Try to keep a foot closer to their player and direct them to a position that will minimize a risk to your team. When the time is right either catch them off guard or wait till they get nervous enough for you to win the ball back and start a counter attack.

Do you think that this is a good way to defend, or are there more effective ways?