Soccer Basics 2

 Soccer is not only based on your individual skill but also how good you work with your teammates and the strategies that you use both on offense and defense,

      Offense

• The team that keeps possession of the ball the most throughout the game will most likely win.
• Another strategy is to keep switching the point of attack on the field, this means if you are on the left side of the field you can hit a long pass to the right side of the field and attack from there.
• Long throw-ins can e essential to a good attack as it allows the attacking team to get down the field easier.
• On goal kicks there are usually two ways to do them, either play long or play short. Playing long doesn't guarantee you will retain the possession of the ball but you are not in the enemy half. Playing short you will be able to keep possession of the ball but you are still in your own half of the field.
• On corner kicks you have to play based on the defense, so if the defense is packed inside the 18-yard box you can play short, if the defense is spread out you can play long into the box and try to score from a header.
• Penalty kicks are generally easy, your best shooter will most likely do the job and get a goal.

     

     Defense

• When you are defending the ball it is a good idea to try to force the player and the ball towards the sidelines as the sideline acts another defender so the attacker doesn't have as many options to get out.
• The defense can play with an offside trap as a way to put the attacking player in a offside position so the defense could get the ball back.
• The number of players in the back can also give you a disadvantage or an advantage. Having 4 people in the back is normal but if you want to be more of a counterattacking team you can play with 3 in the back, its more risky but also more rewarding, "Although the forwards were still scoring more easily than in the past, the defenders were rapidly making progress in stopping the onslaught of balls flying into the net..."(Stewart 37).
• On corner kicks it is most common to just find a attacker and stick close to tem/mark them but you can also choose to play a formation in the 18-yard box to defend the corner kick.
• On free kicks it is also normal to put a "wall" in front of the ball which to means to put a certain number of players 10 yards in front of the ball. The number of players in the wall depends on how close the attacking team is to the goal, the farther the less amount of players in the wall.
• On throw-ins teams will almost always just mark a man and try to get the ball back by putting pressure on the attackers.

   If you have any questions please ask in the comments below.
   Stewart, Gail B. Soccer. Lucent Books, 2001