Practice set shots your entire.... life

A weak Fulham side tied my newest preferred team in the EPL, Blackburn, today. Blackburn got a decent goal and then with maybe 4 minutes to play, Fulham was awarded a free kick at about the 24 yard line. Fulham's star for the day, Bullard, had a teammate tap the ball and then sent the ball over the wall with spin to bring its energy back down and into the upper left corner to tie the game. They were ecstatic. Blackburn has the best goalie (Brad Friedel) in the best league in the world right now - he was defenseless against such a shot. Imagine what your opponent will do if you can even approach Bullard's skill today: They will be standing there thinking "We are doomed!" Having a player on the other team with this kind of skill is like having a mansion on skid row and no friends in the police department.

Practice set plays like that all you can. 10 per day. 15 per day is better. Success with these shots can make you the hero very fast.

David Beckham is a quality player, but his true brilliance is on set shots just like this one.

Pirlo produces Goal off a set play. Bonissimo!

Consider the first goal (1 minute). A set play shot done correctly is unstoppable. The defense shouldn't feel badly, except that they were inept enough to give a direct kick foul so close to the goal. Few players 30 years ago could do this. Now, many college and pro players can (though certainly not all).

Offenders: practice these many times to be the hero of a minimum 3 games per season. The trick to is to slice across the ball so that the spin brings it back down quickly. Pace is not the most important thing unless you want to launch the ball into the back row of the stadium seats. Slice. Practice the slice. 25 times a day? That's a starting point.

Here we go again. Is there no creativity left in soccer?

I have talked about negating, or at least reducing the threat posed by dominant players on the other side of the ball. In this video of David Beckham's first MLS goal (1 minute), the defense puts up the standard defensive wall, he shoots around it into the upper left corner of the goal. These guys on defense act like they are actually helping. They aren't.

The best part of the video is the shot of David's wife: she has seen this so many times that she isn't even impressed. So why don't teams try something different? I guess they haven't heard what Einstein said about trying the same failed solution over and over again: It indicates that you're crazy.

I only have some radically crazy solutions to creating a different defense for this kind of Beckham free kick. I won't share any here, because the specifics of the solution to great players isn't actually that important: the key to successfully defending great players is in having confidence to attempt that which others might consider folly.

If you think a defensive move or team defense plan will work and once it is clear that the normal plan won't work (it is quite clear in the Beck's case) then, by all means possible, try the new plan. The worst is having a little fun, showing you have guts and still getting scored on. And just imagine if your scheme were to actually work.

A wall 10 yards out in this video is just useless, so try something else.

In your own play, if you keep getting hurt by an offensive player, think as quickly as you can of some other play, some other way of conceiving your job, and then try it out.

The nice thing is that the worst you will get is the same poor result that no one will hold against you. And, .... it might just work.

"Golaaazo" or just a goalkeeper misjudgement? No comment. You decide.

This is too many teams' answer to the throw-in

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Originally uploaded by chrishinder

This is not a way to keep control of the ball. Nor is this a very good way to defend. This picture should be filled with defenders, and filled with offensive players on the move ready to receive the throw.

A throw -in should be treated like a free kick. It is one of the times when you have complete control of the ball. Don't waste it.

I like creative soccer, but not when it shows you don't know how to play the game

In this video (2 minutes), the Vietnamese defense appears to not know their job (twice).
In goal #1, the goalkeeper seems to just not keep track of the ball.
Better soccer is to ALWAYS keep your eye on the ball. Simple.
In goal #2 of a set play, the goalkeeper is rightly upset because the defensive wall is just an illusion, and the Iraqi player just shoots beside the wall.
Better soccer makes the offensive player AT LEAST shoot over the wall, since those shots that go over the wall and then drop quickly are not a widely-held skill.

Pass accurately, even on set plays

To score a goal on a corner kick, do the easy and obvious: kick the ball to your teammate.

Yes, this is easier than blasting the ball into a crowd, and much more effective.
step one: pick a teammate you want to get the ball to.
step two: kick it 3-4 step in front of them.
step three: let them run on to it and get their shot.

If there is difficulty it is in placement of the corner, but that is easier when you mentally have a spot you are kicking it to instead of just into a crowd.
Nice goal in this 20 second video.

How are bank robberies and goalkeeping alike? Hands up!

Goalkeeper need to have correct position to prevent invasion goals like the corner kick on this video (15 seconds). When you receive the ball your hands should be at maximum extension straight up, so that you are above the other players. This keeper just sticks her arms out sideways--> GOAL!

Can you do that in soccer?

In the video (6 seconds) is an older style flip throw in. (I first saw this in 1982). Many (though from the video, not all) referees will now invalidate it as not being " from behind your head".

If you want to practice it and see if you are allowed to use it, be my guest. You will get great distance and very good velocity (as well as the visual surprise the first time you do it). You may also get a "don't do that again" from the ref.

Where do you look? Well, who ARE you?

In the video (15 seconds), the defense concentrates on the ball, and loses track of the player they should be defending. This is a mistake that you don't have to make.

On offense, you should be thinking about the ball first and the goal second.

On defense, you should be thinking about marking players first, and the ball second. The ball can't score without an offensive foot behind it, so worry most about marking on defense.

Nice stop by the goalkeeper as her defense does nothing except watch and dance around a little.

Indirect kicks Close to the Goal (hey, It could happen!)

The keeper picked up the ball after it was kicked by his own team. This produced an indirect kick in front of the goal.
First, defense. The defense must be 10 meters from any free kick, but that 10 meters stops at the end line (and sideline). So you will see that the entire team on defense populates the goal right outside of the goal line. This is standard practice in these situations and I see little other choice.

Now, offense. The ball must be touched by two players before being counted as a goal. The players can be your own team, or your team and the other team (throw-ins are indirect as well). The offense here opts for the obvious, though not easy play. In fact nothing here is really easy for the offense. This looks like a gimme play but I have played a lot and never seen the offense score in these situations. The offense here blasts the ball like 25 feet above the goal. Note that these are high school players and probably haven't ever practiced shooting that close to the goal, especially when the opening is between 6 and 8 feet high. Oh well, bad plans lead to bad results.

Better solution? Shoot directly at the defensive wall. Do this on your first touch. Don't tap and shoot, just blast at their bodies. A glancing blow off of them and in is a reasonably sure result. The defense is probably not smart or quick enough to get out of the way (if it doesn't touch them, it doesn't count in this version). The ball has a good chance of bouncing off a defender and going in. Shoot mid body. If you don't get a goal in a glance off the defense, you may get a hand ball which would give you an even easier free kick with only one player (keeper) in the net instead of 11. If the ball bounces back into play, shoot again.

Set shots done right=Tears for the defense

Several players (midfield and offense) should spend every practice on free kicks outside of the box. Aim for accuracy in the corners. If your team has $$$, there are fake mannequin walls you can place ten yards away and practice hitting over and around the wall.

Use every side of the foot for different spins.

Never allow the ball to go over. Never. Did I say NEVER? Yes, never. When watching professionals, you may see a few balls go wide, that is fine. But if you see one go over the crossbar, assume that his/her upset face is mainly because of the pain his/her coach is going to inflict on him/her at the next practice.

Free Kicks Can Be Practiced to Perfection

From the US Women's National Team victory over Brazil on June 23, 2007.

Kristine Lilly scores here on a free kick.

Defense options are limited.

It is the goalkeepers job to not let this happen, but a nicely placed shot isn't easy to defend. My suspicion is that the keeper lost sight of the shot itself which makes it difficult to track mentally and then stop, but I don't know.

Offensively, this kind of shot can and should be practiced hour after hour from all around the penalty area. A free kick is just that: free.

Sometimes it IS the referee's fault

The foul occurs almost out of bounds, but the ref allows Aravena to move the ball a couple of yards up field. Not hard to see what he was planning to attempt when he made this move. It hasn't ever been a shot I could make myself, but it isn't that hard for those that have practiced it. The complete key here is that Aravena knew from having practiced thousands of times exactly where the ball had to be to be able to arc the ball in. Set shots like this can be dangerous because they can be practiced to near perfection by the offensive player.

Point #2: the defensive wall is really not of any value, other the actually hinder the goalie from seeing the whole flight of the ball. A wall is designed to stop a shot. The only kind of shot possible from that ball location was exactly the kind of high looping shot that the shooter took. The wall members should have sensed their futility and done something else, anything else.