A keeper is a vital member of the defense, molding his play with the other defenders, keeping aware of everything they do and letting them know what he is doing all the time. Any team looking for success is going to find it difficult without a good goalkeeper. An important subject in goalkeeping is when to […]
Archive | soccer defense
How to Teach Your Players to Attack from the Fullback Position
By Rob Smith on September 16, 2010 in coaching soccer, coaching youth soccer, soccer defense, soccer drills, soccer skills, soccer training
Let’s assume that you have fullbacks that are competent defenders and you want them to add an attacking dimension to their game. The secret to do this is through ball control. As attacking fullbacks, your players need control in three phases of their game. These include receiving the ball, carrying it forward, and placing an […]
Teaching your Team How to Defend Corner Kicks with Ease
By Rob Smith on September 1, 2010 in coaching soccer, coaching youth soccer, soccer defense, soccer skills, soccer training
Goals are scored from corner-kicks mainly because a defender failed to track an attacker coming in late, failed to time a jump with him, or was late to cover the deflected ball which is knocked down by one attacker for another to finish off. Practice is important so a team can collectively cope with these […]
Mark a Tough Opposing Player Right Out of the Game
By Rob Smith on August 16, 2010 in coaching soccer, coaching youth soccer, soccer defense, soccer skills, soccer training
Ever play against a team in your middle school or kindergarten league who has one outstanding player that seems to be unstoppable? There’s a great way to neutralize a player like this and it’s through specialized marking. One of the big differences between higher and lower levels of soccer is that the higher the level […]
The Overlap Play Gets All The Players Involved
By Rob Smith on August 10, 2010 in coaching soccer, coaching youth soccer, soccer defense, soccer skills, soccer training
One way of trying to break down well organized defenses is to get wide in attack, pulling defenders out of position in order to create and exploit space in the areas near a goal. A good ball player can sometimes do this on his own, drawing his marker and one or more covering defenders towards […]
The Skillset of Turning Against Defenders
By Rob Smith on August 3, 2010 in coaching soccer, coaching youth soccer, soccer defense, soccer skills, soccer training
Learning to properly turn against a defender in a high pressure game situation is a valuable and necessary skill for a young player to develop. When receiving the ball from a teammate with a defender in fast pursuit, the act of going around the defender with the ball is called a first-time-turn. There are three […]
