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Provided by: Amplified Soccer Even for premier soccer clubs, scoring chances are not always easy to come by. The offsides rule does not allow an offensive player to get ahead of their defender at the point which their teammate passes them the ball, so there will almost always be someone running parallel with the attacking player. The chances that a backline defensive player will thwart a push up the field are relatively high, and a ricochet of the ball over the line behind the goal is a common outcome.
Fans of soccer and sports betting may expect a lot of matches with low goal outputs, but your team does not have to go into a contest with that mindset. While the defense is likely thrilled to have a forced a corner kick on a dangerous offensive breakaway, your team can still make the opportunity count by utilizing three viable strategies. Target the Back Post It might make logical sense for a corner kick to be aimed right in the middle of the box, so that an offensive team has the full goal to work with. However, a lot of good things can happen when a team directs a pass towards the back post. The longer the ball is in the air, the trickier the situation gets for the defense. In particular, the goalkeeper may get antsy, and wonder whether he or she should try to make a play on the ball. If they do make a play on the ball, but don't make a save or clear it effectively, it can give the offense just the opening they need to convert. Additionally, sometimes offensive players are a little harder to keep track of if they approach the back post rather than the near post.
Diversify The Rush It can be tempting to bunch offensive players together in the box in order to give the corner kicking player one central target to strive for. That does make some sense, but a crowd of offensive players will usually attract a similarly large contingent of defensive players to stymie their efforts. Send players in a few different directions once the ball is in the air. Deploy someone right up the middle, leave one player at the top of the box, send players to the short and near post, etc. This will give the defense multiple things to worry about, and leave a margin of error for the kicker if the pass is not perfect. Go Short Before Going Long There's a timing element to corner kicks that players and fans have gotten used to. The ball is sent in, and within a couple of seconds, there's a touch, or a save, or a clearance. An offensive team can take advantage of this expectation by deviating from that script. One way to do this is not to serve the ball into the box immediately. The player set to deliver the corner kick can pass the ball to a teammate who is either already stationed close to the corner, or runs towards the passer from the edge of the box. That teammate can kick the ball back to the original inbounder, who will then administer a crossing pass into the box. Doing this will give the passer a different angle to kick from, and can throw off the defense's cadence and vantage point as well. |
3 Ways To Improve Corner Kick Efficiency
