woudlSoccer Manual - Principles
Principles
The Object Of Soccer
The object of soccer is very simple: score more goals than the opposing team. How can we do that? We do that by playing in a way that makes it most likely for us to score goals, and by making it less likely for them to score goals.
The Danger Zone
This picture shows the danger zone. This is the area on the field where someone can shoot and score. In our attacking end, we always want our players there. In our defending end, we never want to have an opposing player there. When we have the ball, we want to get in the danger zone because we can score. When they have the ball, we want to keep them out so they can't score.
If you're in here and can score, then you shoot! Every time. Without hesitation.
This zone changes size depending on the player. It's everywhere a player can shoot and score. If a player can shoot a long way, the zone is bigger. If they can't shoot far, it is smaller.
The Other Zones
These are the main zones that we play in when we're attacking.
The Danger Zone The red zone. This is where we are trying to get to so that we can score.
The Near Center Zone The blue zone. We usually want to avoid having the ball here. There are too many players who can be here, and that makes it difficult to get the ball up the field. Also, if the other team takes the ball away here, it's easy for them to get into our danger zone.
The Far Center Zone The gray zone. We don't mind being here at all, because it's easy to get into the danger zone from here. And if we lost the ball here, we have time to get it back before they can get into our danger zone.
If the opposing team has the ball, we want them to be in this zone. Because too many people can be in it and keep them from moving into our danger zone.
The Wide Zones The purple zones. This is where we'll usually move the ball up the field to get it into the danger zone.
If the opposing team has the ball here, we'll try to get them to move the ball to the center zone.
Space And Time
When we have the ball, we want to have space and time. When they have the ball, we want them to have no space and no time.
We get space by not being near their players. We get space by having players wide on the field. But not so wide they can't be passed to. We get space by having players deep on the field. But agin, not so deep they can't be passed to. This makes the field big for us, and it's harder to defend a big field.
We can also get space by being in the middle of their diamonds when we have the ball. We don't want to be in the middle of their diamonds when they have the ball. Then we want to be on their edges.
Space buys us time. If the nearest defender is on the other side of the field, we have until she gets to us to decide what to do and to do it. If she's right next to us, we don't have any time to think or act and we don't have as much space to act in.
In the picture, at the top are two of our plyers spaced far apart. See how difficult it is for the defender to keep both of them away from the ball? What would happen if our players were close together?
At the bottom, our player is in the middle of their diamond. She can move or pass in 4 directions. The only place better to be is outside their diamond completely.
We deny them space by pressing and marking them. We deny them space by keeping our good defensive shape. We deny them space by making the field small for them. We force them to stay narrow and shallow.
We deny them time by denying them space. When we're close to them, they don't have time to decide what to do. Nor do they have any space to do it in.
At the top of the picture, our player is between their player and where she wishes to dribble or pass. Their player will have to go somewhere else to either dribble forward or pass. She has no space and therefore no time.
At the bottom of the picture there are an equal number of players and they have the ball. But because we're on the edges of their diamond, the only place they can pass is directly across. We've cut down their choices.
