Principles of defense.

A team's ability to deny goals, limit opportunities, and recapture the ball depends on individual and collective application of basic defensive principles.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

All players, regardless of position, have a responsibility in this effort. Although there's room for some interpretation of the principles, players must stay focused on them to meet the defensive demands for the duration of a game.

The first principle is that of immediate chase. Immediate chase applies to both the player who loses the ball and to the team overall. Can the player who loses the ball immediately win it back by dispossessing the opposition? Can the team regain possession by making the opponent make a poor decision? In our collective defensive effort, chasing also requires remaining players to immediately recover into positions that establish a defensive shape. They must delay penetration while giving teammates opportunities to recapture the ball. It's best if these can occur while the ball is still in transition.

The second principle is to delay the attack and deny penetration. This allows players to recover and get organized behind the ball. Pressure needs to be applied quickly to the opponent with the ball. In today's game, this pressure can be exerted at various angles and degrees with one collective thought in mind: to recapture the ball based on either team's collective strengths or weakness.

The pressuring player always wants to exhibit control and restraint backed by an aggressive "you can't beat me" attitude. The more effective the individual pressure, the more time allowed for teammates to collectively recover and organize.

The third principle is to cover the organization of the players behind the pressuring defender. Cover can involve any number of players. Several factors in the game dictate a covering player's position, including the pressuring defender's body position, angle, and speed of closing down; the distance of pressure; the body language of the player on the ball; and the desired play in a particular third of the field. Player movement off of the ball, by both the opposition and teammates, also affects positioning.

Primarily, covering players want to position themselves to deny penetration. If the pressuring player is beaten, covering players want to deny the advancement of the player on the ball. Covering positions should also allow covering players to be able to intercept, tackle, and defend if the ball is played to a player in their area of responsibility while limiting passing lanes for the player on the ball.

Balance is the fourth principle. Players who aren't in the immediate vicinity of the ball provide balance in the team shape. The team's shape should restrict space centrally, denying penetrating runs. To restrict space, balancing players want to get into position early and be able to see both the ball and the players away from the ball. An open body position, no ball watching, and a constant surveying of the field helps ensure proper positioning. To deny the opposition space behind the defense, defenders attempt to use good starting positions, goal side and ball side.

They also should use their bodies to step across an attacking player's run, maintain team shape, and, when appropriate, use offside tactics.

The fifth principle, compactness and concentration, refers to team shape in defending. This principle involves the distance from our goalkeeper to our forwards and from the left side to the right side of the team. This shape is designed to limit time and space, making it difficult for the opposition to penetrate. The ability of a team to maintain this shape depends on many factors, including stepping up to press, dropping back to restrict space behind the defense, and squeezing play to the flanks or central.

Pressure on the ball, movement of the ball and players, speed of play, and the role of the goalkeeper all affect team shape. Players need to understand their roles and functions, the laws of the game, and offside tactics; they should be able to make good tactical decisions to keep a compact team shape.

These principles are the basis of our defending. Regardless of the system of play, the defensive scheme, or the line of confrontation, the principles must be cooperatively imposed for successful defending.

(Reprinted from the superlative coaching text, "The Soccer Coaching Bible," written by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and published by Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL. It contains 328 pages and may be ordered by calling 800-747-4457 or online at www.humankinetics.com)

By the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Excerpted from "The Soccer Coaching Bible," with permission from Human Kinetics.