Individual and Group Defending Terms
Understand the terms that describe the roles of players and parts of the field.
Mark: The person you are marking.
Marking: Guarding your mark goal-side and ball-side to prevent your mark from getting the ball, from turning with the ball, or from moving with the ball toward our goal.
Covering: Guarding space on the field which the other team wants to use. This is, usually, behind another defender.
Tracking: Running with your mark to prevent your mark from gaining possession of the ball in available space behind or beside other defenders.
Penetrating: Attacking with the ball by trying to dribble past defenders into the penalty area for a shot.
First Attacker: The attacker with the ball.
First Defender: The nearest defender goal-side of the ball.
Second Attacker: Attackers in available space close enough to the ball to provide support for combination play.
Second Defender: Defenders close enough to support the first defender by covering the space behind the first defender are second defenders.
Third Attacker: All other attackers.
Third Defender: All other defenders.
Available Space: Space where the first attacker can play the ball.
Center of the field: An imaginery line drawn from goal to goal.
Delay: The first defender stops the first attacker from penetrating by marking and delaying, not by diving in for an attempted tackle.
Support: The second defender covers the space behind the first defender.
Balance: Third defenders covering space away from the ball are providing balance.
If the ball is switched, the third defenders must decide between winning the ball or closing the space between themselves and the attacker who will receive the ball.
Tuck In: Move closer to the ball or cover for the defender closer to the ball.
Stand Up: Delay the first attacker. Don't dive in. Hold! Keep space between you and the first attacker by backing up and matching speed.
Match Speed: When the first attacker runs at you with the ball, you must back up as fast as the attacker runs forward, or you will lose the space between you.
If you do not keep enough space, you will be forced to attempt a tackle, and may get beat.
Dive in: Jumping at the first attacker or taking a wild swing in an effort to tackle the ball.
Except when they must tackle to stop a shot, good defenders do not tackle unless they have support, that is, someone covering the space behind them. Diving in is a good way to get beat.
Get Beat: What happens when you dive in on a tackle and the first attacker is able to get behind you with the ball. Keep standing up instead.
Ball Watching: Staring at the ball as your mark drops the ball or as the ball is being played on the other side of the field, forgetting to instantly back off your mark when the ball is away.
Not backing off instantly creates available space behind you that the attackers can use. If you do not back off your mark instantly, the attackers will play the ball behind you.
Chipped: When your mark drops the ball to a midfielder, your mark will wait for the midfielder to chip the ball into the space behind you, and your mark will sprint into the space behind you to be first to the ball. If you lose, you were chipped.
To avoid this, you must back off your mark a step or two after your mark drops the ball.
No Get: Don't allow your mark to receive the ball. Step in front and take the ball away.
No Turn: If your mark gets the ball with back to our goal, don't allow your mark to turn toward our goal. Track your mark at about arm's length making sure that you can see the ball. If your mark starts to turn, tackle hard and tackle through when your mark is about half-turned. Make sure that you can see the ball before committing to the tackle.
No Move: If your mark has the ball facing our goal, hold. This means delay your mark (stand up, face) by quickly adjusting your position to remain between our goal and the ball.
No Shoot: When really close to the goal, keep your hips near (but just off) the line of play between the ball and the goal so that the attacker facing you cannot shoot. The attacker will use deception and change of pace to try to move you far off the line of play to create space for a shot. Remember only the ball has to see the goal for there to be room to shoot.
Portions reprinted with permission from
Bruce Brownlee Soccer Coaching Notes ®, copyright 1996-2008, Bruce
Brownlee Company LLC. All rights reserved. Visit http://learnhub.com/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soccercoachingnotes.com.
