Why is the ball played backwards this seems so negative and boring?

Movement of the ball is very important. Utilization of all corners of the field during one possession may be advantageous for the overall offensive strategy. First and foremost maintaining possession gives a team the distinct ability to deny the other team the opportunity to score. The old Adige, “The best defense is a good offense,” applies here. A player with the ball has basically three options for passing.

The first is forward, assuming the defense is alert, this type of pass has the greatest chance of being stolen. This is true in basketball and football: the closer the offense gets to the goal or basket or end zone the more veracious the defending and usually in much less space. The offense must be patient, methodical and precise with all forward passes.

The second type of pass is lateral, which is usually safer because the defense will always concede lateral movement over forward movement.

Lastly is a back pass. Let’s examine the basic idea of “Spread out on Offense and compact on defense.” The more space the offense has to work with is more space the offense can manipulate or single out defenders. In all team sports, defending as a unit is the key to success. It is a constant battle between offense and defense. The offense must try to manipulate the formation of the defense, even if it is a lone defender, so as to take advantage of space behind or around that defender. The defender is anyone on the opposing team without possession of the ball. This would also include the most forward playing striker on the team without the ball, whose main purpose is to score or assist in scoring goals. Only occasional defense is required depending on the manager’s strategy. As this player is chasing and pressuring the ball there might not be any intelligent passes to be made. There could be several reasons that a pass is inadvisable. For one, the defense is set up in such a way to increase its chances of intercepting the pass. Another is that the offensive players without the ball haven’t made good runs to present themselves for a pass or their runs are being anticipated and shadowed too closely by the defense. At this time the most intelligent decision is to maintain possession of the ball with a safe pass. The player with the ball can then relieve the pressure and start the offense again by passing up to 50 yards back to the keeper. While this pass seems to be silly, since the goal is 100 yards in the opposite direction, the offense maintains possession of the ball and creates more space to work with. The defense will adjust and chase the ball leading to another unique defensive formation. At the same time the forwards and midfielders are making new runs to receive the ball which may culminate in a more advantageous play for the offense. This type of high frequency ball movement is best compared to breaking of a zone defense in basketball.

How does one break the zone defense in basketball? By quickly moving the basketball from left to right, then low, then back out and swing it again. Why is this done? Because the zone offense is so reliant on all defenders being exactly where he or she is suppose to be that even one or two missteps out of position and it creates holes that can and should be exploited. By moving the basketball it forces the defense to constantly react to the position of the ball or point of attack. In doing this, the players must deform and reform into the best defensive position possible. The offense patiently passes using quick ball movement to manipulate the defense until the defense tires, loses concentration and fails to position itself properly. The holes that this passing creates can now be exploited through penetrating dribbles or passes. Thus, soccer can be compared to a giant breaking of the zone defense with more than double the players and quite possibly 8 times the space. Sometimes you must go back to go forward!

Why are football/soccer players always on the ground? Why are they knocked over so easily?

In my observations and through play I have found several reasons for this perception.

The first, we are going to talk about is anthropological (cultural) in nature. It has to do with cultural perception of the activity. Football players in the US when hit must get right back up immediately so as to deny the hitter any greater satisfaction. If one stays down it is a more dominant achievement to the hitter. For the one hit he must get back up to maintain his own pride and dominance. This mentality is similar to rugby where being hit hard and returning to play as quickly as possible is a part of the psychological game. As if to say, “You can’t hurt me” or “I was off balance.” Because this American idea is so endemic in our society it leads the average Yank to wonder why a soccer player would stay on the ground seemingly mortally wounded just to stand up a minute later and play on.

The first reason is that in almost every spot on the field a free kick is advantageous. When a free kick is given 25 yards from goal it is a wonderful opportunity for the offense. This is a precarious position for the defense to be in for one under laying reason. At the professional level the defense will set up in a well practiced almost standard way. A certain number of men in the wall determined by the proximity to the goal with all free defenders man-marking the remaining attacking players. The defenders can do everything right and still face the fact that if the free kick taker hits a certain corner with enough velocity then they will still find themselves down a goal. Imagine this, if the NFL instituted a new rule that says if there are any defensive infractions in their own half, then the offense gets the choice of an uncontested field goal attempt. With the right kicker on your team you can image how this might win games. Let’s look at the reverse example; if a defender is facing his own net with the ball and must try to either turn with the ball, which is very difficult especially for defenders since it isn’t a movement they do often, or play back to the keeper, getting fouled while protecting the ball is a “get free out of jail card” and can be found on numerous occasions in any match. With this foul the defender gets to then pass the ball out of trouble without any pressure and more than enough time to do so. So falling down with the contact or not attempting to stay on your feet is used as a tactic in both ends of the pitch.

Exaggeration of contact resulting in a foul can give one a distinct advantage no matter where on the pitch it occurs. With the free kick being given there may also lay another benefit to this single action. Because soccer uses the cards system frequent and unsportsmen like behavior can result in a sending off of a player. When a player is sent off with a red card the dynamic of the game changes. This is similar to when a player in basketball fouls out of the game except for one key component. Unlike in basketball, no one can replace that person the team plays with less men.

At this point I’d like to discuss the differences in mechanics when playing soccer compared to other sports that don’t use your feet to control an object. I don’t think enough can be said about an athlete’s ability to move from point A to point B. Everyone who has witnessed an athlete move has watched the human body in perfect symphony as it excels in specific motions, while combating the environmental pressures of this planet. What I mean by symphonic motions would be the lifetime of hours accumulated doing specific actions and motions achieving perfection. Having correct throwing mechanics is essential to every pitcher. The ones that do it the most efficiently, accurately, and with the highest velocity end up with big pay days and living in Manhattan. Or let’s look at an NFL wide receiver for a moment. A receiver practices day and night to explode off the mark like a track star. His feet must be positioned correctly with his arms ready to swing parallel with his body so as not to waste any energy. While this is worked on throughout an athletic career we are talking about a person who we might assume already is and always has been prolific at the mechanics of running, above and beyond other humans he has encountered throughout life. So where this receiver’s true skill lies is in his ability to catch a football. He must have perfect 20/20 vision with an especially intuitive relationship between his eyes and hands(“Hand-Eye coordination”). So when we think about the other tasks involved, running with great speed might be considered the easy part. Let’s be frank, while all athletes are constantly trying to improve speed and quickness this is something they were born with an aptitude for. It is the easy part. Now let’s look at the mechanics of soccer. A soccer player must be quick from point A to point B also, but must also control an object on the same phalanges that he or she is using to propel oneself. This means that the mechanics from point A to point B are constantly being deviated so as to control a spherical object. This object can also change direction due to pitch conditions or opposition touches. A soccer player’s body must constantly interrupt the most efficient gate or stride so it can manipulate this object on the ground. This is a far cry from a receiver propelling his body forward and laterally while the ball is tucked safely under his arm. The human body has two legs. When playing soccer the body must use one leg (and variations or parts of that leg) to make precise contact with specific parts of the ball. This means that the leg being used to manipulate the ball is not being used for balance or movement. Whenever a soccer player is controlling the ball he or she can only engage half of their balancing and propulsion ability. The other half is of course engaging in the control of this object.