By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on floated crosses from end line as the attacker comes toward goal
When a player is on the end line with the ball, close to the corner, the keeper can stay back toward the center of the goal and prepare for the cross.
The reason the keeper can stay back like that is there is very little chance of a direct goal because of the angle and the distance from goal
As the attacker dribbles down the end line, toward goal the keeper has to change his position and protect his near post.
When the attacker gets close enough the keeper has to protect the near post and also what is referred to as the “second goal” because a ball slotted through the second goal (represented by the near post and the cone in the diagram below) has to be considered extremely dangerous.
You can start by working with the keeper on the footwork to protect the second goal but then the next step is when the keeper is protecting that second goal, if the attacker can chip the ball toward the far post.
(the curved dotted line represents a chip)
[wpsharely id="821"][/wpsharely]The keeper has to do a drop step and then try to get back as quickly as possible.
If possible he should try to get back behind where the ball is coming down and then come forward to meet the ball but that will be extremely difficult. Instead, the keeper might have to throw his body (dive) back and then punch the ball away to safety. Or, he can try to dive and catch the ball but he must realize that if he tries to catch and doesn’t hold onto the ball, most likely the ball will be free for an opponent to score
This is a difficult activity to recreate because it takes a skillful player to dribble down the end line and then accurately chip to the far post. If you don’t have someone with the skill level to do this, have them dribble down the end line and then quickly pick up the ball and toss it to the desired area.
Make sure to do this from both sides.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
