Imagine the scene, it’s late in the game, your team is up by one goal and the opposition is about to take a corner kick.

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Although you might be panicking, you shouldn’t feel worried - AS LONG AS YOU ARE PREPARED!!!

 

It is a little know fact that only about 3% of corner kicks actually result in a goal!

This is a small number, but in a tight match, it can give the vital edge to a team.
 

So, I’m going to explain the most recognisable ways that teams take corners, but particularly how to defend these different types of corner kicks.
 

There are 4 basic different types:

• The back post kick

• The front post kick

• The penalty spot kick

• The short corner
 

In the modern game there are two main choices of setting up defensively

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Zonal Marking

In this system the players defending the corner kick all have their own defensive ‘zone’ (area) where they defend the ball when it comes into their zone.

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All defenders are very close on a corner kick, and this means that defensive zones may often overlap.

 

This can cause confusion as different players trying to defend the same cross.

 

Hence when you watch corner kicks, you often see a 2 or even 3 versus 1 situation in trying to defend the

ball!!

 

Pure zonal defenders tend to position at the edge of the 6-yard box because that is the most frequent and most dangerous position for an offensive player to head a ball into the goal.

 

Man Marking

This is a form of defence whereby the defensive players do not stop the opponent in their own zones, but instead all choose a different player to mark.

 

It is most widely used at grassroots level or in a game where you “know” your opposition!

 

When the cross flies to their marked player, the defender is expected to win the header of is opponent.

 

There are both pros and cons of this way of defending a corner kick.

The advantage of this way of defending is that you can decide which player defends which opponent players.

If you are playing a team with a tall striker, you can use your tallest player to defend them, to prevent a mismatch!

When using zone marking, a tall striker runs into the zone of a smaller player, and you may have a major problem there when the ball is crossed well.

With man marking this problem may not happen.

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However, the downside of man marking, in this scenario, is when the opponent makes a lot of runs (dummy runs often) when the corner kick is taken, leading to defenders running into each other’s areas, which causes confusion and a harder time defending the ball.

 

When marking on opposing corner kicks, very few teams use just of one of these types.

 

Most teams use a hybrid, with more players defending zone than defending the man, although specialist defenders do often do a 1:1 on the main strikers!

Teams do this to try to benefit from both types of marking and concede as fewer goals from corner kicks as possible.

 

However the system in itself is not enough to be effective, players have to stick to instructions, concentrate, communicate with each other and stay brave!

If anyone doesn’t “do their job”, the system cannot rescue them and a goal may be the result!!

 

Key defenders defending corners

These are players on the defending team side of the ball who impact on the kick in different ways

• Front post defender

• Short cross defender

• “The ball attacker”

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The best known of these is the front post defender.

Most teams use one of these, as it has a crucial role in defending a corner kick.

 

Usually this is a full back, stood on the post, as full backs are usually amongst the best defensive headers in the team (and this protects the vulnerable near post whilst allowing the best headers to defend the centre of the box).

 

The main role of this front post defender is to defend one side of the goal and to force the header away from the goal - far post ideally.

 

The far post is easier for the goalkeeper to cover since he knows the header is probably going to the other side of where his defender is situated.

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The second of the three, is the short cross defender.

This kind of player is not used on many teams because most managers/coaches think this role is less important than defending the centre of the area.

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The role of this player is to stand ten yards (it’s the FA law) from the corner kick taker, to prevent him crossing a dangerous low-arc cross.

 

It also lets the opponent know that they shouldn’t take a short corner because there will be immediate defensive pressure on the ball.

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The third key player is the ”ball attacker” and this is typically a good attacking header of the ball, who comes back to attack the ball and is not given a player to mark specifically; a great exponent of this in recent years was a player at the club I support, Didier Drogba!

This player simply has to predict the ball target and attack the ball and clear it to safety!
 

Now to look at types of corner kicks and how I recommend you defend them

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The far post corner kick

Previously, in top level, yet still at grassroots level, the most used corner kick is the one that goes to the back of the area, where the tallest and best header in the opponents team is situated.

 

Often, attacking teams use a number of (decoy) players running to the front post, creating space for the “target attacker” at the back of the area to make a run towards the back post, and head the ball into the net.

 

Another way attacking teams do this is to line up in an (almost) straight line, where the player closest to the corner kick taker runs to the back and all the other again run towards the front post.

 

The reason that this corner kick is as effective as it is, is because the goalkeeper has a hard time covering these headers.

 

Not only because the goalkeeper has to come from the other side of the goal (the goalkeeper usually starts with his back to the back post, and usually makes a run towards the front post) but also because there is no speciality player covering the post as there is on the front post.

 

The player receiving the ball also has the option to head it back into the 6-yard box, which is a really deadly way of playing a corner kick, since most defenders will be out of position when this happens.

 

This type of corner can be effective, and devastating to a defence, if all players defending this do not do their jobs - so, how do you deal with it?

 

Firstly, learn to recognise this type of cross, so you know what is coming and be able to defend it.

The first sign should be when you see the tallest player on the offence or the best header of the ball in the back of the area.

 

This often means that this player will most likely be targeted for a back post cross, so be sure to get your most physical player to man mark them to prevent a goal.

 

If you find that the team are having success and are often crossing the ball to the back post, and still you are having trouble covering it, you could make it safer by covering the attacking player by two of your players man to man, instead of just the one.

 

This could lead to problems in other areas but almost ensures that when a corner kick is coming to the back post, the offensive player will not have an easy header(at goal or back across the area)

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The front post corner kick

This is currently the most popular in today’s game, and is the opposite version of the back post corner kick is the front post corner kick.

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This one is dangerous because it can really turn into chaos for defenders, especially as it takes less time for the ball to hit the area and less time for defenders to get organised!

 

When a player makes a run towards the front post and heads the ball towards the goal, it is reasonably straightforward to stop the ball from going into the goal on the first effort.

 

But, the reaction to a loose ball can cause problems on the second ball, however, also, because these initial crosses come with a greater speed, these headers are directed to the goal with a great speed as well.

 

This makes it hard for the goalkeeper to get the ball to a safe area where it cannot be scored on a rebound.

 

So, when you see this type of cross, it is crucial that you should be extremely wary of the situation and react quickly when the header is rebounded from your first speciality player or your goalkeeper.

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The penalty spot corner kick

I believe that, when defending, you should put two good defending headers, both “zonal” marking; one on the far cross and one on the penalty spot.

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The penalty spot corner kick is very frequently used as it works really well when attacking teams have more than a couple of good and tall headers of the ball.

Although, defending this is often easier than the front and back post corners, I recommend you to have a few of your zonal players stay close to the 6-yard box and not jump for the ball to defend the header.

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The short corner

Another often used corner kick (especially at the top level, with so many foreigners now in the game) is the short corner.

 

This type of corner kick is very dangerous because attacking teams can go many ways with this.

 

They can cross it in the near post, lay it off to the edge or play it long.

 

As explained before, the best way to counter this type of corner is to have your second speciality player position, pressuring the layoff and also have a second defender diagonally behind the speciality player to cover any run, or avoid “overloads”!
 

Other crucial defending tips:

• Be sure to communicate with your teammates, to make sure the right player is marking the right player and no confusion happens.

• When you are marking a player, make sure to be at the right side of him; which is between him and the goal. When you are on the wrong side it makes it way harder to defend and way easier to score for the opponent.

• Never clear a ball to the middle. There is usually an opponent at the edge of the area and you do not want them to get an easy shot on goal.

When clearing the ball, clear it to the side of the field.

This also makes it a lot easier to counter-attack since there will most likely be no opposing players there.