Defending in 1v1s

1. Here, the defender gets her hips facing the same way as the attacker. This allows her to accelerate quickly when the attacking player does. By doing this, she also makes the play predictable for her teammates.

 

2. The defender continues her movement and maintains close contact.

 

3. Here, the attacker makes a tough cut inside. The natural movement for most players is to re-open their hips, which loses all momentum they have, making it easy for the attacking player.

 

Our player turns the opposite way, which - although it causes her to lose sight of the ball for a split second - it also helps her to immediately regain close proximity to the attacker.

 

She ends up winning the ball with her teammate.

 

2. HOW WE CLOSE SPACE TO A PLAYER DRIBBLING AT US

Another big deficiency I see is that players tend to want to close space to an attacking player by running out hard to defend and close the space.

Again, this technique is similar to how one would close out attacking players in other sports. But by doing this, defenders open themselves up to a few problems:

Firstly, the defender is moving in the opposite direction of the attacker - so, if they take a big touch forward, the defender is going the wrong way.

By approaching this way, the defender tends to be square which allows the attacking player both directions to attack.

Finally, the defender is opening up space behind them for attackers to run into.

We train our players to close space by retreating slowly to allow the attacking player to come to us.  Closing space by retreating slower than the attacker is advancing gives the defender control of the situation and allows them to be the judge of the space given, as opposed to the attacker.

In summary, we need to tell our players that in the open field, you can close the space by dropping slowly or shaping your body to allow the attacking player to come to you.

Why is this important? We feel this limits opposing teams’ ability to get in behind and have 1v1 situations with our goalkeepers.

1. Here, the defender delays and starts aligning her hips to be side-on to the attacker. This allows her to start dictating the space the attacking player can run into.

 

2. The attacker has closed the space. The defender gets side-on to force wide, away from the goal and closes the space side-on.

 

3. Thanks to delaying and forcing wide, a recovering defender has arrived to help. Also, because she did not immediately step to the attacker, she limited the space behind and maintained a compact team shape.

 

3. GETTING and maintaining UPPER BODY CONTACT 

It may seem simple, but another aspect of defending players seem to lack coming into the college game is the ability to get 1v1 upper body contact with attacking players.

Upper body contact is a crucial part of being a strong 1v1 defending player, as seen here in these images.

1. The defender immediately initiates upper body contact with the attacking player, forcing the player to take her first touch backwards.

 

2. Now, the defender maintains that contact which forces the player wide

 

3. And finally, the defender looks to win the ball at the best opportunity. This is only possible due to the close contact she was able to maintain by utilizing her upper body. Why is this important? Well, upper body contact helps to...

• Slow the attacker down and allows the defender to shape the space the attacking player can take advantage of, the first step to getting close enough to eventually make the tackle.
• Forces the attacker to focus both on the ball and the contact. 
• Is annoying to attackers, which creates an advantage for the defender.