Guess who’s back? No, not Shady; he’s never been on this website. At least, not to my knowledge. It’s me, Coach Kyle! I survived USA Cup and my second full year as a head coach, and I’ve got to say, it just keeps getting better. How did my U11 girls team do at our year-end tournament, you ask? Well, that’s a complex question.

We played four matches in the occasionally blistering July sun, and if you looked only at the scorelines (all losses), you would think we left deflated, defeated, and maybe a little disappointed. But if you looked a little deeper, you’d see marked improvement between each game, effort to the final whistle (after a halftime reminder in the first game), and the kind of face-splitting smiles that this game was always meant to produce.

We didn’t leave with heads hanging or feet dragging; no, we left USA Cup with a healthy dose of growing, learning, and even more love for the beautiful game. I personally left with a new Stanley as well, with 13 signatures and my catchphrase for the season written across the bottom in 11-year-old handwriting, “Slay Queen.”

But that’s enough about me. You came here for a soccer lesson, and I intend to give you one, dang it! I got help from a friend of mine for today’s topic, so if you like it more than usual, I’ll give her the credit she deserves. If not, I won’t hold it against her; it was a good idea. Probably a skill issue, not an idea issue.

Types of Set Pieces

From when we started in the fall to now, one of the things the girls have grown most in this season is their effectiveness from set pieces. A set piece in soccer is any action that brings the ball back into play, so think throw-ins, corners, goal kicks, free kicks, and penalty kicks. They present unique opportunities to break up the usual rhythm of the game, and the better you use them, the more dangerous your team can be.

Let’s start with throw-ins. Whenever the ball crosses the sideline, a throw is awarded to the opponents of the player who last touched the ball. When the ball crosses the endline, however, a goal kick is awarded if it bounced off the attacking team last, giving the defending team a chance to relieve pressure and start anew. Inversely, a corner is awarded if the ball crosses the endline after touching the defending team last, setting up a chance to serve the ball into the box and try to score.

The remaining two set pieces, penalty kicks and free kicks, result from foul play. If a player is fouled or a rule of the game has been broken (like offside), a free kick is awarded. The result is a dead ball that can be struck at will without interference from opponents in a 10-yard radius. For offenses that take place in a player’s defensive penalty box, a penalty kick is awarded, giving the fouled team a free shot on goal from 12 yards out. Direct free kicks can be scored, while indirect free kicks must be touched by another player before they can result in a goal. How do you know the difference? Well, that’s going to be a lesson of its own someday soon, so stay tuned.

Now that we’re all familiar with what set pieces are and how we earn them, we’re going to break down some basic strategies today to help you make the most of your set pieces and hopefully bag a couple of goals from these special chances.

Gotta Go Fast

Corner taken quickly … ORIGI!!! Liverpool fans—and Barca fans—know how effective a quickly taken set piece can be. When executed correctly, a fast restart can catch the opposition unawares as they try to scramble back to defend. During the time that backs are turned and players are left unmarked, you have a chance to strike fast.

This usually includes pre-planned movements, incisive runs to break opposition’s lines while they’re flat-footed, and a perfect set of circumstances. Pick up the ball and throw it down the line right away, set the free kick up and play a quick through ball, or just tap it to a teammate right next to you to get play restarted quickly. If you’ve been taking your time all game, a switch in tempo can be an effective way to catch your opponent unawares.

The trouble with this strategy? It’s not always an option. Maybe you won a free kick while all of your players are back in your own half, or maybe an opponent is being annoying and standing in front of the ball to prevent the quick restart (that’s a yellow card, sir). There are a variety of things that could prevent you from taking a set piece quickly, so this strategy naturally demands some caution. Make sure you and your teammates are on the same page before trying this, whether that’s with a quick word or some eye contact communication.

Everybody Up

More often than not, teams take their time on their set pieces. This gives both the team in possession and the team defending a chance to prepare themselves for the ensuing restart. For corner kicks and free kicks, this often includes packing the box before playing a ball into the crowd in hopes of scoring a header, volley, or through some chaos. For free kicks that you plan to take your time on, ask the ref for the standard 10-yard barrier between you and your opponents, give your teammates time to get to their position, and go for placement over power.

For the Loons, Devin Padelford’s long throws are a great example of this strategy. Most throws are taken rather quickly, but with a specialist on the team able to launch the ball from the sideline to the six, the Loons set up for those throws similarly to how they’d set up for a corner or free kick.

While most of these situations involve setting up teammates to score, a direct free kick outside the box gives players the option to shoot on goal as well. It takes a special player to score free kicks with any consistency, mainly because the technique required to get the ball over the wall and under the bar has such a small margin for error without making the shot too easy for the keeper to save. Regardless of what you choose to do when you take your time on a set piece, you should have spent plenty of time in practice working on it.

Defending Set Pieces

We can’t talk about set pieces without mentioning how to defend them, right? There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to shutting down the effectiveness of a set piece: man-to-man or zonal defending. Basically, you can either make sure that every opponent is accounted for directly or that all of the dangerous space is covered by the sum of your parts.

These strategies come into play mostly on free kicks and corner kicks, while throw-ins and goal kicks tend to shift certain areas of the pitch more than others. I prefer man-to-man marking on corners and some free kicks, as it’s so easy for a player to break loose and turn in a free header when you play zonal. A combination of zonal and man-to-man is probably the best way to go. Make sure you mark up the biggest aerial threats on the other team while subsequently making sure you’ve got the most dangerous passing lanes blocked off as well. Defending set pieces requires a lot of discipline and effort; it’s no easy task.

So there you have it, your crash course on restarting play. We’ll have to fill in some gaps with future lessons, but I think this is a fantastic way to start. I’ll be putting extra emphasis on set pieces in the upcoming season, and I’m confident that the girls are ready to learn even more. We’re going to be notoriously good by the time the first snowfall comes this year; just you wait. The season starts back up again in just a few weeks, so wish me luck. I’ll have more stories for you next time, don’t worry.