ODP 96 & 95 Boys & Girls

Passing to space verses passing to feet

ODP Final third observations during the Region 4 Championships.

In this situation the central midfielder has 2 choices to make when passing the ball to the wide midfielder.

Most of our AZ players (96 & 95 Boys /Girls) who were in these situations had more of a tendency to play the ball to space (thru ball) resulting in the defenders having time to recover into defending positions in the penalty area. If the ball is played to the feet of the wide midfielder the ball can now be played behind the defenders early so that the attacker can run/attack into a much bigger space between the goalkeeper and the recovering defenders.

The decision to play the ball into space ahead of the wide midfielder is not necessarily wrong especially if the player has exceptional pace and can make up the ground and cross the ball into the box ahead of the defenders. I noted that this was the tactical passing tendency of the two age groups in the final third of the field.

Taken from the ODP Technical report ODP Championships Phoenix AZ 2009

Tony C

Tony Colavecchia
AYSA Director of Coaching
11029 N.24th Ave .Suite 806
Phoenix AZ 85029
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