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Things Players Do To Help Their Opponents Win

If you can think of any ways players help their opponents win please take a minute and complete the Feedback box at the bottom of this page and let us know what they are.

6. Running Along Side Your Opponent
Many players run along side of their opponent. How does this help your opponent win?

• While you are running along side of your opponent they are moving where they want and helping their team get closer to the goal your team is defending.
• Hint - Run where they are trying to go. When you run where they want to go you force them to change where they are going. In the exercise below two teammates run a race. The player that has the advantage tries to run where their opponent is running. This forces their opponent to alter where they are running and to more often finish second."

In column 1 players run straight.
In column 2 one player gets in front of other and wins.
Even a slower player who gets a step in front often wins.

7. Always running to your own side of the ball
Almost all players naturally run to their own side of the ball. How does this sometimes help you opponent win?

• When you and your opponent both start to run at the same time and are the same speed, you both arrive at the ball at the same time and you have a 50-50 chance of winning the ball.
• If you start earlier or are faster you have the better chance to win the ball.
• If you opponent is faster or starts faster they have the better chance to win the ball. 
• Hint - If you run to your opponents side of the ball, you will usually get your body between the ball and your opponent. and win the ball.

When both players run to side of ball that is closest to them its a 50-50 ball.
When red player runs to the side of the ball closest to the blue player they win.

8. Your Teammate With The Ball Dribbles Too Much
How does dribbling too much help your opponents win?

When your teammate with the ball dribbles it slows your teams attack down and gives your opponents more time to recover and to help their team win the ball back. Unnecessary dribbling helps your opponents win.

• When your teammate with the ball has NO teammates in a "Better Position" to help your team they have no choice and must dribble. 
• When your teammate with the ball has teammates who have instantly moved in a "Better Position" to help your team they should pass firmly and accurately because a great pass is always mush faster, covers more distance and beats more defenders than dribbling. 

A good firm accurate pass is always faster than dribbling
and should beat more opponents in less time.

Teammates of the player with the ball should instantly move
to always be in the "Best Position" to help their team.

9. The Referee Makes A Bad Call
Soccer is an emotional game and when a referee makes a "bad call" some coaches and players lose focus and dwell on the bad call. This loss of focus on playing well can help an opponent win or at least play better.

In a evaluation of referees by Dr. Arthur Seiderman, O.D., director of the Sports Vision Centre of Philadelphia, found that:

• 28 per cent of game officials did NOT have normal 20-20 vision either naturally or with corrective lenses, and
• 30 per cent of the game officials had problems with depth perception and spatial localization, which enable officials to visualize distance and the accurate location of objects in relation to other objects, and
• the same statistics apply to coaches, players and spectators who are often critical of players, teammates and match officials, and
• vision examinations or even minimal visual standards for sports officials are not required in most countries.

Referees, coaches, players and spectators all need to understand and accept that:

• almost a third of the population have vision deficiencies that result in errors, and
• losing focus hurts your team and teammates more than it helps, and
• that losing focus helps opponents more than your own team.

10. Yelling for the Ball When You're Marked By An Opponent
Players want the ball and often yell for the ball when they are tightly marked (guarded) by an opponent. 

• If their teammate with the ball passes to their foot closest to the opponent marking them, there is a good chance the opponent may win the ball. 
• If their teammate with the ball passes to their side away from the opponent marking them they have a better chance of winning and keeping the ball.
• If they move to be in a "Better Position" to help their team then there is a better reason to pass to them.

In soccer the player in possession of the ball should ALWAYS look for their teammates in the "Best Position" to help their team if the ball is passed to them. If no teammate is in a "Better Position" than the player with the ball then the player with the ball should keep the ball until a teammate moves and is in a "Better Position".

In soccer you don't pass to the player yelling for the ball, you always pass the ball to the teammate in the "Best Position" to help your team. A player in the "Best Position" is usually not marked in the third of the field your team is defending or the middle third. A player in the attacking third is often marked and may still be in the "Best Position" if they have the best chance to help the team if the ball is passes to them. Having the chance to help the team may make the risk of losing possession acceptable in the attacking third of the field.

Vision and hearing can fail any of us in games. Recently in a game, Coach Harry, who was far from the action, pulled a player who didn't pass to a teammate who was yelling for the ball. The player in possession didn't pass because their teammate was yelling for the ball and pointing to their right side, asking for the ball there, which is exactly where the opponent's strongest defender was standing.

What Coach Harry couldn't clearly hear or see was that the player he pulled from the field had very correctly told their teammate who was so tightly marked to move to be in a "Better Position" to receive a pass and to help their team. 

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