By Tony DiCicco

 

For all you young (and not so young) fans who watch the WUSA games, try to watch the teams as well as the players and take notice which side of the ball they are on. In the next two articles, I will describe the "Principles of Defense" and the "Principles of Attack." I think if you understand these principles a bit better, you will appreciate what the players are doing and understand why they are doing it. Then you will become a better player yourself.

First I will discuss the Principles of Defense. There are six principles that we will address: 1. Immediate Chase 2. Effective Individual Defense 3. Condense and Consolidate 4. Pressure 5. Cover 6. Balance

Immediate Chase: Immediate chase occurs as soon as your team loses the ball. The best time to win the ball back is before the player with the ball has either dribbled herself free or has time to pass to a teammate. Often, when a ball is won back via immediate chase, it is because a counterattack is initiated and the possessing team is caught expanding out of its defensive position.

I can think of two players who played for me who are exceptional at this: The Freedom's Mia Hamm and the Courage's Tiffany Roberts.

Effective Individual Defense: As the National Team Coach, I had my team spend a lot of time on individual defense. A player's ability to stop a dribbler's penetration makes all of her teammates around her better defenders and therefore her team a better team. If an attacker is allowed to dribble around a player without much resistance, then her next teammate has to be given the responsibility to make the play and now there is one less defender between the ball and the goal.

Players like Kristine Lilly, Joy Fawcett and Kate Sobrero are outstanding individual defenders.

Condense and Consolidate: Collectively, an average defensive team is slow at getting in good defensive position once the opposing team has secured possession and is starting an attack. The keys to condensing and consolidating are: 1. Communication 2. Work ethic 3. Understanding of each player's defensive role

Just as an attacking team expands to create space, a defending team must work together to condense and eliminate space. The tighter the space an attacking team has to play in, the more exact their passes have to be.

Players like Carla Overbeck and Julie Foudy (Carla is a central defender and Julie a central midfielder) are great organizers and communicators. This is important because they direct players to get into excellent defensive positions quickly. Then through their communication, they help the team move together defensively. This makes it very difficult for opposing teams to break them down.

Pressure: There is no secret that excellent attacking players can make passes that tear defenses apart. But these players can be made much less effective if put under pressure. As I mentioned above, this means having good individual and collective team defense.

But there also must be one player who puts the first attacker (player with the ball) under pressure. That player must understand her role by the nature of her position and the movement of the ball. Michelle Akers was excellent at putting a player under pressure. Michelle's pressure made the opposing player's passes and movements much more predictable for her teammates.

The simple rule is that the first defender puts the first attacker under pressure. Knowing when you are the first defender (usually the closest defender to the player with the ball) is a key. You must anticipate when you will become the first defender and close in on the attacker early.

Cover: The cover player is the backup to the first defender who is pressuring. If the first attacker beats the first defender with a dribble, the cover player is positioned to immediately step in and stop penetration or even win the ball.

As coaches, we often teach players to defend in pairs so that the first defender goes in and pressures and the second defender becomes the cover player. Players like Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain are great at this. When they really work together, the cover defender will organize the pressure defender to force the ball towards her.

Balance: If we have a player pressuring and a player moving into cover, we also need a player (or players) balancing. If everyone runs over to the ball, the team has lost shape. If the attacking team can move the ball quickly to another part of the field, the defense is totally beaten. However, a team with defensive balance can adjust and stop penetration even when the attack is very good and solves pressure around the ball. A player like Christie Pearce is a great balance player because of her speed and understanding where the dangerous space is if pressure is solved. To understand a team's defensive shape both when it's good and when it's lacking, one must take the time to read the game and watch high-level soccer.

So there you have it, the Principles of Defense as I coached it with the U.S. Women's National Team. However, something else you must know is that defense is a personal decision each player makes. Each player must make the decision is to become a very good defender and not be beaten, period. This is how the U.S. Women's National Team was able to send so many players into attack because there was a collective decision that they would work to get back quickly into excellent team defensive positions. They prided themselves in being very good defensive players. Even forwards like Tiffeny Milbrett or Cindy Parlow are good defenders, because, in their area of the field, they make their offensive teammates work extra hard to be effective.

Good luck with your defending and remember: When you come to a WUSA game, watch how the defense and the defenders perform. It will help you appreciate the game more and make you a better defender and player.

Tony DiCicco is the chief operations officer of the WUSA. He was formerly head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team.