Soccer Boom Ball

A slang derogatory term referring to when the ball is frequently kicked in the air toward the other teams goal. This occurs by youth teams who have no attacking plan but it can also be an intentional and effective tactic with forwards stationed in position to win long "over-the-top" balls. You see a certain amount of "Boom Ball" in most professional leagues and it is used extensively by some successful professional teams. For example, in 2001 this long over-the-top tactic was used by Celtic, which had a secure lead at year end in the Scottish Premier League. It is easy to criticize teams for playing Boom Ball, when in fact most professional and select teams "boom" their goal kicks and long corners and punt their goalie distributions rather than controlling the ball and building from the back, and many teams FB's "boom" the ball to clear it when they are under pressure. I think it is fair to define "Boom Ball" as when the ball is kicked long without any real purpose or strategy and when the kicker's team has only a 50/50 chance or less to win the ball. However, if you send the ball forward as part of an attacking strategy, or when under pressure in the Defending Third, or when your team has a better than 50/50 chance of winning the ball, is isn't "Boom Ball". "Boom Ball" is very different from "Kick & Run". (See "Styles of Play", "Kick & Run", and "Attacking").