Soccer Breakaway

A fast break where one or more attackers get behind the defenders so that only the other team's goalkeeper is between them & the goal. Breakaway's often happen because a defense is "pushed up" & "flat" (i.e., has no "depth"), which makes it vulnerable to "through balls". The "Sweepers" job (if you use a Sweeper) is to stop breakaways by kicking the ball out of bounds. In recreational soccer, a good strategy for stopping the other team's fast break is to teach your FB's to kick the ball out of bounds. This will give your FB's & MF's time to "sag" back to defend their goal. A "sagging" defense with "depth" prevents breakaways by having multiple layers of defenders in position to slow down the attack. On 1 vs. 1 breakaways, the defending goalkeeper should come out of the goal toward the ball in order to reduce the shooting angle. He should do this when the shooter gets within shooting range & once he starts he must run quickly toward the shooter & cannot stop or turn back; if he does, the shooter will probably score. (See "Counterattack", "Formations" (3-2-2-3), "Push Up", "Styles of Play", "Through Ball", "Sweeper", "Last Defender", "Zone Defense" & "Goalkeeper").