Soccer Spread The Field

(aka "Stretch The Field"). When you are attacking, you want to "spread" or "stretch" the defenders to open up holes in the defense. By spreading the defenders, you force them to cover a larger area so the defenders are farther apart & can't do as good a job of supporting each other. (On the other hand, if you are defending, you want to be careful to not get too spread out or stretched). One way to spread out a defense is by using "width" on the attack. One example of this is if you spread your FB's wide on your goal kick in order to force the defenders to cover the entire width of the field. Another example of spreading the field is to be sure your forwards stay a pass apart. You can also stretch the length of the defense. An example of this is if the other team is "pushed up" and you put your fastest forward at the halfway line & then send "through balls" or long cleared kicks into the open space between the other team's FB's & their goalkeeper. If you do this a few times the other team won't be able to push up as far and you will have "stretched" their defense. (See "Width In Attack", "Width In Defense", "Stretched Defense", "Stretch The Field" & "Goal Kick").