SET PIECES DECIDE MATCHES Michael Adubato - Sunday, June 11, 2006
It's World Cup time again and I am fired up. The opening game of the tournament produced six goals. Six! Unbelievable! That's what it's all about: scoring goals.
Although the seasoned soccer fan would love to see spectacular goals where an attacker puts his head down, storms into the danger zone with the ball at his feet, beats a defender or two and then smashes the ball past an airborne keeper into the back of the net, this is rarely the case.
An exception to the rule, of course, would be Diego Maradona's slalom through the English defense in 1986.
For you statistics fanatics: according to World Soccer, dribbling exhibitions accounted for only 5.6% of the goals during the last World Cup. The statistic that I find most intriguing, however, is that 29% of the goals came from set pieces.
Some might argue that less able teams rely on set pieces, but if you are Brazil and you have Ronaldinho, or France with Thierry Henry, or you have another of the world's free kick experts, this line of thought doesn't hold much water.
US fans will remember well that, in the 2002 quarterfinals, Germany didn't fare so well against the Brad Fridel and American defensive wall until they were awarded a 38th minute free kick.
Christian Ziege delivered and Michael Ballack narrowly beat his marker to head the winner into the back of the net. The Germans made good on a dead ball situation and were able to continue all the way to the final.
US defender Gregg Berhalter, playing in the big tournament in the country where he plays his club soccer, says: "At World Cup, (restarts) are often the difference between success and failure."
Fellow backliner Carlos Bocanegra agrees with his teammate. "Set pieces usually win or lose games. The teams are pretty evenly matched, so little things like that can decide the game."
This assessment was spot on during the first weekend of the current tournament. England were gifted three points courtesy of an early own goal by Paraguay's Carlos Gamarra. The poor guy deflected a vintage David Beckham free kick past his own keeper to surrender the only goal of the game.
Face it: a game can be won or lost with the stroke of one dead ball.
The 'Nats practice, practice and practice some more, both on defending free kicks and on attacking when they are awarded one.
"We spend a lot of time on that," North Carolina native Eddie Pope confirmed. "That's just one of many aspects of the game, but it is extremely important."
Newly promoted Reading FC star Bobby Convey says speedy attackers such as himself, DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan are charged with the responsibility of forcing the opposition into fouling them in dangerous locations.
"It's part of how our team works," he told reporters on Thursday. "Every attacker needs to get every foul he can because restarts are crucial in this game."
"It's pretty much a free shot at goal," the Philadelphia native continued. "The more we run at people, the more free kicks we get, the more chances we create and the more goals we score."
Josh Wolff, who scores his goals for the KC Wizards when not on national duty, has loads of confidence in the team when it comes to free kicks.
"Our backs are good on set pieces. We want to take advantage of every opportunity because goals are tough to come by in the tournament."
I have every confidence in our Yanks at both ends of the field, and especially in Standard Liege's Oguchi Onyewu. The Clemson alumni, six feet and four inches of power-packed athleticism, is by far the best man in the air in Belgium's Juplier League.
I predict that Gooch will manage to get on the scoresheet for the US, while also keeping Kasey Keller from having to make too many set piece saves.
"We've got some big guys," said midfielder Clint Dempsey. "Gooch is an athletic guy, and so is Pope."
"It's hard to jump when you have someone bodying you. Being knocked off balance here and there, where you have to jump off one foot - I think that creates a problem for you."
I, for one, will be keeping an eye out for the set piece goals. Few things can makes a stadium full of soccer fans come alive like a dead ball screaming into the back of a World Cup net.
The opinions expressed are those of the author only. While others at Yanks Abroad may hold similar opinions, they do not represent the views of Yanks Abroad or any of our partners.
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