There are different techniques to attack the opposing team in soccer. Some teams in World Cup, such as Netherlands and Germany are known for mixing long balls and short passes. On the other hand, Spain is more reluctant to play long balls and tend to choose short passes. In fact, Spain was able to win, not because of their attacking ability, but because of their robust defensive capability. They tend to score few goals in World Cup, but it’s hard for the opposing team to breach Spain’s defense. Once Spain manages to score one or two goals, it is likely that they win the match. It means that if we manage to frustrate the opposing team, we could win the game. Spain proves that the best defense isn’t always attacking, but can be a very strong defensive position. Another common way of attacking is immediate counterattack, which applies both in battlefields and soccer games. After a soccer team launches an attack, its defensive posture is often in disarray, as defenders will need to go forward to stay behind the advancing midfielders. Great long passes and very fast strikers are essential for instant counterattacks, which can steal unexpected goals.
In many soccer games, fast counterattacks are often among the most beautiful things to see. When a soccer finds it difficult to score a goal, it is important to know there could be problem with our attack characteristics. As an example, it is possible that our counterattacks are not fast enough, allowing the opposing team to re-organize and put up strong defense. Bad passes could also blunt out attacks, causing team members to struggle to catch the ball, delaying the overall progression of attacks. Team members should be comfortable with the passing style, they must be able to effectively to send and receive passes. It is also important to make sure that the opponent isn’t able to anticipate our passes. If a team constantly uses the same passing style, eventually an opposing team will be able learn and respond to it effectively. During attacks, it is important to use varied attacking style, which may alternately include short, long and very long passes. Whatever we do, we should create an opportunity for scoring a goal, while denying the other team a similar opportunity. We should also always look for any lucky break, that makes it much easier to score a goal.
With good attacking skills, a team may make hundreds of passes and still can’t find their lucky break. Often, a good attacking position is by capitalizing on any available opportunity. A successful counterattack that results in a goal may take only 25 seconds. Short passes are equally as effective as long passes during an attack, but still depends on whether team members are will rehearsed in the technique. Even goalkeeper and defenders have significant roles in attacking maneuvers, if they can skillfully feed the ball to well-positioned midfielders.
