If you are new to soccer, then you might have heard a lot about the offside rule or the offside trap but still do not understand anything about it at all. I was in the same situation when I started watching/playing soccer 10 years ago, but not anymore.
If you do not know what the offside rule is, then you need to check out this article first to learn more about it.
So, what exactly is the offside trap in soccer?
The offside trap is a soccer strategy used by soccer defenders so that they can take an advantage against their opponent’s attackers. The way it works is that the defenders try to exploit the offside rule by making sure that they stand in front of the opponent’s striker in order to keep them in the offside area.
How does the offside trap really work?
The offside rule is a group work from the defenders of a soccer team. Let’s say that team A is facing team B in a soccer match, and let’s say that team B has a very good striker.
In order for team A to lower the risk of conceding a goal from team B’s striker, they can use the offside trap against them by making sure that the whole defense of team A is lined up in front of the striker.
If team A’s defenders do their job right, then the striker will constantly be in the offside area which means that they will not be able to take the ball from any of their teammates.
Why is the offside trap useful?
The offside trap strategy has been used by the best soccer clubs in this world, and it has been around since the offside rule was introduced more than 100 years ago.
The reason behind it’s wide usage is because it allows the defenders of a team to get rid of the opponent’s strikers by simply making sure that the striker is standing in the offside area.
This means that if the defense of a team knows how to use the offside trap very well, then they’ll end up reducing the risk of the opponent’s strikers without wasting any of their resources to defend their goal during the match.
The offside trap is risky.
Even though the trap is extremely beneficial and it adds much more defense strength to a team, it is still a risky trick.
For the offside trap to work, every single defender on the team needs to be standing in the right place at the right time whenever the opponent has the ball.
With that said, one simple mistake from any of the defenders(or any other team player too) can lead to allowing the opponent’s striker to have a one on one shot with the team’s goalkeeper.
The offside trap isn’t good for slow defenders.
As mentioned in one of the previous articles on this blog, the offside trap is very risky when used by slow defenders.
Even if the whole defense were standing in the right place, they still might not be able to use the offside rule to their advantage.
The striker can trick the defenders by standing in the offside area but making sure that they are very close to the last defender. Then once the striker feels that one of their team players is going to throw the ball to them, the striker immediately runs in front of the last defender to break the offside foul and then run again towards the goal to score.
If the defenders are slow, they might not be able to react to the sudden movement of the striker which might lead them to convince a goal even if they have done their job in the best way that they can.
So in conclusion.
Use the offside trap strategy when you are confident that your team defenders are fast enough and when they are sure that they can synchronize their movement very well in order to keep the opponent’s striker in the offside area.