Soccer corner kick set plays are important and can make you score several goals in the game.
There is a reason why the majority of professional teams work on different soccer corner kick plays in training and implement them in real games.
A corner kick has the advantage to win a game.
In this article, you are going to learn 7 soccer corner kick plays to increase your chances to score more goals.
Let’s get started.
Soccer Corner Kick Set Plays
Here are 7 soccer corner kick plays to improve your game:
- Basic corner kick set
- Backdoor corner
- The peel
- Full back corner
- Helping teammates
- Players standing behind each other
- Creating space in the middle of the box
1-Basic Corner Kick Set
In this corner set, each player has an assigned zone to run into.
The corner taker can play the ball either to the nearest post, in the middle, or to the back post. So, all players have to be organized and know where they have to run into.
A teammate can also decide to support the corner taker by getting closer to the corner spot and asking for a short pass.
In this corner set play, it is preferable to have five players in the box and one standing right outside to take a shot if the ball comes to him.
You have to understand that each set play can have multiple options. So, be creative and make those options available based on your opponent’s weaknesses.
2-Backdoor Corner
This corner kick set is often used by the Real Madrid team.
It can be very useful if you do it the right way.
In this corner kick set, the corner taker(Player 1) passes the ball to a teammate(Player 2), who passes the ball to another teammate(Player 3). Then, player 1 pivots inside before player 3 gives him back the ball so he can finish or pass it again to a different player who can score.
As mentioned earlier, every set play can have multiple options. So, don’t just rely on this one.
For example, in this corner kick set play, player 3 can simply enter the box directly to score or give the ball back to number 2 who can cross it.
So, players have to read every situation and improvise if needed.
3-The Peel
This corner kick play is not as popular as the others but can be very powerful if used the right way.
In this corner kick set, five players run at the very edge of the box.
The corner taker can play a one-two with player 3 and the others must run back to the middle of the box before player 1 crosses the ball to search for a header.
But, this corner set will only work if the defending team follows your players at the edge of the box.
If they don’t, the combination might fail.
Do not worry, if the defending team has never seen something like this before, chances are they will follow your players at the edge of the box and therefore, this combo will work.
So, do not hesitate to work on it in training and implement it during a game.
4-Full Back Corner
In this soccer corner kick play, the full-back(Player 4) will come from a deep position and therefore, is unmarked.
So, the corner taker passes the ball to him and he can either cross it or enter the box and shoot.
5-Helping Teammates
This corner kick set play allows targeting the tallest players. And those tall players should be helped by other teammates.
For example, if you are the corner taker, you can decide to target two tall players in your team. But if the defending team has good defenders at aerial duels, it is going to be difficult no matter how tall your players are.
So, what to do?
Well, come the helping teammates.
The idea is simple: two teammates should stand right between the tallest players of your team and the opposing centre backs to avoid having them in contact.
Those two helping teammates are here to hinder the opposing centre backs.
The majority of teams always require their tallest defenders to mark the tall players from the opposition.
So, this corner kick play is very powerful as it prevents this.
6-Players Standing Behind Each Other
This corner kick set play allows two, three or four players to stand behind each other.
As you know, they are still going to be marked by the opposition.
But, this technique becomes very powerful when those aligned players start running in different directions when the ball is played.
Of course, defenders will follow them but will most likely be late.
7-Creating Space In The Middle Of The Box
The idea of this corner kick set play is to create space and exploit it.
But how do you create space in the box during a corner kick?
Well, by pulling out some defenders.
As you can see from the image above, defenders have no choice but to follow those three players from the attacking team, which creates a huge gap in the middle of the box.
The corner taker must just play the ball into that space, the players can receive the ball and this can lead to a goal.
Wrap Up
This article was all about the 7 most powerful soccer corner kick plays.
Let’s recap them: basic corner kick set, backdoor corner, the peel, the full-back corner, helping teammates, players standing behind each other and creating space in the box.
You don’t have to master all of them but you will be well-equipped if you do.
Practice makes perfect. So, go out there with your team and start training those different soccer corner kick plays and implement them in every game.
I hope you have gained value from this article.
If you have any questions or if you know another corner set play you would like to talk about, you can leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
You can also read: How to score a corner kick?
