Space Between the Lines

April 3, 2023, 4:20 p.m.

One of the objectives of any team in its offensive play is to be able to overcome the opposing defense by finding players who are free between the lines, generating decisive advantages to create opportunities for progression and successful finishes.

In this post, we will analyze two situations to find players between the lines, either by playing directly to them or indirectly playing an outside pass to later play inside with the free player.

We observe a build-up situation with three central midfielders, with two midfielders who come close to receive and attract the opponents to find the player who is free between the lines.

Once the player is found totally free behind the rival midfield line, he turns with a perfectly oriented control and plays a through ball to the striker who breaks into space and is left alone in front of the goal.

OUTSIDE-IN PASS

In this situation, the rival team covers the direct passing line to the player who is free between the lines, so we need to play an outside pass to support us to play inside between the lines.

The center back on the left plays to the left back, who will serve as a support to find the player who is free between the lines.

When receiving the ball on the left flank, the passing line that the rival team was covering over the player between the lines is cancelled, and the player can play between the lines.

The player receives the ball inside and makes a perfectly oriented control to play to the right side with a player who makes a run down the right flank.