Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter. Today's topic deals with defending the
overlapping run.
This explanation makes the assumption that it's the right back overlapping around the
outside right midfielder for the opposing team but this applies anywhere else as well.
As the ball is played to the right midfielder, the defending midfielder will step to the
ball. If the attacking player does what she should do and takes her attacking touch
towards the goal in order to create space for the overlapping runner, the typical response
defensively is to try to force her back toward the sideline. However, since the
overlapping runner becomes the support, the defender actually should force the outside
player towards the center of the field and away from her support (I am assuming this is
taking place around the midfield line). As a defensive player, you are typically
taught to force the opposing player toward the sideline but the real reason for this is to
force them away from their support and toward your support (your support in most cases
being the sideline). Since the overlapping runner is the support and is wide, push
the player toward the middle away from her support.
The purpose of an overlapping run is to create a 2 vs 1 situation where the defender has
to make a decision between the player with the ball and the runner going forward.
Normally, if the defender goes with the runner, the player with the ball keeps it and goes
toward goal. If the defender goes with the outside midfielder, then the ball gets
played to the overlapping runner who can either go to goal or serve the ball. By
overplaying the outside midfielder to go toward the middle (but not giving her a free
path to goal, simply denying the passing lane to the runner) the defender can control who
has the ball and where they go. In this situation, this will allow the defender to
dictate play and in the long run, the person who dictates play normally wins.
