Third Man Runs

Our practice emphasis this week is on third man runs. This is a new concept for the girls and will help them to understand why we emphasize playing out from the back. 

By passing the ball horizontally, we shift our opponent to one side. As they shift to one side,  they leave pockets of space in between them. 

With a highly organized defense, this happens less as players move from one side to the other. But on the other side of the spectrum, the gaps become wide, especially as the game goes on and girls get tired.

This is what we want to create, gaps to exploit. Now, the girls are learning to pass it through a gap in the middle to the highest player possible. This may mean the striker, or it could mean an attacking midfielder.

When our striker receives the ball, they should have already scanned behind them. Often, they are left with three defenders as most teams in our league play with that many defenders. 

Instead of turning and running with the ball (1v3), our striker can hold the ball until she finds a runner to pass to. Now, we have more players running against our opponent’s defensive line and a better chance at scoring a goal. 

In the above example, 8 is the free man. If you look back to the first image, 5 can’t pass her the ball through. It takes the intermediary pass to 9, then back to 8 to find her. 

Third man runs involves three players with two passes between them.