England’s set-piece mastery reaping rewards
REPINO, RUSSIA— Forget bending them like Beckham.
At this World Cup, it has been a case of teasing them in like Trippier and angling them in like Ashley.
Set pieces have been the main source of goals at the tournament in Russia — 42 per cent, no less — and England has been the master of that department on its run to the semifinals.
Eight of its 11 goals so far have come via free kicks, corners or penalties, which is four more than any other team and the most since Portugal also scored eight set-piece goals at the World Cup in 1966.
This hasn’t come about by fluke. Meticulous preparation — including a trip to the United States to take in an NBA game — the selection of specific players with strong dead-ball delivery, and the defensive nature of high-pressure tournament football has led to a point where set pieces could yet lead England to a second World Cup.
“Set pieces have been a massive thing for us and other teams through the whole of the World Cup,” Ashley Young, one of England’s set-piece takers, said Monday. “Obviously we work on them in attack and defence, and they are vitally important for us. They have worked in our favour and we’ll carry on working on them.”
A decade ago, England had one of the best set-piece takers in football in David Beckham, whose precision and ability to curl the ball in from the wing was an important weapon at major tournaments. So famous were his crosses that a movie, Bend It Like Beckham, was spun off it in 2002.
In England’s class of 2018, free kicks, corners and wide crosses are mostly provided by England’s wing backs, Young and Kieran Trippier, and they are proving tough to defend.
Young set up England’s first goal in the 2-0 quarterfinal win over Sweden with a driven corner from the left wing that was headed in by Harry Maguire. Trippier’s delivery from the right has been even more impressive, so much so some have nicknamed him “Bury Beckham” — reference to the northern town where he was born.
Three of England’s goals have come from the penalty spot, all converted by Kane, and the team won a penalty shootout for the first time at a World Cup to beat Colombia. Southgate has worked on improving England players’ psychology going into shootouts, while goalkeeper Jordan Pickford used information — detailing where Colombia’s penalties were likely to go — that was written on a water bottle next to his goal.
Meanwhile, five of England’s goals have been headers, also tying the record for a single World Cup since 1966.
Croatia has scored two setpiece goals at the World Cup — one being a penalty — so the English appear to have the advantage in this department.
Expect them to exploit it in Moscow on Wednesday.