Set piece success could be key stat

How clubs handle these plays is an important part of team identity.

Setting up a corner kick, Andrea Pirlo takes three steps before his right leg slices through the ball. Pirlo doesn’t take much of a follow through because he wants the ball to have a flat trajectory.

The ball sails past a defender stationed close to the corner and, as if guided by laser, rises about 20 feet above the ground as it subtly curls a few feet from right to left.

Its destination: David Villa’s right foot. He meets the ball and slams it into the left corner of the goal.

Those two pieces of skill gave NYCFC a 2-1 lead in a game against Vancouver last April. And it is those skills — both in executing set pieces and defending set pieces — that could prove the difference in Atlanta United having a chance to make the playoffs in its first season.

“It’s an important part of an identity of a team,” United manager Gerardo Martino said. “It’s an important part of a game, both defending and attacking. There is also everything that goes in the run of play. Sometimes games are decided by the flow of the game, but sometime also decided by set pieces, corners and free kicks. It’s also something that we will focus on.”

Practicing and honing the art are important because in MLS play last season, 206 (21.5 percent) of the 956 goals scored came from direct or indirect free kicks — the total doesn’t include penalty kicks — according to Opta, which tracks stats for the league.

A set piece can be used on either a direct or indirect type of kick, providing one of the few times during the game that a team can execute something that it may

have spent hours practicing. (A direct kick may be scored by the player making the kick. An indirect kick must be touched by two players before scoring.)

The Villa goal is an example. While most were watching the ball, there was a lot more going on in the penalty box . When Pirlo started to run, Villa was standing in front of the goalie with the defender tasked with marking him. As Pirlo kicked the ball, Villa peeled toward the back post and away from his marker.

Villa found open space to volley the ball because teammate Frederic Brillant picked Villa’s defender, just like in basketball.

The other key to successful set piece performance is having someone who can deliver the ball to the perfect spot. It is a unique skill.

Stuart Holden, a former player for the U.S. men’s national team and now an analyst for Fox Sports, was part of the 2006-07 Houston Dynamo teams that won back-to-back MLS Cups. He credited the ability to score set pieces as a reason for their success.

“Worked on them three, four times a week,”’ he said. “We had a real understanding of where you needed to be in certain moments. Most important thing is delivery. You have to have a guy put a ball in a dangerous spot.”

Atlanta United scored on a set piece in its first preseason game in Chattanooga. It wasn’t a practiced kick, but the result of disorganization by Chattanooga. Seeing Chattanooga’s defense wasn’t ready, Andrew Carleton completed a short pass — or short corner as it is also known — to Julian Gressel, who hit a cross into the penalty box. Josef Martinez dove at the ball, risking a cleat to the face, and headed the cross into the goal.

“You have to be brave, you have to be courageous,” midfielder Jeff Larentowicz said. “Putting your head in a dangerous place, taking a chance, takes courage.”

When midfielder Miguel Almiron is on the field, it appears he will take the corner and the direct kicks. United has several players (Kenwyne Jones, Brandon Vazquez, Leandro Pirez, Gressel) who are tall enough to be dangerous for headed shots in the penalty box.

A key to success on executing and defending set pieces can often be found in the scrum of players around the goal jockeying for position. Offensive players are trying to get that one step that will give them the momentum to either outrun the defenders if the kick is far from goal or the space to leap and try to head the ball if the kick is close to the goal.

Defenders will hold, push and tug in an attempt to slow down their men.

“That scrum is chaotic,” Vazquez said. “I focus on getting in front of the defenders in case the ball gets there. I’m there to finish the play. I don’t focus on what’s happening behind me. But they are always pushing, arms out in front of me. That’s part of the game.”

Some managers prefer to defend with man-to-man assignments. Others will assign zones when defending in the penalty box. Communication and courage are key with either tactic.

“Defending is not only organization. A coach can set you up. It ultimately just comes down to a real commitment by each player to not get beat,” Holden said. “Fight through picks and make sure their man doesn’t score, making sure they are paying attention, focusing as a team and making it a team mandate.

“That’s where you see the greatest success in Major League Soccer.”