Now of course as a soccer goalie you won’t have to bother doing anything at all with most free kicks, but what about if it’s right outside your box?

There are certain things you need to do and I’ll show you how to do them;

Set the Wall

1) Stand on your line

2) Shout at three or four of your players to go towards the ball and form a wall.

3) Now you need to tell them where to stand. Shout at one on the ens to turn around to take instruction from you.

4) If there is a gap they are not covering, shout at them to move across to cover the gap

5) Go and stand by your post and make an imaginary line between your post and the ball. If the wall is not covering this line tell them to move over towards the post- this ensures the ball can’t get between the wall and the post to go in the goal.

6) Now go and stand on the other side of the goal to the side the wall is covering, but be close enough to the middle so that you can move across quickly should the shot go over the wall

Remember when you’re making the wall to be loud, clear and authoritative. That way you will be able to organise it properly and give your defence confidence that you’re doing the right thing.

Saving the Ball

Now of course as a soccer goalie your real job is to stop the ball going in the goal. So when the kick taker shoots you need to be able to save the ball. You can learn more about saving the ball from the special section dedicated to shot stopping

What if They Don’t Shoot?

If the kick taker doesn’t shoot and just passes it to another player close by who has a better angle to shoot, you need to adjust your position in the goal accordingly.

Sometimes instead of shooting the kick taker might cross it from a free kick. If so you deal with this just as you would a corner or a regular cross.

You need to judge how close the ball is going to come to you and whether you should come and claim it. If the ball is going in or around your six yard box it might well be your responsibility to deal with the situation.

In this case, be confident and shout “KEEPERS!”. You then need to come for the ball, jump and catch it at the highest point possible.