Man Marking

Man marking is commonly used in soccer. In theory it’s really quite simple as it just requires awareness and speed (depending on who you’re marking of course).

The basic idea is to stop the opposition player you have been assigned to, from getting possession of the ball and/or scoring.

I remember when I played soccer aged 11 I managed to run free from my marker- my coach told me that if he could show a video of how to lose a marker, he would’ve showed it of me. I’m afraid I don’t have a video, but at least having got free of markers effectively myself I can show you how to stop people getting free from you. Here’s how.

1) You are man marking a player of the opposite team

2) Keep a hand on them and watch them all the time

3) Try not to get distracted or lose concentration

4) When they move, follow them and stick to them like glue

5) So when they try to attack the ball, you have a good chance of getting there first

The player you’re marking may well try to run in different directions to lose you. Just don’t get distracted and stay with them. That’s all you should try to do.

Zonal Marking

I won’t go into much detail on zonal marking because it is not a great concern at this stage- it can only really be done by teams who have good co-ordination as opposed to being practiced by individuals.

Very briefly, it involves each defender taking a certain zone/area of the pitch and it is their responsibility to defend that zone. So the defender must mark an opposition player entering his zone and if the player leaves his zone they will be picked up by another defender.

So you’ve looked at marking in soccer, but what about penalties?