Angle Play

Angle play, sometimes called "narrowing the angles" or "challenging the shooter", occurs when the ball is in a shooting position and the goalkeeper moves closer to the ball in an attempt the decrease the amount of space the opponent has to shoot at.

If you imagine a line running from each goal post to the center of the ball it will form a triangle. The opponent must shoot the ball inside the boundaries of the triangle to score (this is not completely true, the best players are able to bend the ball around obstacles, but for simplicity sake, let's assume the opponent must shoot within the triangle). If the opponent shoots the ball outside the boundaries of the triangle the ball will travel wide of the goal. As the goalkeeper moves out of the goal along the center of the triangle you will notice that the distance from the boundaries of the triangle decreases on both his left side and right side. This means there is less room for the shooter to try and score. If the goalkeeper is able to get tight up against the ball, it is almost impossible for the opponent to shoot and score.

As the ball moves further away from the center of the goal you will notice that the triangle starts to become narrower and narrower. This means the goalkeeper does not have to move as far out of the goal to be able to cover the boundaries of the triangle.

The ball is now even wider of the goal. The goalkeeper only has to move a short distance to cover the entire boundaries of the triangle. For this reason, whenever possible, the opponents should be directed away from the center of the goal area.