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England a set-piece team, win or lose
Much of the media attention will be on the England captain David Beckham.
[ 2006-06-22 16:23 ]

England a set-piece team, win or lose

Jackie, a soccer fan from Beijing, asks:
In this passage taken from a BBC story (June 5, 2006) - Much of the media attention will be on the England captain David Beckham, with (England Coach Sven-Goran) Eriksson claiming his skipper will prove at this World Cup he is the world's best set-piece specialist - what does "set-piece" mean? I know of Beckham as free-kick specialist. Is "set piece" the same as "free kick"?

My comments:
The free kick is a set piece - and this is a great question to ask - but a set piece is more than a free kick. Set pieces also include corner kicks and throw-ins.

The free kick, as you may well know, refers to the kick awarded to a team after one of its players is fouled against. The corner kick is awarded to the offensive team after the defending team puts the ball over the end line. The throw-in is awarded after the opposition put the ball over the sideline.

You see, free kicks, corner kicks and throw-ins have one thing in common - they are "set-piece" plays created from dead-ball situations to restart the game. They are "set-piece" plays in the sense that the attacking team can "set" up their offense using one of their pre-arranged attacking schemes.

The phrase "set piece" is believed to have been borrowed from theater, where before each act, bits and "pieces" of a scene is "set" up, such as a table, a chair, a tree, a house. After the "pieces" are put in place, the stage, or scene, is "set" for the play to begin.

Hence, "set piece" refers to any piece of stage scenery.

From this, a set piece is also used to describe any artistic or literary work characterized by a formal pattern. The Chinese classical poems, be it the seven-word (per sentence), or the five-word, for example, are all set pieces.

In film, a set piece may be for example a car chase which has become something of a routine scene in an action movie.

In the news, when a politician is said to deliver a set-piece speech, it means that the speech is pre-scripted, carefully orchestrated, rather than informal and impromptu. This example from the Guardian yesterday (June 21): "In his first set-piece speech on the economy since the budget in March, the (British) chancellor (Gordon Brown) will say that Britain will be able to shrug off global uncertainty only if public sector workers accept pay constraint and there are radical changes to transport and planning."

In football, set-piece plays, especially from free kicks and corners, are a crucial part of a team's attacking plans. England, in fact, are so good at set pieces, due no small part to Beckham's curling skills, that Trinidad and Tobago manager Leo Beenhakker branded them "just a set-piece team" before the two teams played each other last week.

"On paper England have more talent than us," Beenhakker said. "But in the last two matches England played they scored six times against Jamaica and once against Paraguay and five of those goals were from dead balls."

True, England are good at set piece in offense. Ironically, they have been very poor at set-piece defense lately, as evidenced by their 2-2 draw with Sweden on Wednesday - both Swedish goals were created from corners.

The Guardian exposed this problem in detail, listing what it called "England's set-piece shockers" in the game against the Swedes, whom the English have now not been able to beat in 38 years.

"51 minutes; Allback goal
The first sign that England are starting to look shaky from set pieces. Tobias Linderoth whips in a corner to the near post from England's right flank. Marcus Allback runs from the six-yard area, shaking off Peter Crouch who fails to track the man he should be marking. Olof Mellberg gets in front of David Beckham at the near post and flicks a header into the far corner.
At fault: Crouch and Beckham

54 minutes; Larsson hits bar
Kim Kallstrom fires in another near-post corner, this time from the opposite side of the pitch. Henrik Larsson reacts quickly to get in front of England's first defender who is, again, Beckham. Larsson's header deflects off the hand of Jamie Carragher before being superbly pushed on to the bar by Paul Robinson.
At fault: Beckham

59 minutes; Mellberg hits bar
Linderoth hits a deep corner from England's left which is comfortably headed back across goal by Teddy Lucic. He easily outjumps a leaden-footed Sol Campbell, who has been on the pitch for only three minutes having replaced Rio Ferdinand. Mellberg meets the knockdown with a sliced volley which loops up and cannons on to the top of the crossbar. A cleaner strike would probably have resulted in a goal.
At fault: Campbell

72 minutes; Gerrard clears off line
Sweden go for another deep corner in order to attack a perceived weakness in Campbell and again they succeed. The former Everton midfielder Linderoth is the deliverer and this time it is easily won by Mellberg above Campbell. Kallstrom latches on to the ball on the edge of the penalty area but his rather scuffed effort is hacked off the line by Steven Gerrard, himself having been on the pitch for only three minutes.
At fault: Campbell

90 minutes; Larsson goal
As Sweden sense a final chance to salvage a point Erik Edman hurls a long throw into the penalty area from England's right-hand side. The goalkeeper Robinson waits for his defense to clear but a hesitant Campbell fails to deal with the danger, inexplicably missing the chance to clear. Larsson nips in to get a touch to the ball on the edge of the six-yard area which is enough to steer it into the bottom corner.
At fault: Campbell."

Well, win or lose, it does seem England are a set-piece team, doesn't it?

Now that you know what set pieces are all about, Jackie, hopefully you can enjoy the game better. As for Beckham and co, England face Ecuador next - let's see if set piece again proves their strength, or their undoing.

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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