Football fans are increasingly perplexed by a constant trend in matches: players lie down on the ground just before a free kick is taken.
You may have been wondering, what is that all about?
Help me here, football nerds. What’s happening? pic.twitter.com/lirlTY319d
– Al Toby (@AlTobyYahoo) December 9, 2022
There is a very good reason why players lie down on the grass during free kicks, but this has only become common in recent years on football’s biggest stages.
Strategies for defending free kicks have evolved over the years as players have gotten better at finding the net. Defenders have had to be creative to adapt. Tactics that were once reserved for the playground are now being used by the world’s best professional players.
Here’s a look at why lying on the ground can be an important defensive strategy in free throws, plus how it became popular at the highest level of the sport:
Why do soccer players lie down during free throws?
Skilled free kick takers are masters at finding the net from distance. When a team takes a free kick in a dangerous position, defenders have to try to keep the ball out of the net at all costs.
The main defense against free throws is a “wall”. That’s when players stand shoulder to shoulder to block the shooter’s angle toward the goal. Walls can have as many players as the defending team wants, and the players on the wall usually jump at the same time to try to prevent the free kick taker from passing the ball over them.
Below is an example of a wall doing its job:
Great free kick Ronaldo!!! Doing what you do best. Free kicks straight to the wall!!! pic.twitter.com/EHY7K2p7m4
-David (@david_b712) December 6, 2022
Over time, some smart players realized that they could catch wall defenders off guard by kicking the ball under the ground. When all the defenders jumped, the ball went under their feet and into the back of the net.
The new technique presented a conundrum for advocates. If they jumped, they risked letting the kick go under them. If they didn’t jump, they ran the risk of the kick going over them. So how could they defend themselves against both?
The answer is to have an unlucky player lie on the ground to block low kicks.
Perhaps the first to use this tactic in a professional match was the Brazilian player Ricardinho, who represented Figueirense in the Serie B Championship (Brazil’s second pision). During a match against Palmeiras in 2013, he fell to the ground trying to block a shot by Jorge Valpia from outside the edge of the area. However, Valpia took the more traditional route and the shot crashed into the wall.
The strategy gained global attention in 2018 when it was used by Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozović. Brozović noticed that Barcelona striker Luis Suárez was about to take his free kick under the wall, so he hit the ground and managed to deflect it out of bounds. He even made Lionel Messi laugh.
? Leo Messi’s reaction
? Marcelo Brozovic
? A unique way to defend a free kick…#UCL pic.twitter.com/IIYvcNn2Ua— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 30, 2018
Since then, it has been increasingly used in major competitions. as ESPN points out here.
How did the free throw wall start?
The wall itself was invented to help defend against free kicks. Former Northern Ireland player Danny Blanchflower claims that his team debuted this tactic in a match against Italy in April 1957.
“We tried to do things that no one else had ever thought of. We had to do it because they were better teams,” he said, according to Brian McClelland. “We raised the first barrier on a free kick. They (the Italians) seemed scared by the tactic. However, it had its initial problems. The referee had never seen it either, so when the Italians picked up the ball and moved it to five meters from the wall and shot it into the net, he scored a goal!
The wall’s true origins in football have likely been lost over time, but Blanchflower’s story seems as likely as any other.
Who invented the under-the-wall free kick?
Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho was one of the first major players to consistently take free kicks under the wall. It’s not clear if he “invented” it, but he certainly perfected it with iconic goals like this one for Barcelona in 2006.
?? Ronaldinho’s cheeky free kick, #OTD in 2006 ?@10Ronaldinho || #UCL pic.twitter.com/G1zgmqUndG
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 5, 2022
Perhaps it was his skill in using technique that forced Brazilian defenders to find ways to counter him.
Soccer Free Kick Wall Distance
Defenders are forced to stand at least 10 meters away from the ball in a free kick. Nowadays, referees even have a special vanishing spray that they use to paint a line on the field behind which defenders must stand.
There is also a rule requiring attacking players to stand at least one meter away from the defensive wall during free kicks. Presumably this is to ensure that the attacking team does not breach the wall.
