Soccer is a fast-paced game; players with speed and skill are often highly valued team members. Their speed gives the coach versatility in position, and while there are a number of positional options, what is the best position for fast soccer players?
The best position for fast soccer players is the winger or the wing, as it’s known in English Football. Using their speed, they can contribute offensively and defensively as they can reach the ball faster than slower players and cover more area on the field.
Let’s examine why the wing is the best and what other positions would suit fast soccer players. Some of the world’s fastest soccer players are a mix of defenders and attackers, so we will look at all those positions in more detail.
Table of Contents
- Why The Wing Position Is Best For A Fast Soccer Player
- Center Forward Or Striker: Good Positions For Fast Soccer Players
- Fullbacks Are A Good Position For Fast Soccer Players
- Fast Soccer Players Can Shift Game Momentum Quickly
Why The Wing Position Is Best For A Fast Soccer Player
From an offensive perspective, having fast players on the wing means they can quickly move the ball down the sidelines and then either cross the ball to the strikers in the box or move the ball infield to open up the defense.
They can also usually outmaneuver wide-out defenders in one-on-one confrontations. This leads to the defense having to make a critical choice to either risk the winger evading their marker or creating a gap in the defensive structure, as they have to allocate another player to defend out wide.
Some of the world’s fastest soccer players are wingers, and those names include stars like Kylian Mbappe and Adama Traore.
A Fast Winger Creates Space In The Defense By Drawing Out Players
Often, the defense may allocate two players to mark a wing, creating an opportunity to overlap with an extra striker. The defense may opt for double marking to ensure that the winger doesn’t cut through the defense and either score or put a striker in a position to score.
Fast Soccer Players On The Wing Can Increase The Game’s Pace
This is a supporting role for the forwards and strikers, and a fast wing can accelerate the pace on attack, pull the play wide or narrow as needed, and when the opportunity arises, they can even score goals.
By increasing the pace, fast players can tire out the defense, making it easier for strikers to move into attacking positions and score.
Having a fast player out wide means that they can accelerate the game tempo by moving the ball quickly and getting past defenders to create scoring opportunities. Still, fast soccer players have defensive value as well.
Fast Wingers Can Boost The Defense
While most wingers will be utilized in an attacking role, they also contribute to the defense as they can move back quickly and intercept players and passes more often and quicker than the slower and bigger players can.
This makes them invaluable for defending when the opposition breaks and midfield players are forced to retreat to defend and could leave gaps in the defense. The wingers can use their speed to cover areas and players quickly until more defenders arrive.
While the wing is probably the best position for fast soccer players, it certainly isn’t the only one, so let’s explore other positions they could play.
Center Forward Or Striker: Good Positions For Fast Soccer Players
Soccer players with speed and skills will often make great strikers or forwards, and one only has to look at a player like Lionel Messi to validate this.
Speed for a striker means you can outmaneuver defenders and create gaps and space to take shots on goal or pass the ball to the strikers who can take scoring opportunities. Much like a winger will draw more than one marker, center forwards and strikers will do the same.
Where the defense knows that the striker or center forward is fast, they will often gamble on allocating two defenders to that player. This opens up the defense and can be utilized to the attacker’s advantage during the game.
Being able to move quickly into space allows fast players to receive through balls and then lay them off to other players to score or create the opportunity for goals, which can create havoc with the defensive structure.
Fullbacks Are A Good Position For Fast Soccer Players
While most coaches would use fast soccer players in offensive positions, players with speed can be valuable defenders too.
From central midfield to fullbacks and sweepers, fast soccer players can bring their pace to bear on defense, cover much of the field, and intercept through balls or tackle players that are moving into scoring range.
As fullbacks, fast soccer players can attack strikers, shutting off their ability to pass or shoot and close down passes made into the box in an attempt to create scoring opportunities.
Positioning your fast defenders in midfield gives coaches more attacking and defending options as these players can move forward and backward at pace to boost an attacking play or bulk up the defense if needed.
They can often match the opposition’s fastest players, like their wingers and strikers, for pace and slow down the speed of an attack by closing down space or harassing wide or in midfield to prevent passes from being made forward or laterally.
Some of the fastest defenders in world football include players like Achraf Hakimi and Alfonso Davies, so there is merit for fast soccer players to be on defense.
Fast Soccer Players Can Shift Game Momentum Quickly
Another benefit to having fast soccer players as defenders is they can intercept passes and break forward into space while their opponent’s fastest players are upfield, causing overlaps or one-on-one plays with remaining defenders.
A fast soccer player on a break with a single defender in front of them has a great advantage of getting past them and potentially scoring or passing to an open striker who could then go on to score.
You have often seen this happen in games where one team is on the attack; the ball is intercepted and then moved swiftly downfield on a fast break. These breaks rapidly shift momentum and leave the defending team exposed in the backfield, all because the breaking player is coming at them at pace.
Speed, power, and ball skills are essential to the game of soccer, and while fast soccer players usually take up attacking positions, they are also critical in defense.
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