Where Should A Goalkeeper Stand For A Corner?

This is one of the first questions that goalkeepers and the parents of goalkeepers who weren’t involved in the game want to know. A lot of times even pro training isn’t sufficient in this part of the game. A lot of times you’ll be coming out to crosses on Fridays as a bit of a soft training activity. There’s in my opinion not enough time spent on this and if you work on it on your own there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to stand out quite a bit. It’s so ironic how goalkeepers are asked to play off the line much more these days. Yet, training has not caught up to this demand.

One of the first things that I want to make sure that I can get across is that there is no one way to perfectly cover corners or even set pieces near the edge of the box and to the side. One of the main problems is that coaches want to cover set pieces in a particular way, but they never really take into account the type of goalkeeper that they have in the back. Some of the top goalkeepers in the world even today are dreadful at cutting down crosses. Iker Casillas and Guillermo Ochoa are two prime examples of popular goalkeepers with a dreadful cross-cutting technique. That’s why I want to talk about molding the way that you cover corner kicks to your game and obviously to your strength.

Where Should You Stand On A Corner Kick

So you have to mold your strategy to your game, but the starting position is going to be the same for everyone right? Not quite, actually, your position should vary depending on who’s taking the corner and also how confident you happen to be when it comes to trying to punch out a cross or come out and grab it in mid-air. Let’s get to positioning on a corner that is taken inward.

Crosses That Are Kicked In Towards Goal

These are the crosses that are kicked by a player with their right foot when the corner is on your right side of the goal and by a player with their left foot when a corner is being kicked on the left side of the goal. These types of shots are naturally going to curve towards the goal. Therefore when this happens you usually want to be standing a little bit favoring your front post and about a step off the end line. With these types of corners, I don’t recommend that you stand very far off the end line. At the same time, you have to make sure that you’re standing at an angle. You never want to be completely facing the person who is taking the corner, but at the same time, you don’t want to be facing the people who are coming into head the cross. At least not right before the cross is kicked.

Crosses Kicked Outward Towards The Penalty Spot

Jonna Andersson executes a corner

Here we’re talking about crosses with the opposite effect. This is usually achieved with players who kick with their right foot on a left side corner and their left foot on a right side corner. If you have trouble differentiating this remember if the kicker is standing on the outside of the end line the ball will typically curve towards goal. If the kicker is standing on the sideline looking in towards the corner the ball is going to typically curve towards the penalty spot. With these corners again stand a little bit favoring your near post and here you can stand pretty much in-between the goal and the line in your small box. With these crosses, you’re going to be able to venture out more to try and pluck one out of the air without fearing that the ball is going to curve back towards your goal.

What To Do If There Are Two Players In Line To Take The Corner

A lot of people dislike the idea of having two players in place to be able to take a corner at any given time. I generally disagree you can have the defense and the goalkeeper on their heels if you do this correctly. As a goalkeeper, you’re going to be forced to find a middle ground. You don’t want to be too attached to the goal because that could hamper your ability to come get an outward going cross. At the same time, you don’t want to be on the edge of the small box and have to rush back to block a near post incurving shot.

Now That You’ve Got Your Base Position Here’s The Next Step

Getting in position is just half the battle and essentially staying in position right after the corner is taken is going to be basically dictated by your next step. This is why it’s so important to be standing at an angle and not flat footed at any given time. If you see the cross coming in short into the near post you need to get your outside foot set towards the ball and you make the decision to either come out and try and punch it or literally stand your ground. If the ball is coming right at the penalty spot and you want to come out you have to make sure your back foot propels you forward. If you’re not coming you’re going to want to step back and set up like you would for an incoming frontal shot.

If we’re talking about a ball that’s coming into the far post and in towards goal you want to get your front foot in towards goal and to the far post. Usually, I would say to take the necessary steps that you need to take before you dive. This is the one part of the game where I really feel your footwork needs to be almost choreographed like a dancer. You need to know how many steps it takes you to get to a ball on the near post, the penalty spot, and the back post. Poor judgment puts you out of position and makes a goal very likely because this is one part of the game where a wrong step can be something you won’t recover from even if you dive bravely.

Training Exercises

As you can see there’s a lot that goes into covering a corner and we haven’t even gotten to setting your defense up yet. You really need to know how many steps it takes you to get to each part of the goal. The best way to teach this is to literally set up cones in the different spots where you need to take your first and do the footwork like a dance move and rehearse that before you get the ball involved. I know that the drills that involve pure footwork and no ball are boring. This is maybe one of the few instances where I would agree this is the first step.

The second step in the drill would be to leave the cones and actually have someone send in crosses to different points in the box at different heights and speeds. A common mistake that coaches make is wanting to have every goalkeeper come out to the same type of ball. We’re not all the same height even in age group play. If you’re a shorter keeper you’re usually not going to be the guy that high points a ball at the penalty spot. If that’s not your game that should be ok.

Which Balls Should You Come Out & Try And High Point?

If we’re talking about a ball in the edge of your small box that you can clearly come out and grab you need to do something. You at least need to try and figure out a way to punch it out. The only way though, that you’re going to be able to have good judgment which is key in this type of play is if you’ve seen a lot of crosses come by in practice. There’s really no other way that you’re going to be able to clearly determine what type of ball you can reach and which one’s you can’t. If you’re young and you’re still growing obviously the feeling has to change as you grow taller. Therefore the simple drill that I talked about is one that you should be testing out maybe even once a week or more if this part of your game is lacking.

What To Do About Your Defense

In a lot of teams, you’re going to have a set strategy of how to cover corners. For the most part, the simple thing that you do is put a player on the near post and one covering the back post, one to the ball, and the rest are in man to man. To me, that’s the simplest way to cover a corner. If you have a defender on the front post that is tall and you know is going to try and high point a lot of those near post corners you could stand a little bit more towards the middle initially. Especially if you’re someone who isn’t going to come out and meet many crosses. This goes back to playing to your strengths. Maybe if you’re having trouble with corners the first thing that you need to do is make sure that this part is well covered by a defender who is really going to help out.

Even at older stages, the far post man is not a requirement. The reason I say this is because most kids can’t even kick to the far post consistently and most adults can’t do it accurately. If you’re a keeper that doesn’t like to come out very far it’s better to have defenders that can get the job done for you. It’s important that you are in command of what’s going on though. If this is the strategy you chose then make sure your teammates get in position and before they take the corner try and pick off any incoming opposing player that isn’t being marked. Point them out to get them covered up and watch for the opposing players on rebound duty as you’re getting set. Again, I know this can be too much information especially for young kids, and that’s why practice is super important.

Find Your Comfort Levels

People always talk about how you need to step out of your comfort zone to be able to get better. I would totally agree with that statement. I definitely think that in training you need to get a feel for what it’s like to come out even past the penalty spot to try and compete for a ball. That’s the only way that you’re going to learn and you’re going to be able to expand your reach if you will in these types of plays. Now, in a game you don’t want to be walking in uncharted territory or spots you feel uncomfortable in. In the training lab, yes you need to step away from comfort. When it counts though I would always advise that you stick with what you know. The simple reasoning behind this is that you probably are more prone to make a mistake when you’re out of your element.

I don’t think that it’s a bad thing to be a goalkeeper that isn’t fond of flying out like superman on every cross that comes in. I certainly think that there are advantages to having a goalkeeper who can consistently and effectively cut down crosses. In my years though, I found that this is a part of the game that many people really dislike and struggle with. I have my own insecurities about this part of my game. A big part of that is the fact that it’s something you don’t train! The coach will just throw the ball up in the air and you have to jump and catch it. That really doesn’t help all that much. The trajectory and the speed of the ball are much different in a corner.

Should You Be Actively Looking To Increase Your Reach On Corner Kicks?

If you’re trying to get into a team, college, pro, or even junior levels where there are tryouts certainly a good command of the box and decent corner kick skills are going to be something that help you out quite a bit. At least they really should help you stand out. The reason behind this is simple: if you’re someone who is very confident about this part of your game you’re going to be able to showcase your talents even on a dull play. God knows that a lot of times with us goalkeepers in open tryouts it’s really hard to be able to make yourself stand out.

Is this a part of your game that you’re insecure about or you just don’t enjoy? Obviously, taking steps to get better is a must. It’s a part of the game that’s not going to go away. I don’t want to say don’t you can get away with minimal effort or just being well positioned in crosses. The thing is, these plays are very much a two-edged sword and when you’re trying to showcase your talents they can make you or break you on the spot. So if you’re not someone that’s going to be comfortable trying to high point a cross at the penalty spot don’t do it!

Catching or Punching A Cross

I could do an entire article on this topic, I’m not going to because I do think that there’s a simple truth to this that many of us know, but try to avoid. Obviously, the ideal scenario is that you not only catch the ball, but you catch and you’re able to send a pass upfield that starts a breakaway and ends in a goal the other way. There is no question at least in my mind as to what’s better. If you can catch the ball when you’re coming out on a corner kick or any cross go for it.

The better question then would be, when you should look into punching out crosses. Usually, when you see keepers punching out crosses it’s because they don’t feel that they have enough room to be able to grab the ball effectively. We’re mainly talking about a congested area where you’re jumping and putting your arms over the head of an opposing player or even a teammate to be able to get to the ball. The other instance would be if the ball is just coming in too hot. This is just like any other shot out there. If you feel that the shot is coming in too hard don’t try and hang on to the ball try and just punch it volley it whatever away. You have to make sure that you put enough power on the punch to effectively change the trajectory of the ball. If not it can spell disaster.

Final Thoughts On Corner Kicks

As with any instance in goal it’s very important to understand your own reach, that’s going to dictate your original position and the number of steps that you’re going to need to take. Don’t sleep on what seem like very dumb and boring drills. It’s really important for that footwork to become second nature. We see even in some of the top players in the game a lot of anxiety on corner kicks and crosses. I would bet that a lot of the issues stem back to a lack of consistent reinforcement of fundamentals.