This is something Ive only seen in MLS, and makes no sense. Every team seems to start each half by kicking the ball into the opponants corner. Why? Is there some unspoken rule to start with the leadrlt amount of control/composure possible? Just one of those things in our American league that must leave others shaking their heads.....
I was wondering the same thing too. I always assumed that it was to give some time to the "starting" team to get into the game. Imagine a bad turnover a minute into the game...then the opponent gets a counter, and our defense isn't fully focused on the game yet.
I was thinking the same thing. Any highlight of an MLS games starts the same way and I am not sure that I get it.
I heard it explained once before but I wish it'd stop. We opened the second half of the SJ game with Becks punting the ball into their half when we sorely needed to maintain possession against a team with momentum trying to rally back. Baffling tactics there.
I think it's based on the archaic philosophy of "winning the ball in the attacking third". The premise of the strategy is that the more time the ball is in the opposing third the better. It had some success in England during the seventies and eighties, especially when the game was much more physical. It's flawed however and suicide against possession based teams. I assume they do it because trying to build from your own half when they've still got 11 men behind the ball at the very start of the game is difficult and might make you ripe for an early counterattack, whereas the opposite occurs if you throw the ball into their half. Personally, I'd be more inclined to get it back to the defence, where you maintain possession until the opposing team is drawn into your half.
Yes, I remember this was something we'd do in AYSO. That's how sophisticated a strategy it seems to be. Can someone help me figure out if we're a possession team or a counter-attacking team? Because a team with a midfield like ours really shouldn't be terrified of getting caught in possession.