Of course, there are going to be times when the player is not able to come at the goal from a central position, and will be forced to come in from the side. Until the ball clears the inside of the nearest goal post, the far post is likely to be the only real shooting option. However, once the ball clears the first goal post, either option is available - and, in most instances, a shot should be made on the near post as soon as the ball clears the post. Why? Because the goalkeeper typically is moving backwards towards the central area of the goal so that his body will cover more of the goal - and the near post is most often wide open (unless an alert defender has moved in to block shots to that post).

When coming in at an angle, with the ball not yet clear of the near post, the goalkeeper knows that there is only one area of the goal which is available - which is the far post area. In order to try to block this option, the keeper often will station himself somewhat more centrally, so that he can block both high and low shots on the far post. However, against an attacker with good take-on skills who seems to be penetrating well, the keeper may prefer to stand just off the near post - expecting to charge the attacker if he gets close enough to goal that there seems to be a risk of the ball clearing the near post side.

The attacker should watch carefully to see which option is chosen by the goalkeeper. If the keeper is already cheating towards the back post (in soccer, the term "cheating" simply means to be moving more in one direction - it does not carry moral overtones), then it may prove to be productive to fake a kick towards the back post to cause the keeper to rapidly backpedal when you are a few feet from clearing the near post, then to quickly accelerate and slot the ball to the open near post area. with the outside of the foot nearest the goal or with the inside of the other foot.

Another option is to fake a high shot, then to shoot low and hard at the keeper's ankles. In general, low hard shots near the ankles are some of the most difficult balls to save. It is almost impossible to get down in time, so the only real option is to kick the ball away. However, if you have gone dead-leg on kicking leg, or have shifted your weight backwards, it usually is impossible to get to these balls at all. On the other hand, if the keeper is standing even with the near post, this means that he is vulnerable to shots on the far post, as well as in the central area if the attacker can get the ball inside the posts. For younger players who have inaccurate high shots, this keeper strategy is often successful - as the window which is open for the high shot is rather small. Moreover, a taller keeper often can jump and deflect the shot. So, what should the attacker do in this situation?

In general, the attacker should try to bring the ball as central as he can, and should take the keeper on in much the same fashion as a field player. Because most keepers expect a far post shot, they will tend to hold their charges on the ball until the attacker is right on them. This works to the advantage of a patient attacker, as he can often induce the keeper to go dead-leg on his near post leg by a feinted attempt at the far post (then slip the ball between the ankle and the near post); or get close enough to the keeper that he can "nutmeg" him (the ultimate gotcha of an attacker); or fake a pass to the near post, then pass the ball to himself centrally and do an off-balance pass to the far post; or, by being patient, end up with an open teammate on the far post who can accept an easy drop pass which can be slotted into the far post netting.

Once again, encourage creativity in this finishing. Some players develop all sorts of tactical feints and "smooth moves" to handle these situations - including back-heeling balls into the net, or doing behind the heel tucks, and so forth. These moves are exciting to players, and are fun to watch for the crowd, so let the players spend occasional time on perfecting their "moves." Usually, it takes considerable experimentation in practice before a player will find the courage to try new moves in games, so do not be surprised if a player will not use a move in a game which he has done well in practice. Especially in early adolescence, where "coolness" is highly important, it is fairly common for many players to wait on showing their new moves until they are CERTAIN that they will not make fools of themselves in the process. Contests sometimes can help to break this fear - but the best cure is time.

During training on angle finishing, you will need to add a defender who is coming in from various angles, so that the attacker will be exposed to realistic game situations and learn the best ways to adjust to these additional obstacles. Encourage players to learn to pounce on scoring chances and take the half-shot. There is an old saying in soccer that "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." As a coach, you want to make sure that you don't inadvertently punish players for taking the risk of shooting by criticizing their failure to pass the ball to a teammate. It is very easy to inadvertently train players to never shoot (so that the entire team is passing the responsibility and the ball around an open net).

In the next section, we will discuss group attacking, starting with basic 2v1 attacking. However, coaches are well- advised to spend most of their time with new players on development of take-on skills and on development of individual finishing skills, for two reasons. First, young children are inherently "me" focused. As a result, until around age 9, many will not want to share the ball with somebody else or even give much thought to the needs/positioning of other members of their own team. Therefore, during this self-centered developmental stage, kids are ripe for learning individual skills. Secondly, in order to be ready to use a teammate well, players need to understand the basic angles involved in finishing.

For example, in a situation with the keeper standing on the near post to stop an angled scoring run, one of the options available to an individual attacker who is fairly close to the inside of the near post is to pass the ball to himself towards the central area of the goal, then quickly try to slot the ball to the far corner. When a second attacker is added into this equation, this supporting player needs to realize what the positioning of the on-ball player and the keeper is telling him, so that he gets into position to accept the pass; holds his run so that he connects with the pass at the right moment; and then finishes the pass for the on-ball attacker.

This example illustrates why players who well-trained in individual scoring options already will have many of the tools needed to work in combination with other players, and underscores the importance which the coach must place on the acquisition of these skills.