While basketball permits a zone defense and football uses the zone as part of pass coverage, the specific term "zonal defending" refers to a strategy of marking the offense in soccer. Given the vastness of outdoor soccer fields, which is typically 50 by 100 yards or more, man-to-man marking could prove exhausting -- although occasionally the tactic is seen, as when Equatorial Guinea assigned a player to always shadow Brazil's Marta in the 2011 Women's World Cup. Zonal defending requires an understanding of soccer defensive principles and spacing.
Step 1
Line up four players straight across in the back line of the defense. Take your place as the left or right fullback or as one of the two central defenders. Visualize your area of responsibility as a long rectangle. If you are the left fullback, for example, mark -- which means to stay between the player and the goal -- any player who comes down the leftmost strip of the field, from behind your midfielder to the end line. Leave attackers in the center or right-hand zones of the field to your teammates.
Step 2
Defend the midfield zone by similarly dividing it into long rectangles patrolled by the left and right midfielders, with the central area shared by the attacking and holding midfielders. Defend players that come into your area in front of the defense and behind the forwards.
Step 3
Mark a player that comes into your zone with the ball for as long as she is in your area. Apply consistent, immediate and intense pressure, staying with her stride for stride and trying to poke or tackle the ball away. Hand off responsibility for the player if she moves into the zone of a teammate.
Step 4
Take positions during set pieces such as corner kicks to defend the most dangerous areas in front of the goal. Place the left and right fullbacks on the near and far goalposts to help the goalkeeper shut down shots into the dangerous spots at each corner of the goal. Drop back the remaining midfielders and forwards -- eight players in all -- to create two even rows of four players in front of the goal, patrolling evenly sized zones.
References
- "Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer"; Alan Hargreaves, et al.; 2010
- BBC Sport: Football: Set-Piece Marking
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