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» » Why soccer players lie down during free kicks: Explaining 'draft excluder' behind the wall at World Cup - Sporting News

Why soccer players lie down during free kicks: Explaining 'draft excluder' behind the wall at World Cup - Sporting News

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If you've been watching the 2022 World Cup, you've probably seen it: players lying flat on the ground just before a free kick is about to be taken.

Maybe you've been wondering, what's that all about?

There's a very good reason why players lie on the turf during free kicks, but it has only become commonplace in the last few years on soccer's biggest stages.

The strategies for defending free kicks have evolved through the years as players have gotten better at finding the net on them. Defenders have had to get creative to adapt. Tactics once reserved for the playground are now being utilized by the best professional players in the world. 

Here's a look at why lying flat on the ground can be an important defensive strategy on free kicks, as well as how it was popularized at the highest level of the sport: 

Why soccer players lie down during free kicks

Skilled free-kick takers are masters at finding the net from distance. When a team has a free kick in a dangerous position, the defenders have to try to keep the ball out of the net at all costs.

The main defense against free kicks is a "wall." That's when players stand shoulder to shoulder to block the shooter's angle to the goal. Walls can have as many players as the defending team wants, and the players in the wall usually jump at the same time to try to prevent the free-kick taker from kicking the ball over them. 

Here's an example of a wall doing its job:

Eventually, some clever players realized they could catch the defenders in the wall off guard by kicking the ball low along the ground. When the defenders all jumped, the ball went under their feet and into the back of the net.

The new technique presented a conundrum for defenders. If they jumped, they risked letting the kick go under them. If they didn't jump, they risked letting the kick go over them. So how could they defend against both?

The answer is to have one unlucky player lie flat on the ground to block low kicks.

Perhaps the first to use the tactic in a professional match was Brazilian player Ricardinho, who represented Figueirense in Campeonato Serie B (Brazil's second tier). During a match against Palmeiras in 2013, he fell to the ground to try to block Jorge Valdivia's shot from just outside the edge of the box. Valdivia went the more traditional route, however, and the shot cannoned back off the wall.

The strategy gained worldwide attention in 2018 when it was used by Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozović. Brozović noticed Barcelona striker Luis Suarez was about to take his free kick low underneath the wall, so he hit the deck and successfully managed to deflect it out of bounds. It even drew a laugh from Lionel Messi. 

Since then, it has been used increasingly more often in major competitions. as ESPN notes here.

MORE: Watch every World Cup game live with fuboTV (free trial)

How did the free kick wall start?

The wall itself was invented to help defend against free kicks. Former Northern Ireland player Danny Blanchflower claims his team debuted the tactic in a match against Italy in April 1957.

“We tried to do things that nobody else had ever thought of. We had to because they were better sides," he said, per Brian McClelland. "We put up the first wall at a free kick. They (the Italians) seemed frightened by the tactic. It did have its teething problems, though. The referee had never seen it either, so when the Italians picked up the ball and moved it five yards away from the wall and shot it into the net, he gave a goal!”"

It's likely the true origins of the wall in soccer are lost to the ages, but Blanchflower's story seems as likely as any. 

Who invented the free kick under the wall?

Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho was among the first major players to take free kicks under the wall consistently. It's unclear whether he "invented' it, but he certainly perfected it with iconic goals like this one for Barcelona in 2006. 

Maybe it was his skill using the technique that forced Brazilian defenders to find ways to counter it. 

MORE: World Cup top scorer tracker 2022

Soccer free kick wall distance

Defenders are forced to stand at least 10 yards away from the ball on a free kick. These days, referees even have a special vanishing spray that they use to paint a line on the field behind which defenders must stand. 

There is also a rule that requires attacking players to stand at least a yard away from the defensive wall on free kicks. This is presumably to make sure there's no disruption of the wall by the attacking team. 

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