Two Crosses Every Winger Needs to Master

As a Winger, one of your most important responsibilities is creating scoring opportunities by delivering passes into the box. The idea is to put the ball where a teammate has an easy one-touch shot on goal. But that’s easier said than done.

As a youth soccer player is developing, there are two crosses they need to be able to execute easily and they will be well on their way to becoming a playmaker of a winger: the early cross and the cutback cross.

Read on to see what we mean with the early cross and the cutback cross.

The Early Cross

One thing we commonly see in youth soccer is when Wingers cross the ball into the center too late. They wait just a little too long and the defense has a chance to get set and win the ball.

The early cross puts the ball where it needs to be before your teammate gets there.

Picture this: your teammamte is making a straight run into the attacking third, and you can see they’re a few steps ahead of the defender. Once you’ve determined that they are going to reach the penalty box before the defender, play the ball for them to run onto it.

In other words, don’t wait until teammate reaches the penalty box to cross. Anticipate where they are going to end up, and put the ball there. Even if your teammate doesn’t win this one, playing this ball puts the threat of it coming again into the other team’s head and they’ll play a little deeper, giving your team more space to work with.

The Cutback Cross

The cutback cross is different from the early cross because in this scenario, the Winger is ahead of the Forward. In fact, you’re practically at the endline and the edge of the box when your teammate is approaching the top of the box.

The name “cutback” comes from the path the ball takes from the endline to the center of the penalty box, right in front of your Forward.

Your teammate should be anticipating a pass when they see you approaching the endline. So, as the goalie moves to cut off your angle and the defense is focusing on you, all you have to do is play an easy ball to the penalty spot for your teammate to have a great chance on goal.

Where to See Both Techniques in Action

Again, this is easier said than done. Being able to make this play well every time requires thousands of reps. Then, learning when to play it early and when to drive to the endline for the cutback cross takes trying it countless times and watching the pros do it.

To speed up that process, we created BGTV, a massive library of professional footage organized by position with analysis from professional players. Each clip features a high-level player making a decision - like cross the ball early - with breakdowns from professionals explaining how the player knew what to do in this situation.

Ready to check out BGTV? Use code FREEMONTH1 to get the first month free.