Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: Botafogo’s Attacking Corner Routines – Set Piece Analysis

Botafogo occupy first place in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with 48 points, 11 ahead of Palmeiras in second place, with both having played 20 matches.

They have achieved many good numbers, as they have the best defence line in Brasileiro Série A, having conceded only 11 goals, and the second-best attack line, scoring 35 goals, one goal behind Palmeiras, who scored 36 goals.

Among the many things that distinguish Botafogo are set pieces, and we will specifically mention the attacking corners, as they are the second most prolific team in Brasileiro Série A from corners with five goals, tied with Fluminense and Goiás, after Palmeiras, who scored six goals from corners.

In this tactical analysis and set-piece analysis, we will discuss the tactics of Bruno Lages team at attacking corners and how they varied and helped them to threaten the opponents goal.

Floated crosses

They usually prefer to use floated crosses because they take a long time in the air, giving their excellent players in aerial duels time to measure the cross and then move to the area where the ball lands.

At the same time, defenders look at the sky following the ball, so they have a problem in orientation.

After all, they cant track the ball and the attackers simultaneously.

Floated crosses also give the attackers time to reach the targeted area from off-the-ball movement, which gives the attackers the power to jump; lets see how.

In the first photo, the opponent defends with five zonal defenders in the first zone line, a yellow player in front of them to defend the flick and go to defend the short corner; if this happens, a blue player to defend the rebound zone and three man-markers in the black area where the targeted player stands, highlighted in red.

In the second photo, as the taker starts to move, three runners move forward, dragging one of the man-markers in the black area, leaving our red-targeted player in a 2v2 situation, but the green player moves back trying to drag one marker, leaving our targeted player in a 1v1 case, but the defender understands the trick and still stands in his position.

The third photo shows a 3v1 situation against the targeted player, the last zonal defender, in yellow, and two man-markers in blue and green.

In the fourth photo, the ball is too high in the air, highlighted in blue, so the attacker who stands behind them has positional superiority and can see the three defenders and the ball at the same time, especially when the cross is out swinging, and also has the time and space to choose the right moment to come from their blind side and jump while they are still looking at the sky watching the ball missing the connection with him.

The plan works, so the attackers can jump from the defenders back while he cant even see him, as shown below.

Unfortunately, the ball goes nea