The concept of being “goalside” in soccer is mainly considered to be a defensive tactic. In soccer, it is common to mark another player when on the defensive end. In other words, keeping close proximity of them in order to intercept passes to them and challenge them when they have the ball. Your positioning in relation to that opposing player is what makes all the difference. Staying goalside means positioning yourself directly between your marked player and the center of your goal. In other words, if you were to draw a straight line between the position of your player and your goal, ideally you would be positioned on that line exactly between the two. In soccer, being goalside puts you in the optimal position to intercept dangerous passes, block the ball when shot, and challenge the attacker without exposing your goal.

Goalside as Applied to Rocket League Defensive Positioning

In Rocket League, the same concept applies. However, because man marking is too difficult, we instead apply this concept defensively to the ball instead of another player. This may not be obvious at first, but placing yourself between the ball and the goal, drawing that same line between the three, leads to the same advantages. Have you ever wondered why a pinch between you and an attacker in your opponent’s half shot straight into your net? Being goalside and flipping into the ball from between your net and the ball greatly decreases the chance of that occurring because your car, being positioned in front of the goal, forces it away from your net as long as you flip into the ball. In the image below, you can clearly see the defensive player challenging behind the ball and between their goal while the opponent flips into the ball. This ball most likely pinches either into your corner or to left field. Either way, it clears away from your goal.

A common mistake is to challenge the ball from a side or bad position from the wall, increasing the odds that the ball pinches towards your net. Being goalside prevents that. For instance, in the graphic above, the blue player is clearly boosting and challenging from the left side of the field, meaning the ball will most likely pinch away from the net he is trying to score on. The offensive player, unlike in the graphic, should take a different line of positioning when challenging the ball to ensure the ball stays in the opponents' half.

Goalside as Applied to Offensive Positioning

Offensively, being goalside also has its advantage, but the concept is applied differently offensively than it was explained earlier in a defensive context. Instead of being between your net and the ball, you want the ball to be between you and your opponents' goal. You want that straight line mentioned earlier to be drawn between you, the ball, your opponents' goal with the ball being directly between the other two. Being goalside offensively puts you in the best position to score as it gives you the optimal placement to score as you have the widest angle to score or pass to maintain pressure in your opponents' half.

In the graphic above, the offensive position of the player challenging the ball gives you a plethora of options. You have a wide angle to shoot at the goal, hit it off the backboard, or an option to cross the ball across the goal to a teammate in the case of a defender being in front of you. The more you deviate from that line drawn between the ball and the goal, the more you limit your offensive options and ability to create chances. In the previous graphic, the offensive player was not on that line drawn between the line and the goal, limiting their offensive options.

Goalside As It Applies to Fifty-Fifties

It is important to note that the optimal time to be goalside is during a fifty-fifty. When you can cleanly beat the other player to the ball, that is the option that should be prioritized, but otherwise goalside positioning is optimal. Understandably, with how fast rotations have to be, sometimes you can’t always be completely goalside. In that instance, you should always strive to flip between the ball and the goal to at least give yourself a chance of blocking the ball when out of position or going for that last-inch save.

Many people wonder what the secret to fifty-fifties, and I can safely tell you that, no matter where on the field, if you are goalside, even if you are getting beat, then you greatly decrease the chance of a detrimental fifty-fifty flying into your net. At first, consciously staying goalside will be tough. Often times you want to cheat out of net, go for boost, or cut rotations and challenge, but not positioning smartly in relation to ball leads to unnecessary risks and frustrating pinch goals. Staying goalside gives you a rule of thumb for challenging the ball and more control in those seemingly random moments.

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