The near post is a lane too 🎯

Watch Inter's corners from Amsterdam. Calhanoglu does not aim for the crowded six-yard box. He drives the ball into the near post zone, where Ajax have no defender facing the flight.

Thuram starts behind his marker, then attacks the space in front of him. The first goal comes from that run. The second is the same idea, same corner, same result -2-14.

One passing lane disappeared: the one toward the middle of the goal. Ajax set up for the cross everyone expects. Nobody covered the short route.

Look at where the defenders are looking, not where the ball is going.

Question: When your team defends a corner, who is responsible for the near post space?