Guys, in your opinion what is the best and important position in soccer?

[cheeryyyyy]

I'm writing a YA story and my male protagonist is gonna tryout for the school's soccer team. I want him to get the best and main position which is bound to make the other characters envy him as they were aiming for THAT position. I'm confused between striker and central midfielder. Which position is vital and will be perfect for my soccer-loving protagonist?

[Crafteroon]

Depends on your protagonist. Unless you are trying to show that he is lost in place, then picking a role that either shows off his personality or is the opposite of his character works.

Strikers are usually the egoist, great reactions, speed, quick thinking, making the personal plays to score.

Midfielders show more restraint. They might have less skill, but cover it with strategy, they make the plays that allow strikers to have that moment. They might also be the long distance bombers, shooting accurately from afar to either score or pass.

On defense you have those that generally need to read their opponent more, and react faster than others to any changes. Among them the libero is leading the defense, calling how the rest of the defense should play.

And finally the goalie, they see the entire field, are the last guardian, but also need to make the first move when restarting the offense.

The captain can be anyone, but often is the midfielder calling the attack, the libero calling the defense, or even the goalie.

[cheeryyyyy]

Thank you for making it more clear! I think I'll give my character the position as striker. One more question, do strikers play in forward? And how many strikers are there in a football team, minimum?

[Crafteroon]

It depends on the formation. With 10 players and a goalie the formations are usually called by the number of players in each group, like 4-3-3, with 4 players in defense, 3 in midfield, and 3 in forward. Each formation is strong and weak against other formations, usually you put a lot of players in where you want to have control and create pressure.

Generally among the forwards there is one or two strikers, sometimes 3 or even none.

Giant Killing and Blue Lock are two manga about football, Giant Killing gives a good overview of the sport, describing everything necessary, whereas Blue Lock is more sci-fi and shonen, going fully into the psychology of being a striker.

[WhiteSteve]

Everything I know about soccer is from Ted Lasso, lmfao, so don’t take my word as gold by any means. But at least on that show, the young superstar is a striker, and the aging-but-well-respected team captain is a midfielder. If I’m not mistaken, I think the striker is almost primarily an offensive weapon, he’ll score a lot of the goals by design. Meanwhile the midfield is maybe more of a two-way guy, necessary both offensively and defensively, but maybe more likely to set up the striker for a goal than score one himself. Totally just an inference on my part. Hopefully some people who call it “football” will answer, and I’d take them much more seriously than me, I’m just taking a stab in the dark😝

[Smoothing]

That is correct. Midfielders have the toughest job. There are usually two if them in a team

[Smoothing]

When I was growing up, numbers mattered in football (socca) and I used to play either 10 or 11.
These numbers were assigned to positions.
10 us a striker position and 11 is a midfield striker position.
Now days, numbers are no longer assigned to position. I like midfield striker position the best because you cam score but also feed the strikers so that they can score. However it is a tiring position but not as tiring as midfield position which when I was I child was number 6 and 7. Those two position will have you gasping for air and have your heart racing like mad. And you rarely get to score because you are the link between defence and strikers.

[Smoothing]

Ao this is how football (socca) works aa a standard. Of course there are variations at the discretion of the football manager's decision.
2 strikers, 2 midfielder strikers, 2 mid fielders, 2 defender midfielders, 2 defenders and 1 goal keeper.

[Smoothing]

Now days the players wear what ever number they want. It is noonger dictated to them.

When I used to play for my school, I was number 11. I did not choose that number. It was given and I always played that number. However we had a house system in which when ever I played for my house, I was always number 10 and that never changed. That was within the school.

But when just playing with friends, I played any position I felt like.

[Noodle_fan]

playmaker , someone who operate on midfield , their role are usually to create chance , they are capable to make great, accurate passes and also great dribbler , they also can score from long distance

strikers are position on front , they task are usually to score , central midfield is someone who operate in the mid of formation , they may defend and attack

[mohammed93alaa]

There is no such thing "most important position" because it depends on the formation of our team and tactics that we try to apply on the pitch..