The only time during a match in which multiple players can be overtly physical with their arms and hands is during a corner kick. We focus on how rehearsed set-pieces are, but that added physicality from multiple players simultaneously makes them overpowered.

There is screening, where a player will use their body to block another player with their body, making no attempt to play the ball.

There is blocking, using the side of your body to shield a defender from reaching an intended zone within the box.

There is shielding, to open a pocket for the intended target of the corner.

There is a comically high level of physical touch that is allowed in the box during corner kicks. You shouldn’t be able to use your hands as much as teams are allowed to use their hands.

The better team has three things. They are better organized, they have better technique, and they have greater physical attributes.

In open play, they can only show off their organizational and technical superiority. One or two players can use their physical advantage at one time, if that, but multiple players can’t simultaneously. During a corner, a majority of the team can use all three of those key attributes simultaneously.

No matter how much a defense prepares or how well they execute, if they can’t overcome that physical disadvantage, they are dead in the water. That is what sets a corner apart.

It forces the opposition to do something they can’t do and don’t want to do. It’s the biggest advantage you can achieve within a football match. It creates chaos for the defense in a controlled environment for the attack. It is something that is more easily reproducible than trying to “run a play” in open play or string together an intricate number of passes.

Why focus on anything else when you can nearly guarantee a goal if you have an accurate crosser? Any sensible team with this edge would run the ball to the corner, hit it off a defender, and spam corner kicks the entire match until you eventually score.

If that level of physicality can be used in the box during a corner, then it should be allowed in open play to disrupt the opponent. Turn it into a hockey game with hip checks and all. If that isn’t allowed, and it shouldn’t be allowed, corners should be nerfed.

With every corner kick, play stops. Football should reward actions that don’t stop play. It’s boring. I don’t get excited when there’s a corner. My immediate reaction is “take it quickly, start play again.”

Before, corner kicks were a nuisance, a break in play, but now they are a massive advantage for the team that takes them seriously.