1v1 practices and finishing drills

Coaches often accelerate into small games of 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 etc without spending adequate time on the basic attacking and defending principles.

1v1 practice games are vital to any coach as this situation occurs naturally in any game. Players must feel comfortable dealing with these situations and finding a solution whether they are in attack or defence.

The practices in this journal are designed to be unpredictable, forcing the players to make quick choices / decisions in order to come out on top.

Insights that I would give my players are:

In attack –

• “Try to slow the defender down and then accelerate”
• “All you need is half a yard”
• “Take the defender away from where you want to go, this will give you the space to attack”
• (For example a right footed player would take a defender to the left, before accelerating quickly into the space created on the right)

In defence –
• “Close the space”
• “Show away from danger or towards a team-mate”
• “Force the opponent to play backwards or sideways”
• “Be patient and stay on your feet”
• “If you delay the attacker for 3-5 seconds then you will have given your team mates enough time to recover and support you”

Download 1v1 practices (30 pages of illustrated drills and games)

Shoot!

A soccer coaching game that encourages players to shoot on sight.

Age group: All ages

Set up

Mark out a short, wide pitch with big (10-yard wide) goals at either end and a halfway line. Divide the players into two teams of 3 or 4. Each team defends a goal

Action

The game starts with each team spread out in their half of the pitch.

The coach stands on the centre line and rolls a football to one of the teams.

Their objective is to score a goal by shooting from within their own half.

Rules

No goalies.
Players must stay in their own half of the pitch at all times. Each player on the team must touch the ball at least once before a shot can be taken.
The ball must not be allowed to stop – if it does, possession is passed to the other team.

Bang! Steal the Bacon

Help your players cope with the physical side of soccer!

BANG!

Set up a scrimmage in what we affectionately call the “pressure cooker”. This is a small field (really little more than 2 penalty areas) with full-sized goals at each end. Play a “game” called Bang. This “game” is just like a regular scrimmage, but with some important and drastic restrictions.

First, when a player receives a ball, they cannot carry it. They have to shield the ball until they can pass it to a teammate. The only way to advance the ball is to pass it.

Only 1 defender can challenge for the ball, and the only way the ball can be won is to push the ball holder off the ball with a shoulder charge. This really becomes a physical game.

Steal the Bacon

This is a good game to play at almost any age below U12. It is a simple 1 v 1 game where players are divided into two teams. Each player is given a number.

The coach calls out a number (or sometimes two) and then throws a football into the air that the players have to gain control of.

Since we are teaching aggressiveness and shoulder charging, use the same restriction that we had above in BANG, i.e. no tackling. The player must be relieved of the ball with a shoulder charge.

If you have a meek player that never challenges, handicap the better player by either restricting her run at the ball so the meeker player gets there first or by playing the air ball closer to the meeker player so the more aggressive player has further to run.

Animal Ball

This game works on aggressiveness, winning balls, passing, defending and finishing.

It can be done with as few as 8 players or as many as 18.

The field should be approximately 30 yards long and the width of the 18-yard box (44 yards wide). A full sized goal is on each end line with a keeper in each goal. There are two teams on the field. A server starts out wide and serves balls into the playing area in the air. Whichever team wins the ball tries to score by shooting into EITHER goal. This means you have two teams trying to win the ball in the air, and get a shot hit as quickly as possible. If the first team that wins the ball then loses it to the second team the second team then tries to score in either goal.

Animal ball works on winning the ball in the air (if a team doesn’t like to win balls in the air you can put in a requirement that if the ball hits the ground from the initial serve without a player touching it first, it is a “dead ball” and a new ball gets served in it’s place) and getting to goal quickly. While there is some passing in this game, it’s more about the willingness to take a chance and shoot rather than passing the ball around till the perfect opportunity arises for a shot. This game is more about finishing than it is about shooting (when you work on shooting you frequently work on proper technique and placement of the plant foot etc but when you work on finishing it’s frequently a case of being willing to put any part of the body on the ball to get it on goal).

First team to score 10 goals in Animal Ball wins the game.

4v4 four goal game

This traditional coaching game is great for getting players to play with their heads up, watch what is going on around them and move into spaces where they can influence the game.

Experience: beginners/intermediate.

Set-up: Play 4v4 on a 30-yard square with two goals at each end.

The goals should be set a few yards in from each corner of the pitch.

How to play: Each team defends the two goals at one end of the pitch and attacks the other two.

Coaching points: Watch for attacking players moving to unguarded goals and congratulate them. Similarly, stop play and congratulate defenders who track attackers or cover open goals.

Progression:

Place a goal on each sideline and allocate each team two goals to attack and two to defend. This may look chaotic to begin with but it improves spatial awareness.

Restrict the number of touches each player can have before passing or shooting. For younger players, three touches is appropriate. For older or more experienced players two-touch is good. You can even try restricting them to one-touch

3v3 – 1 goal

Game Rules
A normal 3-a-side game in an area approximately 30 yards by 20 yards, except that it is played around one goal rather than two.

Emphasize shooting at goal at the earliest opportunity.

Players combine to create goal-scoring opportunity.

Team in the dark uniforms can score only from the left side of the field, and team in white only from the right side.

Re-start game with a throw-in any time the ball goes out of bounds.

When goalkeeper makes a save from one team, he throws the ball into the opposing half of the field.

Player Objectives

To take early shots from within shooting distance of the goal.
To provide support for the player with the ball

2v1 Sieve

2v1 Sieve works on attacking and defending skills.

Set up three to five 10×10 yard grids in a row. Place two lines of attackers at one end, and give a ball to all the players in one line. Position a defender in each grid.

Two attackers enter the first grid and try to beat the first defender, who cannot leave the area. If successful, they move into the next grid and take on the next defender, and so on. Every time they beat a defender they get a point.

Defenders only have to knock the ball out of the grid area to stop the attack. Each time the defenders stop an attack, they move up a space, changing places with the defenders in the grids in front of them.

The defenders become attackers by stopping an attack in the first grid. When this happens, the attacker who lost the ball goes into the last grid and becomes the new defender for that grid, the successful defender in the first grid goes to the end of the attacking lines, and the remaining defenders all move forward by one grid.

The first players to earn a predetermined number of points win.

1v1 to goal

This game will improve your players’ desire to win the ball before their opponent and sharpen their shooting skills.

Objective: To encourage a ‘be first’ mentality and get players taking quick shots.

Age group: U6 upwards.

Number of players: Whole squad.

Set up: Place a normal-sized goal on one end of a 30 yards by 40 yards playing area. Place one flat cone about 20 yards in front of both posts.

Put a goalkeeper in goal and divide your squad into two teams. Place each team next to a goalpost. You stand to one side of the playing area with a supply of balls.

How to play:

On your command, the first player in each line runs around the cone in front of their post. As they run, you play a ball into the playing area midway between the cones and the goal. Both players try to be first to the ball and the first to score in the goal.

The first team to 10 points wins the game.