Category: Soccer Drills

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Side to Side

Age group: all age groups

Set up

  • Use a 10 by 10 yard square grid marked out with a cone at each corner.
  • Put players in groups of three.
  • One ball to each group.
  • Two players with the ball (players 1 and 2) are positioned on one side of the square and the third player (player 3) faces them on the other side.

Action

The player with the ball (player 1) passes to the player on the opposite side of the square (player 3).

Player 3 receives the ball with the inside of the foot and takes the ball a couple of yards to the side in one action.

On his next touch he passes the ball with his other foot back across the square to player 2.

After two or three minutes change player 3.

Coaching points

Remind players that it’s important to give a good pass so it is easier for their team mates to receive the ball and control it away with their first touch.

Allow two touches to start before limiting players to one touch.

Remind the receiving player to move toward the ball.

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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.

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Ball control for young players

Basic ball control drill to develop players’ first-touch soccer skills

Age group: All ages

Set up: Cones, 1 ball per group of 3 players, players are in groups of three with a ball to each group, two players with the ball on one side of the square and the third player on the opposite side

Action

Player 1 (the player with the ball) passes to the opposite player (player 3) and sprints around the back of him.

Player 3 taps the ball to the side, first touch, as the sprinting player 1 comes around him.

The sprinting player passes first or second touch to the player facing him (player 2) who repeats the action.

After a couple of minutes change player 3.

Coaching points

Make this drill competitive by seeing how many passes each group can make in a minute or how long they can go without making a mistake.

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Basic attacking team tactics

counter attacking

Teach your players how to attack!

The objective of the game is to score goals, but certain variables such as the scoreline can influence a particular team’s desperation to ruffle the net. The following team styles represent some of the methods used to control the game and instigate attacks:

Possession football

For years, the golden rule for coaches everywhere was ‘pass and move’, and this tenet is still enshrined in possession football (soccer). Quite simply, teams attempt to hold onto the ball for as long as possible, at all times choosing the easiest possible pass (hence the many times you see defenders passing the ball along the defensive line).

There is logic behind this seemingly banal style though. By keeping hold of the ball, the opponent’s frustration will hopefully draw out certain players from their starting positions, making spaces for killer through-balls which would otherwise be impossible. Moreover, by keeping possession, you encourage the opponent to chase all over the pitch, impacting their stamina and further allowing you to control the pace of the match.

counter attackingCounter attacking football

With 11 players to get past, scoring a goal is a tricky task at the best of times. However, the beauty of counter-attacking football is to use the other team’s desperation to score to your own advantage.

By withdrawing into your own half, but keeping a man or two further up the pitch, the goal is to take the ball off the opponent while they have players committed to the attack and thus out of position. Once you have the ball in your own half, you have more space to deliver a through-ball for your strikers, who will be lurking around the halfway line and will have fewer players to negotiate.

This tactic, while extremely risky and reliant on solid defending, can render impressive results and is often utilised by teams who are defending a lead or field a 4-5-1 formation (meaning the lone striker can get isolated in front of 4 defenders if both sides are set up properly).

long ballLong ball/direct football

Often used to deride ‘boring’ teams, the long-ball style of play is genuine route one football. Rather than spend time on the ball picking the pass, exploiting small gaps in the opposition’s defensive or utilising the flanks, the long-ball is employed as an opportunistic method of attack. By pinging the ball up the field from defense or midfield, the hope is that the strikers will either latch onto the hopeful pass or exploit any mistakes by the defenders. Because the long-ball is dealt with in the air most of the time, any team employing it needs to have a strong target man.

wingersWide play and alternating wingers

Since the days of Stanley Matthews and Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone, the wings have always been a key part of attacking football. By spreading the ball wide, you allow a different angle of attack and offer a number of opportunities for the winger; take on the fullback and drag central defenders out of position, cut inside and drive forward at an angle, or whip in a cross from deep for the strikers to attack.

A further development in wing-play has been to alternate wingers on the left and right flanks. If a winger is losing the battle with his fullback, switching wings can provide a breakthrough for the team. This was effectively employed by Portugal on their way to the final of the 2004 European Championships, with Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo frequently exchanging wing positions.

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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.

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Juggling and ‘keepy-uppies’

youth soccer ball juggling

Warning!! Learning to juggle is not easy!

youth soccer ball jugglingThere are not many “shortcuts”. It can be very frustrating to new players and they just want to quit trying. Take it slow with lots of encouragement for everything. Many times they will begin to show significant gains but seem to lose all of those gains the following practice. Go slow. The time and effort it takes a player to progress from 2 touches to 4 touches may well be the same as from 20 to 40 juggles later on. Work in games like soccer tennis to keep it interesting.

Start with a decent but expendable football that you can use on pavement and not mind the scuffs. You may find that if you under-inflate it just a tiny bit, it will allow for more control. Repeat all the skills with both feet.

  1. Hold the ball out in front of you with both hands and drop it onto the pavement for a bounce. After the bounce, tap the ball back up to your hands with the shoelace or instep part your foot. Catch the ball and repeat several times with each foot. We need to learn how to describe these movements so the teacher can lead some beginning jugglers through these skills. (I would call this a “bounce-foot-catch”.)
  2. Now, drop the ball for a bounce, tap it softly up towards your hands but let it fall back to the pavement for another bounce. Then tap it up to your hands for a catch. (I would call this a “bounce-foot-bounce-foot-catch”.) Repeat this several times, again with both feet.
  3. Next we will drop the ball directly to the foot for a tap back to the hands for a catch. (This is a “foot-catch”)
  4. Now drop the ball to the foot for a tap but let it bounce, then use the foot to tap it up to the hands for a catch. (This is a “foot-bounce-foot-catch”.)
  5. Keep adding on touches and bounces alternating a foot touch with a bounce and ending with a catch. It’s important to end with a catch to maintain control.
  6. Finally drop the ball for a bounce and tap it up with the foot but before it bounces try to tap it up again for a catch. ( This is a “bounce-foot-foot-catch”.) This is the beginning of “real” juggling! This is a big step. If it seems too difficult for the player, do not hesitate to back up and work on the 1 touch exercises again with bounces in between.

Continue to try different variations of bouncing and 2 foot touches. Don’t try to go to 3 consecutive foot juggles too soon. Getting from 2 juggles to 3 is a very big step as well. Instead try to link lots of 2 juggles together with bounces. Try a bounce-foot-foot-bounce-foot-foot-catch. Later on link together a several of these 2 touch juggles with a bounce between each one. In fact, see how long you can keep it going with 2 touches and then a bounce. Have a contest.

It may not be the first day, but eventually you are ready to go for 3 juggles. Warm-up with single touches and work up to 2 touches linked together with bounces, just as I have described above. Then try a bounce followed by 3 foot juggles and a catch. (This is a bounce-foot-foot-foot-catch.) Encourage alternating feet during the 3 touch juggle. Once they get the hang of this, start using bounces to link together more 3 and 2 touch.

You can drop the ball directly to the foot without a bounce, to start the juggle, once they begin to develop some control.

Approach thigh touches and head touches the same way, but wait until they have some control with their feet so they can “dig” it up for a catch at the end. Also they will often find the thigh touches easier and tend to overwork them thus neglecting the feet. Start with a thigh-bounce-foot-catch combo and then keep adding on. Try a thigh-thigh-bounce-foot-catch and then a thigh-thigh-foot-foot-catch and now now they are up to 4 legitimate juggles!

Once you have made it this far you should encourage less bounces between touches, but I still like to see players use the bounce to keep the ball moving. I think it is better that they keep touching it back up even with bounces, as opposed to getting frustrated and stopping.

Now it will take time and practice to learn how to keep the ball airborne. Once again, introduce games and contests to keep it interesting. A great game for juggling skills and improvement of all first touches is “soccer tennis”! I highly recommend it.

There will be breakthrough days when the player finally juggles 3 in a row or much later, gets to 10 for the first time. These are often followed by frustrating days where nothing seems to work. Then much later, when they finally get to about 20 juggles, the “lights” seem to come on. Juggling actually becomes a fun thing to do and they begin to attract attention and compliments from other players, coaches, and parents. Now if they keep at it, they can break 50 in “no time”.

Good luck!

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Key elements of good ball control

There are two key elements of good ball control:

a) The receiver’s first touch should protect the ball from challenging players and not give them a chance to regain possession,

b) the receiving player should play the ball into available space to allow for the next touch and to gain or keep momentum.

A poor first-touch will risk taking the momentum out of play and increase the possibility of losing possession. Some players make the mistake of killing the ball dead and not concentrating on getting it out of their feet. The first touch should ensure that a time wasting second touch is not needed to get the ball out ready for the next action.

The general technique for controlling the ball requires several simple skills which can be acquired through correct training practices.

1/ The first element of ball control is to place the controlling surface into the ball’s line of flight. The body weight should be well distributed so it is possible to move forwards, backwards or sideways. Keep the head steady and watch the ball carefully to judge it’s flight and speed. It is difficult to keep one’s eyes permanently on the ball and better players are able to take a quick glance to know what is happening around them before contact is made.

2/ The second step is making an early judgement in choosing the right technique and body surface to control. Wedge control involves a more rigid surface where the player attempts to force the ball downwards or into space so he can move onto it. A cushioned control involves taking the sting out of the ball. This involves pulling the surface back just when the ball makes contact (the body becomes elastic) so that it simply drops at the players feet. This particular technique is very useful when closely marked, for example a forward receiving the ball on the chest with his back to goal.

The different body surfaces often used in controlling the ball are: The foot (sole, inside, outside, instep), thigh, chest & stomach and head. Generally, the part of the body used should preferably be large, flat and able to take the weight of the incoming pass.

Control also requires good mental abilities such as confidence and total concentration. A composed player is one who is calm, relaxed and unhurried in his movements. Confidence does play a big part in this as players who know what they can do and are confident in their ability are more likely to show great technique and succeed. Those who do not have confidence, will be indecisive and their technique hurried.

When training, players can exaggerate the movements to get the feel of the right technique. Younger players can learn from the coach who should demonstrate the technique, break it down and practice the individual elements and eventually, practice the whole technique. Only once the basic techniques have been mastered should a coach move onto more advanced situations. These should concentrate on improving control in pressure situations (defenders coming from the side, front, back), control while moving at pace, control which involves an immediate layoff and controlling the ball for a team mate. The ball should be received from all angles, speeds and heights and all surfaces constantly used.

Some common problems when controlling the ball are described below along with a training method than can be used to improve technique:

Problem 1 – Ball path has been misread and the player has missed the pass.
Corrective procedure – Repeated practice using passes from different distances and vary intensity. The coach must encourage player to keep their eyes on the ball at all times and get their body in line.

Problem 2 – Player is indecisive when choosing controlling body surface.
Corrective procedure – Player shouts the type of body surface they will use and the server provides the pass and vice versa until the player gets the right feeling for the choice of technique.

Problem 3 – The player does not get the ball out of their feet and needs a second touch.
Corrective procedure – Encourage the player to relax and exaggerate the movement. Repeated practice using passes from different distances and vary intensity.

Problem 4 – The ball bounces off the player and control is lost.
Corrective procedure – Again, encourage the player to exaggerate the movement, especially the relaxation phase, firstly without the ball and afterwards using gentle service (eventually building up service difficulty). Try using smaller or lighter balls.

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Ball control skills for U6 – U10

First touch and passing skills

I suggest that from U6 to U10 you should be spending 90 per cent of your soccer drill sessions on activities that will improve your players’ first touch and passing skills.

Group games are good but you should also take the time to talk to your players individually about their ball skills.

Five minutes spent discussing ball control skills with an individual player after a soccer training session will pay massive dividends.

Not only will this help improve their skills but their self-esteem will also get a big boost. And players with high self-esteem will win matches for you.

So watch your players and make notes.

  • Do your players get in line with the ball quickly or do they tend to let the ball run past them?
  • Is a player’s first touch of the ball hard (the ball runs away from them) or is it correct (the ball is pushed a little way in front or to the side and in a good position to make a pass or to shoot)? The ball very rarely needs to be stopped dead.
  • As the ball approaches, do your players get their head up and get a picture of where their team mates are?

Work on this with simple games such as Through the gate:

How to play Through the gate

Mark out small (20×10 yard) grids, one for each group of four players in your squad, with a centre line dividing the grid into two halves.

Place a small gate (about 2 yards wide) in the middle of the centre line.

The object of the game is for each pair of players to pass the ball through the gate to the other pair.

The rules: both players must touch the ball before it is passed through the gate and the ball must never stop.

If the ball does stop, or the players fail to control it before it leaves their side of the grid, a point is awarded to the other team.

Play to a specific target (for example, first to ten wins) or challenge your players to play for a set time without making a mistake.

Key coaching tip: To stop players trying to blast the ball through their opponents’ half of the grid, insist on side-foot passes only.

Progression: When your players are comfortable with the basic game, allow them one or two touches only to control the ball before passing.