Soccer Drills

World Wide Soccer Drill #11
Today's activity works on making a penetrating pass and then having the team make runs off of the pass

Too often, coaches and teams get too caught up in trying to maintain possession of the ball and forget the objective is to score goals (at least one more than the opponent). Because of this, when they finally get the ball forward, they don't know how to make runs in the box to create space and get open.

With a team of 16 players (including two keepers) set up a field that is full width and half the length of a regular field with two full sized goals. Have a keeper in each goal and two players on each end line. The rest of the players are on the field. See diagram below for basic set up.

Using the diagram above as an example. the O's will be attacking the bottom goal and the X's will attack the top goal. Goals can be scored through regular flow of play or the ball can be played to either of the players on the end line that the team is attacking. The players on the outside are limited to one touch.

When teams first use this activity, they will frequently try to pass the ball to a player on the end line from close in looking for a wall pass. Or they will pass it to the end line player and then run right at the player to get it back. As they continue to play, they will start to play smarter by doing things like playing an early ball to a player on the end (making a penetrating pass) and then making near/far/12 yard runs for the first time cross. The harder the run, the more likely they are to be successful (just like in a game!).

The players on the end line can move from the sideline to the goal but they have to realize that the keeper will intercept weak passes so they are encouraged to keep moving and for the passes into the end line players to be hit with good pace.

Players should keep rotating so no one gets "stuck" on the end line for an extended period of time.

Players will be afraid to put themselves at risk but gradually, they will get a better understanding and work within their teams to not get tagged.

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