All Posts by Mike Saif

1 Exercises to Train Visual Perception Part 4

By Philip Cauchi Question - Do you have exercises where I can train "Visual Perception" where the players will be better at scanning the area? In Parts 1,2  and 3, I shared some exercises.  Here are some more. Exercise 13: Pass with accuracy to the correct player. Area: 12 yards x 12 yards with a

0 2v2+GK Explosive Sprints

By Philip Cauchi Development of the soccer domains: Technical: Quality of technical actions performed at speed and under opposition pressure. Turn with the ball, dribble at speed, pass with accuracy, oriented first touch and finish at goal with accuracy. Tactical: In the offensive phase, provide quick support in attack while timing forward runs. Follow up

0 Positional Play – Portuguese eBook

0 Delayed Central Pressure to Stop Three Man Combos

By Mike Smith I have told my team several times, if I could get them to understand 3 and 4 and even 5 man combinations at the high school level we would make some noise in the state tournament every year. The fact is, most teams understand the basic “ give and go” two man combo

0 Drill to Play Through the Central Area

By Arthur Bell - Setup: Age and stage appropriate area. Cones x 8. Outfield players x 12+. Balls x 2 Execution: First player passes long to second player. Second player receives and lays ball back to the supporting third player. Third player plays ball in front of the fourth player. Fourth player moves to the

0 The Perfect Goalie Punt

By Mike Smith - I am taking over a new program this fall, one which has struggled with coaching consistency and on field performance. This has me thinking about many of the simple things I have used to help players improve quickly over the years. In a perfect world, my keeper would not punt the

2 Attacking With Fullbacks eBook

0 Defend and Counter

By Philip Cauchi Description: This training session represents realistic and relevant outcomes when playing in a 1-4-3-3 system of play against a 1-4-2-3-1. More important than the system of play utilised by our opponents is the game model they apply. A major part of the game preparation is to carry out a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,

0 8v8 With Target Players

By Keith Scarlett Play 8 vs. 8 in a 50 yard long grid with full width. The goals are 15 yards beyond the length of the field. Goalkeepers are used. There are 2 target players and 1 defender in each end zone. The ball has to be played into one of the target players before

0 Exercises to Train Visual Perception Part 3

By Philip Cauchi Question - Do you have exercises where I can train "Visual Perception" where the players will be better at scanning the area? In Parts 1 and 2, I shared some exercises.  Here are some more. Exercise 9: Play to the target player. Area: 10 yards x 8 yards. Load: 8 to 10

0 3v3 Change the Point of Attack for Anaerobic Capacity

By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity has two teams of three playing a 3 vs. 3 possession game including two bumper neutral players. Team play 3 vs. 3 in a middle zone and keep possession with a bumper player located at each side of the grid. The idea is for the team in possession to

0 Rondo Death Star

By Matthew Carroll - Description: This multi-ball rondo forces players to scan the field to recognize passing opportunities and stimuli from multiple angles. The use of the middle coaching stick grid alleviates the problem of players figuring out a pattern and leads to increasing randomness and creativity. Setup: A rondo circle is set up with

0 Sheffield Uniteds 3-5-2 Formation – Defending eBook

0 Send It All The Way Across The Goal

By Mike Smith One of the biggest strengths or weaknesses of any system comes down to how the style of play matches the system of play. At the high school level especially, I see so many teams who have excellent shape and formation but it just doesn’t match what they are trying to accomplish with the

0 Plyometric Saves

By Mike Smith - I was first exposed to plyometrics as a training tool in 2000. Simplified as “ jump training” we used plyo work more as a preventative to ankle, knee and hip injuries. I worked primarily as a junior varsity coach at this time and it was my job to develop the next

0 Three Team Rondo

By Arthur Bell - Setup: 3 areas of 15 x 12yds. The middle zone has 3yd channels marked with cones. Outfield players x 12. Teams x 3 Execution: Three teams of four players. One team in each half of the pitch and one team in the middle zone. The team in the middle zone must

4 Penetrating into the final third

By Philip Cauchi Total duration: Approximately 90 minutes. Moment of play: In possession. Team task: Scoring. Theme: Penetration from central areas. Aim: To create goal-scoring opportunities. Questions on which the design of the session and its relevant outcomes emerge: Q1 – What do we try to achieve? A1 – We try to play the ball

0 Possession to Penetrate

By Keith Scarlett This is a possession game that works on playing in a specific direction as opposed to just keeping possession. It also helps work on the timing of the final ball with the runner to avoid being offside. Set-up: The team is split into 2 groups. Each group plays 5 vs. 5 plus

0 Exercises to Train Visual Perception Part 2

By Philip Cauchi Question - Do you have exercises where I can train "Visual Perception" where the players will be better at scanning the area? In Part 1, I shared some exercises.  Here are some more. Exercise 5: Four quadrant passing with spatial awareness. Area: 16 yards x 16 yards divided into four equally quadrants.

0 Corner Combination Play

By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity has an 18 x 18 yd. box area where players will play 2 vs. 2. An additional triangle on each side is placed three yards from each side. Pairs will play for 90 seconds and then switch/rotate with corner players. This will achieve adaptations in the anaerobic energy system

0 Musical Cones

By Matthew Carroll - Description: The Musical Cones Activity is a variation of the children’s game musical chairs. It is a fun warm up activity that will get players focusing on their control on the dribble, as well as their balance and ability to stop the ball. Recommended for younger age groups but can be

0 Sheffield Unites 3-5-2 Formation – Attacking eBook

0 Using Two False 9's

By Mike Smith I have a player on my high school team who eats breathes and sleeps soccer ( Yes, just one. We are a small school, I wish I had more.). He loves not only playing the game, but also studying the game. A few years ago, actually when he was a junior varsity player,

0 The Sweeper Keeper

By Mike Smith - I wrote a previous tactical based article on the role of the sweeper keeper in support of an aggressive high pressure attack. While this is not usually my preferred style of play, from a keeper training aspect, many of the points of focus in using the “ sweeper keeper” can help