By Steven Smith This session is designed to emphasize winger play to encourage outside to inside attacking patterns. The build-up occurs with smaller sides of play (numbers) and increases to include large sided play. Coaching should encourage players to play to targets on the inside of the field but then find wingers. Each activity can have
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By Philip Joe Cauchi There are various ways in which a team may aim to exploit a dead ball situation from a free kick. The team may agree to strike the ball directly at goal, if the infringement occurred just outside the penalty area and especially if in the team you have players like Cristiano
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By Sean Pearson Area: 30 x 44 yards Time: 15mins Players: 6v6 Objective: • To understand the roles of specific players in stopping the switch • To compact the area around the ball and cut off passing lanes Set Up: Both teams play with 2 central midfielders, 2 wingers, an attacking midfielder and a striker.
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By Mike Smith Question - How do you know when to press up to create an offside trap? The question of when to press up into an off sides trap is probably one of the most commonly asked questions in the soccer world; and for that reason, there are tons of answers, depending on who
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By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity triggers players to perform a speed reaction activity. It includes velocity reaction and linear sprinting actions to the ball. The metabolic training adaptations are meant for speed production. The time of action for each repetition should be around 5 to 12 seconds’ max and the resting period for each
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Spanish Style Possession Soccer Vol 1 By Philip Cauchi Table of Contents PART ONE Introduction What is a Style of Play Principles of Possession Play PART TWO Positional Characteristics During the Possession Phase PART THREE Training Methodology The Power of the Rondo Introduction Spanish teams including the national side are renowned for
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Spanish Style Possession Soccer Vol 1 By Philip Cauchi Table of Contents PART TWO Positional Characteristics During the Possession Phase Positional characteristics during the possession phase The goalkeeper In addition to shot stopping and command of the penalty area, Spanish goalkeepers are typically good at playing with their feet. They participate actively
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Spanish Style Possession Soccer Vol 1 By Philip Cauchi Table of Contents PART THREE Training Methodology The Power of the Rondo Training methodology The modern game requires players who read and anticipate situations quickly. It is not about how the formation is set on the tactics board. Formations mean nothing as players
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By Mike Smith Almost every season my team encounters an opponent which we feel we are better than as far as “soccer skill” goes, yet we always seem to struggle and the games always get “ugly”. Even though these teams lack in soccer, they excel in competition: they get numbers to the ball, they mark and
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By Wayne Henderson - As I have discussed before it is not always the case that a coach has the time or facilities to concentrate on one specific Attribute or skill in one training session, in most cases the goalkeeping coach does not get enough time to allow this. As a result the goalkeeping coach
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By Sean Reed - Objective For this session we are focusing on a finishing session; receiving the ball from 4 different areas in order to finish on goal. Set Up – Part 1 The session takes place in around the in around the penalty area. Players include: 1x GK / 4 x servers / 1
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By Steven Smith This session will move from a warm-up that requires precision passing to tactical decision making during possession. The defenders and attackers are trained separately and will require more than on coach to run correctly and supervise the activity. A fitness activity is introduced prior to the tactics in order to train them while
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By Philip Joe Cauchi Watching México play against Germany was like watching a manual on defending in every sense. It reminded me of the classic Italian national teams which were in the past the masters in the art of defending. México gave us more than a lecture in offensive defending. That is, defending with the
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By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity has two groups of players initially playing a 3 vs. 2 possession game. The two defenders play in numerical inferiority for the first 20 seconds and then are joined by two teammates turning the activity into a 3 vs. 4 exercise. The idea is to have two types of
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By Steven Smith Area Size: Ten yards between each cone Teams: One person per cone with six cones Time: With alternating stretching intervals, approximately 15 minutes Setup: A hexagon is set up with 6 cones to create six sides. Make distance between cones about ten yards. Pre-assign wingers (7 and 11 players) to fill two of
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By Mike Smith Question - Where should I position my goalkeeper on corner kicks? I was recently asked to address the issue of keeper positioning at the youth levels, specifically during a corner kick. There are few situations more dangerous for the keeper than the corner kick, and anyone who has been around soccer long
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING 40 Small-Sided Games By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART ONE Introduction How, When, Where To Use SSGs in Your Training Sessions PART TWO 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 Small-Sided Games PART THREE 5v5, 6v6 and 7v7 Small-Sided Games PART FOUR 8v8 and 9v9 Small-Sided Games Introduction: Small-Sided Game definition A small-sided game is
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING 40 Small-Sided Games By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART TWO 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 Small-Sided Games 2 v 2 Exercises (1) Set-up and Sequence: a 2 v 2 duel is played inside a rectangular space that is positioned in the middle of a bigger rectangular area. The couple with the ball
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING 40 Small-Sided Games By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART THREE 5v5, 6v6 and 7v7 Small-Sided Games 5 v 5 Exercises (1) Set-up and Sequence: a 5 v 5 duel is played inside a rectangular space. The goal for the possession team is to play a minimum number of passes to gain
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING 40 Small-Sided Games By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART FOUR 8v8 and 9v9 Small-Sided Games 8 v 8 Exercises (1) Set-up and Sequence: an 8 v 8 duel is played inside a rectangular space that is organized as in the picture. A 4 v 4 is played in the middle and 1
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By Mike Smith “The only team that can score is the team with the ball.” If I had a dollar for every time I have heard a coach say that……well, you know. The fact is, there is no simpler wisdom in soccer. However, most of us have been in those situations where a better side has
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By Wayne Henderson - Sometimes as a coach you may not get everything in your session exactly as you would like it, for example you may be working in a smaller area on the training pitch, or you may not have as many goalkeepers as you thought you might have, or, a popular situation that
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