By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays’ featured activity works on receiving balls outside the 18 with confidence
Start with a keeper just outside the top of the 18. There are 5 gates spread out around the field.
A server starts at the midfield line and plays balls into the keeper. The server then calls a
Continue readingTHE FRENCH ELITE FORMATION COACHING LICENSE METHODOLOGY (WHOLE, PART, WHOLE)
VS
THE USSF COACHING METHODOLOGY (SIMPLE TO COMPLEX)
This article is contributed by John Pascarella, Sporting Kansas City Assistant Coach. Pascarella played professionally for nine seasons before beginning his coaching career in 1998 at the University of Maryland. The complete article includes training sessions and can be found in the October 2013 issue of the WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine.
Beginning in February of 2013, MLS and The French Football Federation entered into a cooperative agreement based on a study conducted by US Soccer that showed that the FFF are one of the leading federations in player development. Based on this relationship each of the MLS Academies sent a coach to participate in the Elite Formation Coaching License in Clairfontaine. Speaking with Jon Parry, our Sporting Kansas City Academy Director and delving into the FFF methodology and pedagogy, I found some interesting differences in how US Soccer teaches coaches to organize their sessions and the FFF’s model.
I want to strongly emphasize that in my opinion, neither is right or wrong………neither one is better than the other. That’s not the objective of this article. The objective is to show the differences and to stress that coaches need to have the ability to teach in more than one way to be effective.
Both methods can be used to get your ideas across to players at any level given the right circumstances. Coaches must have various ways of getting their point across to players or suffer the consequences of not having them understand all that they are trying to convey!
You haven’t taught until they've learned!
The late, great, master coach, John Wooden had a saying: You haven’t taught until they've learned.” That simple saying (and reflecting on my conversations with Jon Parry regarding the FFF course) has caused me to think about my own coaching pedagogy and ask the questions:
“How many times have I had players who don’t
Continue readingBy Rob Podeyn Author of Triangle Midfield This is the first part of an article that appears in the November issue of the WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine and will be uploaded to the Member Drills Database on November 1.
There are many exercises for training the triangle midfield. These five exercises represent my five favorite training exercises for training and developing the triangle midfield. They are generic enough that you can use them with just about any formation that uses the triangle midfield.
EXERCISE #1
Four Square Game- This is a great game for working on possession while also learning how to quickly read the pressure of the opposition. It is also excellent for teaching your players how to transition quickly from attack to defense and vice versa.
Start by creating a large square that is 40 yards by 40 yards (reduce it to 30 yards by 30 yards if for older players who are more skilled). Divide the large square into four equal squares that are 20 yards by 20 yards. Have five players in each grid for a total of 20 players (you can also go four in each grid for 16 total players). Have each group of five players in their own color (i.e. grid 1 wears red, grid 2 wears yellow, grid 3 wears black, and grid 4 wears blue).
Start the exercise by passing the ball into one of the grids. The team in that grid must
Continue readingBy Daniel Severn
This week we have an easy to set up, fun, but hard working exercise. This exercise works well with either two or three players.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. We will show the exercise using just two active players and a goalkeeper. You could still keep a good, high tempo with three active players. You will begin with one player at the corner of the six-yard-box (this will be the ‘feeder’) and the other player (active player) facing away from the feeder, towards a line of cones.
Play begins with the active player shuffling through the cones as quickly as possible. As he gets to the end, the feeder plays a pass out in front of the active player, who curves his run around the tall cone in order to run onto
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a game that works on dribbling and awareness.
Start with a 30 x 30 grid with flags 10 yard on the outside of each corner.
Players are in teams of 3’s inside the grid and each player has
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on fitness, footwork and catching
Start with 8 cones 1 yard apart in a line. They are numbered 1-8 as shown in the diagram below.
A keeper starts in front of cone 1 and one server starts
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a dribbling and passing warm up game.
Start with 15-18 players in a big circle (40 yard diameter) with a small square (5 x 5) in the middle
Start with one player having a ball. This player dribbles into
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a small sided game inside the 18 working on defensive organization, shot blocking and short distribution.
Start with a keeper in goal, 2 small (3 yard long) goals in the far corners of the 18 and a 4 v 3 in the 18.
The four black players try to score in the big goal so the keeper concentrates on
Continue readingBy Kieran Smith - UEFA 'A' License Coach
This rise of team’s formations like 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1, and more specifically using a defensive midfield to sit in front of the defense and screen, has led to a bit of a dark period for the traditional Number 10 position; but has that led to the creation of a new position? The Central Winger.
The number 10 traditionally stayed centrally and played off of the CF but with the rise of the likes of players like Makelele and Busquets, has led to space in the central area becoming scarce at the top level. The central winger takes up the same position on the pitch as the traditional number 10 but as they play unfolds, they cover a lot more of the field than before.
This picture shows the traditional movement of the No 10 which you can see is the same area defensive midfielders cover showing how difficult it can be to find space in attack.
In picture two you can see an example of how the umber 10 can find the
Continue readingBy Daniel Severn
Team competitions are always fun. They demand each player to work to their maximum effort as they represent their team. This technical relay race will focus on techniques of dribbling the ball and ends with the player shooting.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. We have 3 players representing each team, Yellow and Black. Player one begins at the end line of the field, with a ball at his feet. Player one has a line of small cones in front of him. Player two waits behind the tall cones, which are placed in a zig-zag formation, diagonal from each other. Player three waits behind a ladder; this is the player that will finish the relay by taking a shot.
Player one will complete his station before passing the ball to the player at station two, who in turn completes his station and passes to player three; who completes his station beats the flag and takes a shot to finish.
Station one – Dribble through the cones using the
Continue readingThis post is from the Training Sessions For the 4-3-3 book. This excerpt is from the section that takes a look at the attacking features of the 4-3-3.
When our team had possession of the ball, our Wings had freedom to attack.
The only caveat to both was not to reach the attack line together, and always position one a little further back, quickly recovering the defense if the ball was intercepted by the opponent. One or both wings could also assume the role of offensive midfielder, helping in the attack and creating an offensive superiority situation.
Our offensive midfielder advanced his position by getting to the point of the
Continue readingBy Daniel Severn
Today we have a simple variation of a popular and efficient exercise. By putting in this one twist, we add in movement, timing, speed of play and lots of conditioning. Again, there are many variations and ways to change or adapt this depending on the age and ability of your players – I’ll show you some of my favorite variations at the end of this article.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. We have four small cones marking out a 15x15 yard area. We also have four tall cones positioned centrally outside each side of the area, approximately 5 yards away.
The players will play a ‘regular’ 4v1 keep-away within the area marked by the small cones. The twist is this simple, after making a pass, the player must
By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on finishing crosses.
Start with a grid that is 50 x 50 with a goal on each endline. There are 4 players on the sidelines with balls. They are numbered 1-4. There is a keeper in each goal and 2 forwards in the middle.
Player 1, on the outside starts by taking a touch and then
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays featured activity is a great warm up for working on hands and footwork.
Start with 4 cones in a 3 x 3 square. A keeper is at one of the back cones and a server is 10 yards in front of the cone with a ball.
The keeper starts by sliding side to side to the other back cone and then
Continue readingWe are making a wish list of improvements and new features to the Session Designer. If you have any ideas, please comment below. We would love to hear from you. Please post below in the Comments section.
Continue readingBy Gabriel Celante
This drill will work on individual and group decision making about where to play the ball, holding possession, and completing a series of passes. This drill also emphasizes switching the point of attack and quickly transition play.
Organization
1. Set up the field as shown on the diagram.
2. Split the field in two halves
3. Split the teams in 2 groups of 5v1, 5v2 or 4v2
Instructions
The team that starts the ball has to make 5 passes and then
Continue readingBy Daniel Severn
This week’s exercise can be used as a multi-purpose exercise. It is a very fun game that will get your players pushing themselves to the limit. It is also a very effective way to start a session as a warm up as it has very positive effects on team communication as well as getting them thinking and using their ‘soccer brains’ from the start of the session.
Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below.
Above, we have 3 teams of 2 players ready to compete against one another. Each team has 4 objects in front of them (in this case, a small cone, a ball, a tall cone and a flag) spaced approximately 5 yards from each other. This is a speed and agility exercise which involves quick thinking from the active player as well as
Continue reading
By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on defensive shape and patience
Start with a keeper in goal, a back 4 and 2 center mids (this is assuming you play with a back 4, if you play with 3 in back, set up accordingly). The attacking team has 2 forwards and 3 midfielders to start.
The three attacking midfielders pass the ball around and try to
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on shot blocking and coming forward to make the save.
Start with a keeper in goal and a server with a few balls at the top of the 18.
The server starts by shooting on goal. It can be
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 3 v 2 attacking and 2 v 1 counterattacking.
On a 40 x 30 grid, with full sized goals and a keeper in each goal, have attacking groups of 3’s and defending groups of 2’s.
The keeper with the attacking team starts by playing the ball in for a
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, positioning and shot blocking.
Start with 2 cones set up 4 yards apart 4 yards from goal. A keeper is in goal and 3 servers are inside the 18 with balls.
The center server starts and the keeper steps up through the cones to
Continue readingBy Jebreel Bubtana
This exercise gets the players to develop their anaerobic endurance very well by winning the ball back quickly. The idea is to place the team with the ball under high pressure and win the ball back as quickly as possible and then pass the ball out the outside players and keep possession to get their breath and shape back.
Set up the field as shown below (figure 1). The area is 20x20 with 4v4 in the middle and 4 neutral players on the outside who cover the four sides on the square.
Both teams try to keep possession of the ball and can use the neutrals on the outside of the area to help them keep the ball and get as
Continue readingThis post is part of the Introduction for our book, Coaching Spanish Soccer by Jordi Pascual.
THE 1-4-2-3-1 & THE “TIKI-TAKA”
“Tiki-taka” is the popular way to describe this possession style used by Spain. The journalist Andrés Montes made the name very popular, and a lot of people think that he was the first one to use it; but this is not true. The term “tiki-taka” was first used by a Spanish Coach called José María Maguregui (known as “Magu”), when he was Manager of RCD Espanyol from Barcelona, during the beginning of the 80s. With that, he gave the name to a style of playing based in keeping the ball and not going so directly to goal.
The important thing here is that the “tiki-taka”, together with the formation 1-4-2-3-1 is used by all Spanish National Teams, from U-16 to the “A” team. Everybody is playing the same way, which makes the players know how it works when following the entire path from U-16, until they arrive to the “A” team. Of course, some players arrive older to the National Team, but it is also obvious that the older they are, the more knowledge of the game they have, so it is not difficult to fit within the team.
As can be seen in the picture, there are 4 Defenders, playing in a Flat-Four, 2 Defensive Midfielders, 3 Attacking Midfielders (1 centred a 1 at each flank) and 1 Centre Forward or Striker.
First of all, let me say that I’m not a fan of “formations”. Formations, for me, is just a number or a name written on a chalkboard or a sheet of paper, and saying where a player will be at the beginning of the match. Also, it says, more or less, where the area of influence will be of that player, that’s all. Roles and responsibilities of players are given by the coach/manager of the team, not by the “position” you have. But that’s another story.
The “formation” 1-4-2-3-1 used by Spain
In the Spanish case, the Back Four is a classic from the last years in football. That means
Continue readingThis post is an excerpt from our new book, "The False 9", by James Lambert. The excerpt is from the Training Sessions chapter and the section focusing on the passing drills part.
Passing Exercise – Striking the Ball 1
Objective:
Passing Exercise building up to a strike at goal.
Exercise Description:
Previous coaching points leading up to the