Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a 3 v 3 game to one goal.
Start with a 40 x 30 grid with a goal in the middle made up on cones or flags. A keeper is in the goal and a server is off the field with some balls. There are 3 players for each team
Each team is assigned an attacking side of field and that is the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Spain and Portugal are 2 of the top sides in the world, Spain current World and European Champions, and ranked number 1, Portugal are ranked number 8 and are always a dangerous side with players like Ronaldo and Nani in the team. Portugal played Spain in a friendly 2 years ago and won 4-0, but Spain are a different team in competitions, and Portugal knew this game could be the defining moment in a potential Euro Championship win. Portugal played Spain with bravery, playing a high pressing game, with lots of possession, but with more direct play around the goal. Spain were far away from their best during the game and Portugal although played very well, couldn’t capitalise on the overloads they created near the goal. Spain won on penalties and reaches the final, to play against Italy or Germany.
Portugal 3v3 opportunity – Almeida wastes a chance with a long range shot
Nani finds Almeida behind Spain’s midfield but as Nani offers a pass behind the defence, Ronaldo makes a run behind
Continue readingIs it time to start 'Fall' practices again already! If you're like me you found yourself asking this question this week. I don't know where the summer break went but it's gone.
Like the first few series of the football game, I like to plan out my first few weeks of training way ahead of time. I know I want to cover a number of topics including some technique to knock the rust off. I also want to start talking about how were going to
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser For many coaches, speed is considered to be one of the most important predictor’s of soccer performance. Indeed, one of the first things that come to mind when doing tryouts is speed assessment. In today’s activity, we are focusing on developing starting speed and acceleration. These components of speed are especially important
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
This article is an excerpt from the books, Modern Soccer Tactics Volume 1&2.
Many of the most expensive players have been attackers. Most of the attackers have either been goal scoring machines, or players who play with flair and surprise the opponent with unpredictable dribbles, passes and shots from nowhere, that often result in goals, or goal scoring chances.
Carlos Tevez is one of these players. He is renown for his work ethic, and his ability to harass defenders when he doesn’t have the ball, but what separates him from hard working attackers is his ability on the ball. We have seen him score from long range, score tap in’s, dribble between multiple defenders in tight spaces, and take shots so early that the goal keeper cannot react to it. This week, against Norwich, he scored 3 goals, including one from long range that was taken so early that Ruddy the Norwich goalkeeper couldn’t get close to at his near post from 30 yards. What we also saw was his ability to play with flair and unpredictability with team mates of the same mindset, namely Sergio Aguero.
Tevez and Aguero play a 1-2
Man City have an attack with David Silva who passes left to Tevez. Tevez spots
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays topic deals with shot blocking and angles. Too often, when a keeper works on shot blocking they do so from a position which has been somewhat predetermined. For example, a server starts with a ball near the top of the D and either takes a touch and a shot
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on numbers up attacking, numbers down defending and offensive transition. Start with a 40 x 30 grid with two full sized goals and a keeper in each goal. Two attacking players and one defending player starts on the field and additional players from each team
Continue readingWe all have such limited time to impact the technical, tactical and physical abilities of our players that finding ways to integrate each of these into our training sessions is very important. If we were training four or five times a week we could afford to practice them in isolation but most of the coaches reading this won't have that luxury.
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with footwork, fitness and shot blocking. Start with a keeper in goal and a server 10 yards out from each post. The keeper starts by sliding to one post, touching the post and then sliding toward the other post. The near server shoots and the keeper has
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on switching the point of attack and getting to goal. Start with a team attacking with a 3-3-2 and a team defending the goal with a keeper and playing a 2-2-1 This is an unrestricted scrimmage except the teams are put into these formations. If
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser Today’s article focuses on developing anaerobic endurance, agility and to a lesser extent, speed over short distances. Because this activity incorporates more more than one component of conditioning, it is a great choice for in-season training sessions where more time is needed for small-sided games and match preparation, and less time can
Continue readingWell, it's that time of year again. The season is fast approaching and plans are already being made for pre-season training by coaches all over the world. One of the critical parts of pre-season training is of course the fitness and conditioning element. Actually, it is now becoming a crucial part of regular season training
Continue readingAt the end of every major World Cup or European Championship those involved with youth development look at the results, what conclusions can be drawn and how they relate to the youth level of the game. In the case of Euro 2012, many coaches and commentators are asking, "How can we get our players to play like Spain does?"
A loud and consistent voice advocating move toward a more player-centered, creative game has been Soccer America's Paul Gardner. He has often bemoaned the direct, 'kick-ball' game and asked coaches to set aside their selfish desire to
Continue readingBy Rees Linn
As I type this you’d be hard pressed to find an MLS team struggling more than FC Dallas. The North Texans are on a 12 game winless run, much of which can be attributed to the fact that they’ve only scored 4 goals from the run of play during the same stretch. Normally, I spend my time analyzing good attacking football, but since I attend every FC Dallas home match I felt the need to offer a critique of the team in my own backyard.
A lot has been made of injuries to first team players, but Dallas’ attacking troubles really stem from two main deficiencies: poor off the ball movement and poor space recognition/anticipation. To demonstrate, I’ll walk you through three examples that occurred in the first 15 minutes of their draw with Chivas USA from last weekend. In this match, Dallas began in a 4-4-2 with Scott Sealy and Brek Shea at striker, Fabian Castillo at left mid, and
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser
As mentioned several weeks back in our article entitled ‘Functional Training of The Centre Midfielder’, every so often we will present position-specific conditioning exercises. Today’s article focuses on strikers and attacking midfielders.
One of the most difficult tasks for any team is breaking down defenses in the attacking third of the field. In this area, defenses tend to be very compact and defending players more often than not will outnumber their attacking opponents. Strikers are marked very closely, and are immediately closed down as soon as they receive balls. As such, players in this position have to be very
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic addresses the issue of applying pressure on crosses.
One of the general rules I use with keepers is the sure rule. If a keeper is sure he can get his body behind the ball, he doesn’t have to dive. If he isn’t sure, he needs to dive to get behind the ball. If a keeper is sure he can catch a low shot to the corner, he should catch it. If he isn’t sure, he should parry the ball away. If a keeper is sure
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on using space, moving without the ball, finding the runner, communication and defending.
Start with a 40 x 40 grid with a 10 x 10 area in the middle
This is a simple possession game. In this example we will
No formation will fit every group of players. A coach that plays the exact same formation with every team will be frustrated by certain players inability to, 'fit the formation'. For years my teams always played 4-4-2. There are some variations you can used depending on how you play your forwards and your central midfielders but that's pretty much it. Sure, you could play sweeper/stopper with the center backs but very few teams play with a sweeper in the modern game. You can change every
formation to a small degree but I feel that the 4-3-3 is the most customizable of all of the popular formations.
There are so many ways to vary the 4-3-3. You can play with the midfielders spread across the field with a right, left and center. They can be in a
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve, author of Modern Soccer Tactics
Spain’s formation is a source of great debate and intrigue. Is it a 4-3-3? Is it a 4-3-3-0? Is it a 4-6-0? Is it a 4-2-3-1? Is it a 4-2-4-0? Is it a 4-2-2-2?
I think it’s a combination of the above. Some matches they will ensure they have a central striker, generally Cesc Fabregas, who will rotate this role with David Silva, with Xavi and Iniesta floating around the space between midfield and defense. They play with a narrow attacking 4-2-3-1 or a narrow 4-3-3 as Alba and Arbeloa do a great job or providing width very high up the field and allowing Spain to regularly outnumber teams between defense and midfield, allowing them to play between the lines frequently.
In the final where Spain played undoubtedly their best football of the tournament, they played a combination of 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1, and Xavi’s position dictated the shape. In some attacking phases with the ball in the opposition half, he would drop deep and 2 of the 3 of Silva, Iniesta and Cesc would play in between the defense and midfield with Alba and Arbeloa the full backs on the outside, with the other of the front 3 staying as a central striker. In some defensive transition phases, Spain would revert to a 4-2-3-1 with Alonso and Busquets screening the defense, with Xavi, Iniesta and Silva pressing in front, with Cesc as the main striker. When they win the ball back, they would stay in this formation and confuse the opposition as players positions and the marking responsibilities have changed again.
Xavi and Iniesta switch positions – 4-3-3 inside opposition half
Xavi drops into a 4-3-3 as Silva and Iniesta drop off from the front to offer passes from midfield. Xavi passes wide to Alba and
By Justin Cresser
Today’s article is a first of a series entitled ‘Soccer Science’, in which we present the latest findings from Sports Science research in soccer, and discuss how these findings may influence the way we train we our players.
ARTICLE TITLE:
The title of the article we will discuss today is: ‘Effects of in-season short-term plyometric training program on leg power, jump- and sprint performance of soccer players.’ It was published in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The article can be accessed by clicking on the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20844458
MAIN FINDINGS:
The main findings from this article are that- in comparison to players who partake in a normal training program, youth soccer players that complete plyometric training twice per week, in addition to their normal training routine, performed significantly better on power-related assessments such as the squat jump, the countermovement jump and the first 5 meters of a 40 meter-sprint. As such, these exercises are highly recommended as part of both pre- and in-season training programs.
APPLICATION TO TRAINING:
Explosive power is critical to successfully performing many movements and actions required in soccer such as accelerating past a defender, vertical jumps, and shooting from distance. Training for power can be done with Olympic-style weight training, medicine ball training or plyometric training. However, plyometric training, which involves doing jump-related exercises that focus on training the muscles to produce the maximum amount of force in the shortest amount of time, is probably the most convenient. Many coaches do not incorporate this type of training during the competitive period either due to a lack of time or the belief that the high-intensity nature of these exercises may be counter-productive to on-field performance. However, the results of the article presented above suggest that it may be beneficial for coaches to include them in training sessions during the in-season as well. An important consideration is the volume of plyometric exercises. Doing 1 to 2 sets of two exercises should be adequate. High volume workouts are not recommended for in-season training.
The following are two plyometric exercises that can be incorporated into training once per week during the competitive period to improve the explosive power in your players:
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 1:
This exercise uses the space just outside the penalty box for the playing area. Set up a row of five hurdles, in a horizontal line, so that the row is approximately 10 yards from the top of the 18-yard box. Each hurdle should be approximately 1 yard apart. Have your players stand 5 yards behind the first hurdle in the row. Place a small cone 7 yards away from the last hurdle in the row so that it is also 10 yards from the top of the penalty box (Figure 1).
When ready, have the player at the front of the line run towards
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, fitness and catching.
Start with two cones making up a goal (8 yards apart). A series of cones are set up starting 5 yards behind the goal. A server has a few balls 15 yards in front of the goal
The keeper starts by slaloming through each of the cones. Instead of just
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on dribbling, shielding and flair.
Start with a 25 yard in diameter circle. Groups of 2’s are in the circle with one being on offense and the other being on defense. There are players on the outside of the circle with balls.
The offensive players (in this case the black jerseys) check to
Today's post is from Scott Moody, our Soccer Conditioning Expert at the Soccer FIT Academy. This blog post got my attention because I've had many conversations with parents and other coaches on this subject. There are an ever-increasing number of, 'Speed and Agility' trainers, camps and businesses. But all to often they are not soccer
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser
When we think of improving strength with resistance training, thoughts of pushing heavy weights on the bench press, or squatting bars with many plates, comes to mind. That is, we generally think of developing concentric strength. Our muscles can produce three types of muscle contractions or actions: concentric muscle contractions (when the muscle shortens); eccentric contractions (when the muscles lengthens); and isometric muscle actions (there is no change in muscle length).
Let’s take the standard push-up for example: as you flex the elbows to lower yourself to the floor, the chest muscles are working eccentrically. If you hold for a few seconds at the bottom of the movement, then these muscles are working isometrically to keep the body in a stable position. As you extend the elbows to return to the top of the movement, the chest muscles are now concentrically contracting.
Most coaches focus on the concentric component when doing strength training. However, developing eccentric strength is just as important and can be done by using slow and controlled movements during the eccentric phase of an exercise. Developing this component of strength is especially important for successfully performing movements involving quick deceleration or stopping, which occur when players rapidly change direction, and in the prevention of injuries that frequently occur during these movements.
The following is a simple exercise that can be done during practice to develop eccentric leg strength in your players:
Squats with 2-Touch passing
Divide your players in groups of two and give each pair a ball. Have the players stand approximately 7 to 10 yards apart. When ready, have both players perform 10 to 12 repetitions of squats (1 set). However, have them slowly lower themselves (approximately 5 seconds) until their thighs are parallel to the floor. Have them hold this position for one second, and then return to the starting position.
As soon as both players are finished, have them pass back and forth for 90 seconds, using two touches (Figure 1), and then instruct them to perform another set of squats. Repeat this process for a total of 3 sets.
Coaching Points: