Each state in the U.S. sets their own time for tryouts. In the mid west the date usually falls in June sometime after State Cup has been completed. In Kansas tryout can officially start one week after State Cup is completed.
There are two types of clubs, a truly tiered system where the best players are place on the top team in the club and the next strongest players are put on the second team and so on. The goal of this type of club is
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on stance, footwork and fitness.
Start with two keepers facing each other in a proper keeper stance (in the diagram below, the red keeper isn’t in a proper position because I’m somewhat limited in the positions I have available with the graphics but assume he were in a proper stance)
One of the keepers is assigned the role of leader. The other keeper is the “mirror”. If the red player is the
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a warm up activity working on changing direction with the first touch.
Start with a 30 x 30 grid (the size isn’t all that important and can be changed depending upon number of players. Half the group is in there with balls and the other half are without (in the diagram below the yellow players have balls and the black don’t)
The yellow players dribble around and then will make a pass to a
By Waleed Zaghloul
Alan Dzagoev, an exciting young brilliant talent not known by many outside of his native Russia could see his breakthrough on the international level in EURO 2012. There are several factors that make Dzagoev an exciting player to watch and worthy opponent to watch out for at all times. For those who are not familiar with Dzagoev, let me introduce you to this player who plays for CSKA Moscow.
Alan Dzagoev is 21 and will turn 22 during the upcoming EURO 2012 competition. He wears number 11 for the Russian national team and is one of my picks to shine this summer in Poland and Ukraine. He is a gifted midfielder who usually plays in an advanced attacking position, but could also be lethal as a playmaker. Let us have a look at Alan’s skills and specialty skills that make him one of the great talents for the future and a candidate to play in one of Europe’s top leagues after the EURO 2012 Championships.
Dangerous Through Passes
In my opinion, one of Alan Dzagoev’s best attribute is his ability to make very dangerous through passes that splits defenses and creates great scoring chances for his strikers both at CSKA Moscow and the Russian National team. These passes could be critical in many situations, but specially on counter attacks.
Penetrating Runs
Any good through pass requires good movement off the ball and/or a good run into the box. Dzagoev combines very well with the strikers playing in front of him and sometimes the strikers turn providers to him just to return a few of his favors.
Great Ball Control
Any great midfielders needs great ball control and Dzagoev has that even in full speed which makes him very tough to defend. This combination of speed and good dribbling skills usually result in a few free kicks in dangerous areas or even penalty kicks and Dzagoev is good at taking both.
Great Passing
A great range of passing is critical for any playmaker and that is exactly what Dzagoev has. I believe that his
By Justin Cresser
After coaching youth soccer for several years, I have observed that shooting from distance is one technique young players frequently have problems with. Players tend to either drag their shots wide, or shoot way over the bar. Like all components of the game, developing good shooting technique requires repetition. However, we frequently observe shooting exercises that have long lines with players waiting to shoot on net; and most coaches will agree that long lines and waiting times are two things we try our best to avoid during training sessions.
Today’s activity is a shooting exercise that circumvents the problem of long lines and standing around by incorporating a dribbling component. The format of the exercise also allows you to simultaneously develop the aerobic capacity of your players. We also include a section that targets speed dribbling and receiving technique.
Set-up and Directions
This activity uses just over half of a regular-sized soccer field for the playing area. Place (or set up with flags or cones) a regular-sized goal on the bottom
This week's post is an excerpt from our latest book, "Developing the Complete Tactical Player". This unique book focuses on methods to train players to develop tactical knowledge, faster decision making and smarter use of the ball. I think we can all agree that this is an aspect sorely missing in many of our players but can make all the difference in taking them to an elite level.
This brief excerpt looks at
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on keeper recovery.
A server starts around the top of the 18 with a ball. The keeper starts on the ground off on an angle from the goal (in this graphic the keeper has a ball but in the activity he would not)
The server calls “go” and shoots on goal. The keeper has to get
Last week I posted on our Facebook page about Sepp Blatter investigating the idea of something different than penalty kicks to decide a game that is still tied after 90 min. He asked Franz Beckenbauer and his committee to research and come up with ideas and alternatives.
I asked our Facebook fans to post their ideas and here are some of them. What ideas do you have to solve this problem?
Aaron Frederickson Play golden goal 11 v 11. Every five minutes each team loses a player.
Katy Morrow Stigers This is a tough one because, if the debate is anything like the goal line one, they'll want something easy to implement throughout the various levels of soccer. I'll suggest instead of penalty kicks, we borrow a bit of the spirit of the American football overtime system, and isntead of a penalty kick, we offer the teams the chance to start from a corner kick rather than a kick off.After the first corner kick goes out of play a second corner kick is placed on the opposite side of the field.
Hr Bramer 3 vs 2 plus keeper. Goes three rounds lat with four strikers. All players in the
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on midfielders and forwards working together in combination play.
We want our players to get accustomed to looking for combination opportunities so in these activities we recreate various ones.
Starting with 4 attacking players and a keeper. One player is a forward, one is an outside midfielder and 2 are central midfielders.
The first combination simply is a pass into the target player who then
By Justin Cresser
Our club begins the major competitive season in the next 2 to 3 weeks, so we are therefore entering into the pre-season phase of the training year. As you transition from the off to the pre-season, the focus should shift to high-intensity training and developing anaerobic endurance. In addition, more time is needed to focus on match preparation (tactics, team shape, etc.) and less time is devoted to fitness training, so your conditioning exercises need to be as economical as possible.
Today’s exercise is a simple conditioning circuit. It is an exercise that I most frequently use during the pre-season as it is very efficient and demands a high work-rate. Not only does it incorporate agility, acceleration and speed endurance; but the work-to-rest ratio also allows you to develop the anaerobic capacity of your players.
For this exercise, you will need a playing area at least 20 yards long and 30 yards wide. Divide your squad into two equal groups. (The amount of cones and stations you set up will depend on the number of players you have. In this example, we have assumed they are two groups of 5 players each.)
Set up a horizontal row of 6 cones so that each cone is 5 yards apart. This creates 5 channels that are all 5 yards in width. Have each player in one of the groups stand in the middle of each channel so that they are 7 yards behind the row of cones. These players should each have a ball (Figure 1).
Set up another row of 6 cones (each cone 5 yards apart), 7 yards away from the first row so that each cone, except the first, is directly in line with a player standing with a ball. Have the players in the other group line up behind the first cone in the second row as shown below (Figure 1).
When ready, the player at the front of the line will
It's hard to believe that the end of the soccer year is coming so quickly. Our State Cup is June 1/2/3 so were in review mode to prepare for the biggest tournament of the year. We want to do our best to be successful because the winners of State Cup attend the Regional Tournament to play against the best teams in our Region. The players learn so much for that type of experience that I want the girls to have that opportunity.
We've covered a lot this year and I've really seen
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser
As your players advance and begin to play at higher levels, they will need some degree of Functional or Position-specific Soccer training. For example, wingers need to be good dribblers and crossers of the ball and should therefore devote time to perfecting these skills. In a similar fashion, central defenders need to be strong in the air and proficient in 1 v 1 situations. The same is true for conditioning. Players in the various positions will have specific conditioning needs and coaches should allocate some time to developing position-specific fitness needs.
Most of the exercises we present on this website are general fitness exercises, in that; they are suitable for every player on the team, regardless of position. This week and every so often however, we will look at position-specific conditioning exercises. Today’s activity is geared towards the central midfielder, but strikers and wingers can also benefit from the drill.
Center mids are often called upon to create space between themselves and their marker, check back to receive a pass played to their feet and in one motion, turn and attack the space in front of them. This sequence of movements is frequently seen with passing midfielders that play in front of the back four, such as Real Madrid’s Xavi Alonso, and requires good agility as well as proper turning and receiving technique.
Divide your players into groups of two. For each pair, set up 3 cones 12 yards apart in a straight line. Have yours players stand at each of the end cones facing each other. One of them should have a ball at their feet (Figure 1).
When ready, the player without the ball will run to the right of the cone in the centre. When they reach midway between this cone and their
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today we will show a simple group warm up activity for keepers
A keeper starts in a small goal (6 yards wide). A player starts 15 yards out with a ball and other players start on an angle in each direction (also about 15 yards out)
The keeper with the ball starts by “shooting” toward the goal (the objective isn’t to score but rather to
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on attacking and defending with flank play.
This is a 3 v 3 game with a keeper using half a field. The three attacking players start at the midfield line with one of them out wide. The defending players can start wherever they want. A keeper is in goal and the ball starts with a server behind the midfield line.
The game starts with the server playing the ball out wide
By Waleed Zaghloul
Manchester City has just won the Premier League after beating QPR in dramatic fashion. What City has faced during this game was very similar to what they and Barcelona have faced almost all season. Many games have seen teams defending against these two fancy teams with 10 and 11 players for the whole game. It was interesting seeing Drogba playing as a left back against Barcelona in the Champions League.
Chelsea and Real Madrid have played way too negatively against Barcelona in recent weeks and so did QPR against Manchester City in the recent historic game. The worrying sign to us coaches is the fact that Chelsea and Real Madrid achieved their goals from such negative tactics and QPR almost did the same. Such negative mentality has been advocated in recent years by Mourinho when he was at Inter Milan (against Barcelona in the Champions League) and by van Marwjiik with the Netherlands at the World Cup final against Spain.
Many teams have become proficient at bunkering down or “parking the bus” in front of their goal. This necessitates coaches becoming better at teaching their team how to break down such bunkered defenses (or at least trying).
Variety is Key
A respected FIFA coaches instructor once said that how well a team is coached is usually apparent in the way they create chances. The better coached a team is, the more effective ways they have to break down the opposing defense.
Ball possession is important in football, but as most coaches can attest possession does not guarantee winning games (ask Guardiola!) So what could be done to increase your team’s success chances when it comes to breaking down bunkered defenses? I concur variety is a key factor!
Variety means utilizing different ways of attacking the opponent. This includes playing wide and attacking through the wings. It includes penetrating attacks though the middle, shooting from distance and attacking through set pieces specially free kicks and corner kicks.
Let us have a look at how Manchester City was faring against QPR in the variety sense.
First Goal – Principles of Attack
City switched play to the right wing, but after Zabaleta was closed down, they switched to plan B which was penetration though the middle (against nine defenders in the box with the tenth player just outside the box).
This goal involved several attacking principles carried out very well. The City players were
Continue readingCan you teach creativity? Some coaches believe that players are either creative or their not. Certainly there are players that we can all name that appear to be, 'naturally' creative but I believe that most players need to learn to be creative.
I don't think that you could have put Mozart in front of a piano at seven years old and he could just start playing. Learning the basic patterns and structures is vital first step in the process. Once you understand the framework and basic skills you can start to put things together in new an innovative ways.
I take this same approach when working with my teams when it comes to ideas for attacking. I like to give them a number of different attacking patterns to work on before freeing them to see what the defense is giving them and deciding how they can take advantage of it.
Since this is the first year I've implemented a 4-3-3 formation with any of my teams, I turned to an expert for idea on both the attacking and defensive
Continue readingThis article is by Stevie Grieve and is a sample excerpt from a new book "Modern Soccer Tactics", which is due for release this summer. This book takes a look at the top professional teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Man City, etc. and breaks them down tactically. The book also includes practical drills and exercises on how you can teach these tactics to your own teams.
We don't have a definite date yet, but look for it some time this summer.
This excerpt is from the analysis of how the five goals were scored in the final game of the season between Man City and QPR. The book is packed full of these kind of articles and observations.
Diagonal Runs around the box create goals by Stevie Grieve
In the final game of the English Premiership season, there were lots of teams with something to play for – no less than Manchester City v QPR. Manchester City need to win to guarantee winning the league, QPR need to win to guarantee avoiding relegation. If City don’t win, they need to hope Manchester United don’t win at Sunderland (they win 1-0). If QPR lose, they need to hope Bolton don’t win away to Stoke City to avoid relegation.
Manchester City 1st goal – Zabaleta makes run diagonal run inside to receive the last pass
Silva spreads play wide looking for a 2v1, as Zabaleta has pushed forward and he normally arrives
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser
I was watching the El Classico game over the weekend and it was a fantastic game. Although we most frequently talk about Barcelona’s ability to pass and move, another thing the players do so well is to protect the ball from pressuring defenders in tight spaces. In today’s exercise we will work on improving the ability to shield the ball from an opponent while developing anaerobic endurance and repeated sprint ability.
Set up a 15 yard by 15 yard playing area (it may be smaller or larger depending on numbers). With the exception of 2 to 3 players, give each individual a ball and instruct them to dribble around inside the playing area using small touches. Have the players without a ball stand on the edge of the playing area wearing a different colour bib (Figure 1). These are your pressuring defenders. You will want a ratio of approximately 1:4 defenders to dribbling players.
When ready, the coach should direct the defenders to sprint inside the playing area and try to
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on positioning, reading the game, communicating and shot blocking.
This is a 3 v 2 activity with a keeper in goal and uses half a field.
The player in the middle starts with the ball and can initiate the attack with a
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s activity combines simple skill work with agility and fitness.
Start with 6 flags (or cones) staggered to create a “zig zag course”. The players start at one end and a server starts with a ball in the middle.
The first player in line sprints around the near flag and as he is sprinting to
There is no question that the world's best teams play regularly in the Champions League. And one of the great thing about the Champions League is the diverse tactics employed by the various teams. Barcelona have their style, Man U play with a 4-4-2 or the variant 4-5-1, Bayern Munich play with their familiar German style, Chelsea with a 4-3-3 and so on.
All the styles obviously have some merit because the teams are all successful in their own leagues and to a certain extent, in the Champions League. But as a coach, what style is the most effective? What style should you adopt for your own team? No one can answer these questions for you, but most experts will say that whatever style of play you prefer, it will have to be flexible enough to fit the kind of players you have in your team.
Our book, Champions League Tactics, gives you an in-depth look at the methods, tactics and systems of play from the best known coaches and clubs in the world. The book begins with a overview of the characteristics and tendencies of
Continue readingIn last week's post I discussed the first few fakes that I teach young players. I thought it would be a good idea to share HOW I teach these fakes to players as young as six and seven.
I set up by arranging a set of cones in the pattern below.
This allows me to see everyone from the front of the group and it gives them the
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on a keeper reading the situation when the ball is on the end line. This activity is great for keepers as well as the rest of the team.
Start with a keeper in goal, an attacking player on the end line just outside the 18, a defender 3 yards behind the player on the end line and a few attacking and defending players in the 18.
As soon as the attacker with the ball touches it, the game is live.
The attacker can dribble straight toward
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves supporting the backs on their first touch.
To start, have a server with balls around midfield and a back near the top of the 18. A midfielder is 10 yards in front of the back.
The server plays a ball into the back and the midfielder has to position himself to receive a