By Jebreel Bubtana
This is a fun exercise for your team to do that gets both your attackers and goalkeepers working hard.
Set up the field as shown below in figure 1 with 10 soccer balls on the edge of the 18-yard box.
The attacker dribbles towards goal on a breakaway and tries to score the 1v1 against the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper can come out and try to stop the attacker from scoring, as they would do in a real game situation. After the attacker has had a shot they race to the next ball, while the goalkeeper moves back to their goal line. The attacker tries to score with the next soccer ball and again the goalkeeper can come out to try and stop a goal being scored (figure 2).
This is repeated until all 10 soccer balls have been shot with. If you have the luxury of using 2 goals then you can have your attackers and goalkeepers competing against each other at the same time. The attackers compete against each other in terms of how many goals they can score and how quickly they can do so. The goalkeepers compete against each other to see how many saves they can make. One of the main things to emphasize to your players is that the intensity must be kept high throughout the exercise to keep the attacker and goalkeeper working hard.
Coaching points:
• Attack the goal at speed and when the goalkeeper starts to close the space down then the attacker must slow down to prepare themselves for a shot on goal.
• Use the inside of the foot to place a shot low into the bottom corners of the goal.
• Look up before shooting to see where the goalkeeper is.
Variations:
You can do the same exercise but have the attackers starting from different angles and from different parts of the 18-yard box. This will give the attackers more of a challenge and give the goalkeepers a little more to think about regarding angles and how to close the attacker down.
Jebreel Bubtana
Director of Marketing at BRASA – Brazilian Soccer Academy
NSCAA Advanced National Diploma
NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma
Follow me on Twitter @jib1989
