By Danny Carvalho
This session was planned and designed to get players to work together as beautifully and effective as Modric and Kroos during their golden years at Madrid.
Warm Up
In this first drill, have the team split into groups of five if possible. It’s all about receiving, turning and passing. One player does all the work while the other four will be there to make him work! Outside players only pass the ball to the center player who will distribute the ball as many times as possible in 30 seconds. At the end of the time, switch players.
COACHING POINTS:
- Body position sideways to the ball
- “Break your neck” (expression to check over shoulders – to scan)
- Diagonal angles
Activity 1
Moving on, similar to the warm up but with a little bit more complexity. Set up a 30x20 grid and have 4 to 8 players on the outside and two players on the inside as “Modric and Kroos”. Outside players pass to inside player (A) who will set the ball to inside player (B) so this player can pass the ball to a different outside player. Encourage them to receive the ball from one side of the grid and pass it to another side.
COACHING POINTS:
- Communicate with hands and eye contact
- Anticipate; think ahead
Activity 2
A possession small-sided game to get them to apply all the dynamics worked on so far played on a 2v2+4.
10 passes in a row = 1 point
Outside player pass to Inside player and pass to a different Outside player = 2 points
Outside Player 1 pass to A who passes to B and a pass to Outside player 2 = 3 points
Activity 3
SSG like before but now instead of having possession goals, actually scoring on mini-goals. Start on a 2v2+4 to easily transition from Activity 2. After a set time, play it on a 3v3+2 with the two neutrals working as Modric-Kroos in the midfield.
By Danny Carvalho, DOC at Corinthians Campinas Youth Club, Brasil
