Tag Archives for " Crosses "

Racing to Finish the Cross

By Daniel Severn

This week we focus on speed and agility combined with crossing and finishing under pressure. The exercise works best when run as a competition as this adds extra motivation for the players. Speed and Agility are obvious essentials in any game of soccer as players in any role or position on the field will benefit from having good speed and being more agile. The crossing and finishing aspects are more honed towards specific positions, so depending on the situation of your team, (whether you rotate players in positions or if your players have set positions) you can work a little bit of positional specific training into this exercise, especially for your outside defenders and midfielders. A good warm up should be performed before this exercise as it is played at a very high tempo.

Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below with the coach positioned centrally around 30 yards from goal. The coach must have a supply of soccer balls to keep the exercise fluid. We also have two wide players, positioned on each wing. Each will have three cones laid out in front of them which they will use to perform agility. The wide players will act as neutrals and should try to play crosses into general areas, trying not to favor a team, but giving the players a good chance to score from the cross. Two teams will line up on opposite sides of the goal (minimum two players per team) with a goalkeeper in the goal.

Racing to Finish the Cross

Play begins with the coach playing a pass out to either wing (left wing in the example below), the winger then shuffles through the cones as quickly as possible and then

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How to Best Handle Crosses

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on handling crosses and then quick distribution.

Start with a keeper in goal and a server out wide with some balls.  There will also be 3 gates.  One will be just outside the 18.  One will be around 30 yards out and the third will be close to midfield

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The server plays a ball into the 18 for the

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How to Position on Crosses

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s topic deals with positioning on crosses.

When we talk about positioning and angles we usually are talking about situations when the ball is toward the middle of the field.  Positioning can be figured by using string that goes from one post to the other post and then the middle is pulled toward the ball so the ball is the vertex of the angle.  The keeper then has to position himself so that he can make a save on any ball inside the string.  This usually means coming off the line and being centered within the angle.

As the ball moves, the angle changes and the keeper has

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Applying Pressure on Crosses

Welcome 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

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Target Players and Crosses

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on interaction between a target player and a midfielder for a shot or cross.  There is an entire series building up to this and going further on the DVD Winning Shooting & Finishing.

The first player starts just inside the center circle (this would be the midfielder) and the second player is the target player who starts wide of the 18. There is a keeper in goal.


The target player goes toward the middle of the field and then

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Dealing With Crosses

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s topic addresses the issue of dealing with crosses.

When working on crosses it’s easy to think in terms of “a cross is a cross is a cross” but the reality is a driven ball is very different to deal with than a lofted ball and a far post cross is very different to deal with than a near post cross.

It’s not unusual to see a server out wide with a bunch of balls and play balls into the box


The keeper goes out and tries to collect the

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Dealing With Crosses, Then Quick Distribution

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today's featured activity works on dealing with crosses and then quick distribution.

The reason for today’s activity is to reinforce to the keeper that making a save or catching a cross is just the start of the play and NOT the end of the play.

Start with a server out wide on each side, a keeper in goal and 5 gates spread around the half of the field.


One server plays a ball in as a cross and the keeper comes out and catches the ball.

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A Goalkeeper With No Teammates

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s topic deals with when a keeper has no teammates.

A keeper always has teammates but there does come a time when the keeper must act as if it’s him against the world.  This time is when the keeper has called for a ball (frequently a cross) and is going after it.

First, let’s look at the theory and then the reality.


In theory, looking at the diagram above, when the player with the ball serves a ball into

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