By Matthew Carroll -
Description: The Dortmund is designed to improve the attacking players vision and response to passes and recreate patterns created in tight spaces to create shots. It should be an activation phase drill to prepare the striker to receive killer passes in the final third.
Setup:
Players (6) are placed in a rondo formation with one player in the middle. 20 feet away from the rondo at either end are two goals with/without goalies. Each player, other than the one in the middle and the goalies, has a ball.
Execution: Initially, the coach yells out the name of the player passing, who then gives a difficult pass to the middle player, and a number, either one or two, which determines which goal the player in the middle should shoot on. The pass from the called player should vary from a hard pass to the feet, a lofted pass the striker needs to knock down with their head, to a driven pass at waist level.
After a predetermined time the player in the middle switches with another player and the process repeats. Once every player has gone the coach can begin to call two names, the first name called passes to the player in the middle, the player in the middle passes to the second name, who then lays the ball off to the middle player for a shot on the designated goal.
Variations:
The number of names called can vary
The player whose name is called can play a 1-2 with the middle player to set up the shot
The number and size of the goal can vary
By Matthew Carroll
