You might disagree, but hear me out on this. In practicing free soccer training drills, the best teams keeps on switching the ball, looking for space and exploring the opposition’s defense for a fault. Follow the techniques given below, during the soccer coaching drills, and train the players accordingly to impart these skills.
Match winning tactic: keep the ball swinging between attackers from right to left; engaging the defenders in between. Look a good opportunity and attack the goal. Moving the ball from one to another player within the team helps reducing the stress.
The Fast switch or the Blind Pass: Teach one or two mid-fielders to throw the blind pass by moving the ball using right foot, and hitting it to the left.Rapid Switching or the Blind Pass: Develop a skill in one or two mid-fielders to move the ball with right foot while kicking it to the left, showing almost a blind pass. If you have a left-footed mid-fielder, get them to dribble to the left side of the field and then swing the ball back to the right side of the field with their left foot.
The defender on the other side won’t suspect the pass and you can achieve the target.
All the players should always be ready for this type of pass so ask your team to regularly perform the technique. This is most challenging technique during the soccer drills; that would enable the entire player to comprehensively participate in the soccer practice.
This drill requires six small goals on either side of the pitch. A team scores a point if it gets a player to run through the goals in the middle when playing out from the back. Setting points—say two points, for passing through the last goal, will encourage switching.
During free soccer training drills, the goals should be made sufficiently wide to show that there is not much use just positioning a player between them to prevent a run or pass. Select one player to run from goal A to B. Staying between the goal would prevent attackers to score a goal.
Young defenders usually move away from their designated positions. They have tendency to move towards the ball. Hence the defenders can be caught by surprise if the mid fielders learn to identify the opportunity areas and move the play on the other side of the field.
Dedicate some time during the next session of football drills, to show the players to cover the entire width of the pitch. Teach them the skills and rehearse a few moves with them to let them know where the attacking threat might come from.
As now you have the complete information, remember to include these trainings to your free soccer training drills, so your players are always ready and the opposition mid-fielders find it difficult to catch your defenders out. Subscribe to our community that has a plethora of informative articles, newsletters, and videos to acquire more knowledge on coaching techniques.
Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer Training.