Drills For Soccer: Learn The Game Strategy
What if I told you that the basis of any soccer game is its defense and your drills for soccer should enable them to overcome the opposing team’s defense?
Some coaches tend to teach their players to play either defense or offense. Correct soccer drills require each player to play defense when the ball is with the opposing team and offense when the ball is with them.
Players should immediately go after the ball once they’ve lost it. Any player who fails to keep the ball with him should be the one to run after it first. He is the key player here who can get his rival having the custody of the ball under immense pressure as he’s adjacent to him. This will have an effect on the rival who has the ball resulting in an awful pass or losing the ball.
Make sure that in soccer practice when one player is chasing the opponent with the ball, the remaining team members can fall back. His entry into your goal area should be postponed as much as possible.
The most important area of the field is the center. So make you drills for soccer in a fashion that forces the rival team member with the ball to progress towards the touchline. The potential of the player to pass the ball and various directions that he can go to will be limited.
It’s the arc of concentration where record number of goals is scored and is also the most hazardous. This arc is in the face of the goal. It initiates from the corner post of the goal through to the corner of the goal box and then moves out to the touchline. Consequently, fill your training sessions with a lot of soccer exercises that teach them to work the ball around in this area as the opposition can easily score a goal here.
When its about defense, success comes by balancing. Here, the players who are next to the ball play tight. This conveys that they should stay as close as possible to the ball. Players that are far away from the ball play lose. This suggests that they play at positions that allow them to cover all possibilities and not only one player.
Your team will be in a position of control when they get the possession of the ball. To do this, steal the ball away from your opposition as fast as possible. A whole lot of coaches mistakenly allow the players to control the ball. This refers to sliding into the ball without touching the opponent and knocking the ball away from him.
Just in case they miss the ball here, they’ll be back on the ground and the opponent would make his way towards the goal.
So, make these a part of your drills for soccer so that your players are able to play a far better defensive game. If you wish to keep yourself updated on the happenings in the field of youth soccer, join our youth soccer coaching community and discover a wealth of knowledge, tips, articles, newsletters, videos and the like.
Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in youth soccer coaching. He influences well over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his unique coaching philosophy, and makes it really easy to explode your players’ skills and make training more fun in record time. To download your free youth soccer coaching guide visit: Drills for soccer.
