Improve Your Team s Ability to Breakdown the Opposition: Combination Play By Dave Simeone U.S. Soccer Women's National Staff Coach

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1 Improve Your Team s Ability to Breakdown the Opposition: Combination Play By Dave Simeone U.S. Soccer Women's National Staff Coach In an attempt to continue to provide our members with valuable information and resources, this month we will look at exercises that coaches can use to work on breaking down the opposition through the use of combination plays. As team defending has become more organized in an effort to stifle an opponent's ability to penetrate, breaking down that compactness becomes more difficult. Elite players can sometimes solve this problem individually by exerting their athleticism on the game, but in most instances more organized team play is needed. The ability to combine with teammates through 1 2 s (wall pass) or takeovers is essential in solving organized defending. Through a variety of excercises that you can use in practice sessions, players can become more comfortable using these combination plays. As players become more confident and comfortable using combinations you will see the results show up with more complex and more varied - and in all likelihood, more successful - attacks. 1

2 Warm Up Activity 12 Players Four Groups of three players each, with each group wearing different colored bibs. Playing Area: 25 yards x 35 yards Pass and Move Play a 1-2 (wall pass) around a player in a different colored bib or do a takeover with a player in your group of three. Important Coaching Points: s (wall pass) a. Quality of the pass; outside of foot versus inside of foot (deception) b. Timing of the player with the ball with the wall player, when to use different surfaces as the wall player c. Accelerating to receive the return pass. d. Exploiting the available space between opponents or behind them e. Playing off the dribble 2. Takeovers a. right foot to right foot, left foot to left foot b. avoid making the takeover a one yard pass c. accelerate in completing the takeover d. Takeovers are initiated by the player with the ball, off the dribble, shielding/back to pressure. 2

3 Conditioned Game 5 v Playing Area: 40 yards x 25 yards - Play Wider and Shorted; There are four goals total (one in each corner); Each team will attack 2 goals and defend 2 goals. Condition: Go to either of the 2 goals a team is attacking after combining on a wall pass or takeover Progress to playing the game with 2 balls Important Coaching Points: 1. Play off the dribble: initiate 1 2 s by dribbling at an opposing player 2. Shape: there must be length to the shape of the team in possession in order to get 1-2 s. 3. Recognizing cues: when is a takeover on (back to pressure, shielding), dribbling at opponent with the ball (1-2's) 3

4 Functional Activity (6 v 5 or 6 v 6) Six offensive players going to goal, playing with an offside line Include a goalkeeper with the five (or six as shown below) field players defending the goal The five (or six, as shown below) defending the goal gain possession and play out to the 2 target players near midfield, the target players play the ball back into the eam attacking the goal Entry ball from target players into the team going to goal, first touch is free. Play 6 v 6 for more advanced players (as shown in following diagram) There are certain things to look for and to coach in this game, and most important may be instructing the players when and where takeovers can occur. Takeovers can occur: a. along the flank between a wide MF and front player b. in the central channel between a CMF and a front player c. between the 2 CMF players when caught shielding / playing back to pressure d. between the 2 front players when they are caught shielding / playing back to pressure As players mature and opposing defenses improve, the ability to combine with teammates through 1 2 s or takeovers becomes essential in solving organized 4

5 defenses. The above three exercises should give the players the general idea behind takeovers and 1-2's, and the players can only become more comfortable through continued use of these concepts in matches and training sessions. In addition to learning how to execute the combinations, players also need to be taught and drilled on where combinations fit into the game field from a functional perspective. Providing a realistic and dynamic playing environment - as the above three drills do - allows the game to be the teacher. And it is our hope that the drills will teach the players the "how", the "when" and the "when" to use 1 2 s (wall pass) or takeovers. The proper use of these combinations will add an extra element to a team's attack, and as players progress to the next level it is an element that becomes increasingly more important. 5

Possession Playing Away From Pressure

Possession Playing Away From Pressure In soccer possession is the ability to keep the ball without losing it to the opponent. Without the ball, scoring is not possible and without scoring winning is not