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What this session is about

Receiving the ball in tight areas.
The ability to score from a variety of situations.
First touch to control or to shoot.

What to think about

Forwards must be able to score in a variety of situations and they need to be able to score with one touch using a shot on either foot, a volley or a header. Forwards may have time to take a touch before shooting but this touch must be excellent and close to their body so they don’t give the ball away and can strike it with their second touch. Recreating a crowded penalty box where players have little space to move and little time to receive the ball is essential to developing your players in this way.

Set-up

Warm up	Session	Development	Game Situation	Warm Down
10 minutes	15 minutes	15 minutes	15 minutes	5 minutes

What you get your players to do

Mark out an area with a six-yard box near each goal, which has a forward in it, and eight players on the edge of the area, as shown in the top picture.

Each forward receives four serves from the outside players near to him. The aim is to score from as many serves as possible.

Servers are free to use different types of serve. These can be low, lofted, driven, curled, fast or slow passes. The only rule is that the ball must enter the player’s square.

The forward must get a shot on goal using just one touch and try to score as many times as possible from the four serves.

After all serves have been completed, the forward must have scored more than the forward in the opposite square to be declared the winner.

Now the forward becomes a server and a server becomes a forward. The remaining servers rotate positions to a new angle and improve their passing accuracy.

A forward in a box receives serves from four outside players nearest to him, which they try to score from with a first-time shot.

Development

To progress, the serves now come from the opposite end of the pitch.

The forward is facing away from goal and must control the serve then shoot with his second touch.

The forward does not have to take two touches and may be able to swivel and volley or head first time from the longer pass.

This is all down to the forward’s ability to improvise and score.

Related Files

Advanced-261-the-top-scorer.pdfPDF, 291 KB

The forward now plays with his back to goal and receives serves from a longer distance.

Game situation

Mark out an area with a goal at each end and play a small-sided game between two teams.

Each team has three players and a goalkeeper. Four neutral servers (N) go on the corners of the pitch and are restricted to one touch only.

To score a goal, a team must have used one of the outside neutral players during the build-up play.

In the first game, players must score using a first-time shot. In the second game, players can score using two touches if needed.

After a few minutes, the player on each team scoring the most goals is allowed to stay in the game and is declared the Top Scorer. The remaining two players swap with two neutrals.

Teams of three (plus a keeper) must use a neutral (N) player in the build-up to score a goal.

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Coaches Testimonials

Gerald Kearney, Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club

"I have been coaching competitive soccer for over 20 years in Las Vegas. I feel like you are my personal club director. My players and myself have learned a lot from your sessions. The exercises from Soccer Coach Weekly are easy to understand and implement. I never run out of ideas and there is always an exercise for whatever problem we need to fix. Thank you!"

Paul Butler, Florida, USA

"First and foremost, Soccer Coach Weekly is truly unique and exceptional for its clarity and for explaining the "why?", in addition to the "how?". Soccer Coach Weekly is also professionally managed - any issues, which are infrequent, are resolved in an expedient and courteous manner. I place Soccer Coach Weekly at the top of my recommendation list for any new or seasoned coach of the beautiful game."

Rick Shields, Springboro, USA

"I coach both young club players as well as players at the High School level and both genders. The talent range is wide at times, however with the use of Soccer Coach Weekly I am able to apply the information to all talent levels and player ages and make the session fun and challenging for all players. It has helped spark me at times when I am at a loss for what to do at the next training session or offers a different approach to a current problem."

Tony Green, Pierrefonds Titans, Quebec, Canada

"My team and myself are truly enjoying the Soccer Coach Weekly downloads. Pierrefonds Titans are a great group of U16 Females who compete in the Lac St-Louis Association of Montreal, Quebec, Canada."

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