By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on transition, 3 v 2 attacking, finishing and much more.

Start with a 40 x 30 grid with two full sized goals and a keeper in each goal. There is a player on each side of the goals on the end lines and a 3 v 2 to start on the field. Each team has extra players on a side.

The team with 3 starts with the ball and they try to get to goal. They can score directly or use

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By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on takeovers and getting to goal.

Start with a center midfielder with some balls just 30-40 yards from goal. A target player is at the top of the D with a defender marking him. There is a player out wide and a keeper in goal.

The midfielder plays a ball into

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By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity helps a player work the ball out of the back under pressure

Start with a player defending the goal out wide around 35 yards from goal. A player attacking the goal starts 5 yards further back. There is a keeper in goal and a server toward the middle of the field with balls.

The server plays a ball toward the

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By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession, crossing and finishing.

This activity uses half a field. Have a 30 x 44 grid just outside the top of the D with a 4 v 4 plus 1 neutral (numbers can be changed). There is also a neutral player out wide on each side. There is a keeper in goal.

The players inside the grid are trying to keep possession and are trying to make 5 consecutive passes (the neutral player is always on offense). Once a team makes 5 consecutive passes (passes to the neutral player inside the grid counts) they can

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Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves a 4 person combination for a cross and finish.

Start with 2 players on the end line and 2 players 40 yards out.  The sets of players are 5 yards apart.  There is a keeper in goal.

The 2 players on the end line check back to the ball in a

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Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on balls over hit to the far post.

One of the most difficult ball to deal with is the ball served far post that is over hit.

If the attacker can get to the ball they tend to try to go for

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Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on throw ins and maintaining possession.

The ball goes out of play and your team takes a throw in.  The idea here is your team should either be trying to get behind the defense with a quick throw in (if available) or, they should try to maintain possession of the ball.  Too often, if the first option isn’t available, then the second option seems to be “give the ball to the other team”.  Here is a simple activity to work on keeping possession of the ball with a throw in.

Start with a player with a ball over the sidelines.  Have another player start 10 yards away.

The player without the ball sprints away 10 yards then checks back to the player with the ball.

As the player is checking back, the player with the ball throws the ball to his FEET (a legal soccer throw in).

The receiving player one touches the ball back to the thrower who has stepped onto the field.

This is done 10 times and then the players switch roles.  The big emphasis is making sure the ball is played to feet and making sure the thrower uses proper technique.

Next, do the same thing but this time, add a defender so the runner has to create space for himself and then when when checking back, will have pressure while receiving the throw and playing it back one touch.

This is a very effective way to maintain possession on throw ins because in most cases, the player throwing the ball in will be unmarked.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 2 v 0 breakaways.

Recently I have seen a few situations where two players broke through on a breakaway (either because of a poorly executed offside trap or the last defender makes a big mistake). In two of these cases the attacking player without the ball ran beyond the ball, into an offside position, which made him unusable. Here is a simple activity that will help prepare players for this type of a situation.

Start with a keeper in goal and two attacking players 40 yards out (one with a ball). Have a defender 10 yards behind them. The purpose of the defender is to force the attackers to go at speed.

Play starts with the

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