FIFA
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Find your role on the pitch

FIFA, 29 Mar 2022

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The session starts with an agility course plus an exercise with mobile goals. The second exercise of the session is rotating 2v2 and 2v1 with goals and goalkeepers. The session ends with an 8v8 game where both teams play in a 3-3-1 formation.

Warm-up: Agility courses and 2v2 with mobile goal and no goalkeepers

Organisation

  • Organise separate working areas, with agility courses at one end and a playing area at the other
  • Split your group into two – half do the agility exercises and half compete 2v2
  • The players doing the agility tasks take turns to complete the courses that you have set up and rotate between them
  • The other half work in pairs to score by passing through mobile goals
  • The mobile goals can be two players holding a stick, a skipping rope or two bibs tied together, etc.
  • After a few minutes, swap the players over

Ways to make the exercise easier

  • Require the players who serve as the mobile goals to walk to begin with – i.e. they cannot run away
  • Make the mobile goals bigger

Ways to make the exercise harder

  • Challenge the players to race each other through the agility tasks
  • Make the mobile goals smaller, or require goals to be scored with a first-time pass

Great questions to ask the players

  • Can you challenge yourselves to move as quickly as possible?
  • Can you keep your heads up as you chase the mobile goals?

Safety tips

  • Make sure that the agility courses are spaced out, so there are no collisions
  • Passes through the mobile goals should be played along the floor

Skill development: Rotating 2v2 and 2v1, 1 goal per pitch

Organisation

  • Make mini-pitches for 2v1 and 2v2, with one goal per pitch; for 2v1, the two members of a pair should take turns to play alone, while the other one waits off the pitch
  • The two attacking players start with the ball and try to score
  • Rotate the players, so they all get to attack, defend and play in goal
  • Each team has five balls and sees how many goals it can score from five attempts, to make a competition

Ways to make the exercise easier

  • Use bigger goals

Ways to make the exercise harder

  • Use smaller goals
  • Limit the number of touches that the attacking players can have

Great questions to ask the players

  • Can you combine and shoot as soon as possible?
  • Can you follow up any shots in case of rebounds?
  • Can you experiment with different types of shots?

Safety tips

  • Waiting players should stand away from the goals

 

Game application: 8v8, normal game with positional rotation

Organisation

  • Organise two equal teams of 8v8, including goalkeepers
  • Normal rules, but let the players decide how to restart the game (e.g. kick-ins instead of throw-ins)
  • Ask the players to make their own team formation, or start them in a 3-3-1 (plus the goalkeeper) and give them the chance to adjust their shape after a few minutes
  • If you have several teams, rotate every few minutes or make multiple pitches
  • Try to use large goals if possible
  • If you have an odd number of players, it’s fine to play with uneven teams or one player can be a floater and play for both teams

Ways to make the exercise easier

  • Give one team more players

Ways to make the exercise harder

  • Teams have to play through each third of the pitch (i.e. a defender, midfielder and attacker has to touch the ball) before they can score
  • Give one team fewer players

Great questions to ask the players

  • Can you discuss and agree on a formation as a team?
  • Can you try to spread out as a team when you have the ball?
  • In which areas of the pitch can you take risks on the ball?
  • How did you work as a team to agree your formation?

Safety tips

  • Create a safe space to play, as well as safe zones between pitches where relevant

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