Excellent Soccer Training Drills

Watch Brazil Train – click here (Notice how Brazilian players are always moving when doing a soccer drill – going to the ball.)

The Weave in Soccer

A great soccer drill is simply weaving in and out of a set of cones, and you can of course get creative, as I was saying before I used to dribble in and out of a field of weeds, you can make variations in the drill and put rules on yourself to make it more difficult.

Put about 8 to 10 cones in a line about three yards apart and dribble in and out of the row of cones without touching or knocking over the cones. Also, try not to touch the ball too far away from the line of cones, keep the ball close to you and don’t dribble out away from the row of the cones.

When you have this down you can then vary the way that you dribble through the cones, just with the right foot and then just with the left foot, and then alternating feet, where you touch the ball to the left and then to the right as you weave through the cones, just with the inside of the feet, and so on, you can make up restrictions to put on yourself to try to improve a specific part of your dribbling technique.

Checking Back to the Soccer Ball

In pairs, one player with the ball the other 15 to 20 yards away. The player without the ball makes a run away from their teammate, 5 yards at a jog, and then sprints back to the teammate with the ball to receive a pass. The player who passes the ball should play the ball just as the other player turns back to the ball. Do this 10 times and then switch to passing the ball to the other foot.

One Versus One Moves

In pairs, place a ball or a cone in the center of a space of about twenty yards. Then the two players dual it out to see who can get by the other and play the ball into the cone or ball. The player without the ball is not allowed to guard just the ball or gone but must go out and challenge the other player. This is a simple drill for players to practice their individual moves and work on tackling.

Six Versus Six Games

You’ll need to goalkeepers for this drill. In one half of the field and the goal moved to the half line you play six on six with the winning team staying on and to play the next six players. You can play for five to ten minutes or until one team scores two goals. This is a good competitive game that gets the players playing at a high intensity.

You could also do this with one goal and one goalie by having one team trying to score on two small goals that are setup on each corner of the half line.

Possession Games

In a small square, or the goal box for instance, you play one and two touch possession. The first team to make ten passes in arrow wins. You can also throw in one player who is all offense if you have uneven numbers. Barcelona’s Tiki Taka is based on passing triangles, where there’s always support around the ball. Small possession games in tight spaces can get your team better at keeping the ball moving and maintaining possession.

Practice Game Restrictions

When you are practicing or scrimmaging amongst your own team you can try to get your team to work on certain patterns, skills, or techniques by forcing them to complete these certain tasks before they can go to goal. For example you could say the offensive team must make ten passes before they can go to goal, everyone must get a touch on the ball, they must complete two wall passes or two overlaps, they have to score with a cross.

Possession with Help

In a square 30 by 30 divide into three teams of 4. The first two groups will be playing possession in the square while the odd group’s members will each stand on one side of the square and act like outlets for the team who has possession in the center.

The team with possession of the ball can use the players standing on the side to keep possession, although the players on the side only have one touch. This is a good drill to practice keeping the ball moving from side to side and spreading the field. You can adjust the size of the square and increase the numbers of the teams playing in the center of the square if you choose.

Man Marking

Play possession, 8 on 8, where the players can only defend the player they have chosen to mark from the beginning. Each player should pair up with a player on the opposing team and this is the player they will defend throughout the game of possession. This is a good drill for fitness, practicing individual defending, keeping up with the player you are defending, and of course possession soccer (keeping the ball).

Find more soccer drills at our soccer drills directory.