Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 4v4-1

4v4-1

What: an activity to teach zonal defending. The activity is 4v4 to two small goals. The team that loses the ball has one player drop off the field and defends with 3. When they win the ball back their first pass must be negative to play in their teammate, which allows time to for the opposition to drop a player off the field. This activity is best played with the offside law in effect.

In any game with small goals, they should be wide enough to prevent the defenders from standing in the goals to defend. The idea is to incentivize the defenders to step to the ball. 

This is a Stage 2 activity.

Why: Playing numbers down prevents defending man to man and forces zonal play

Where: middle third of the field

Who: any two lines.

When: defensive phase of the game.

Periodization:  

# Players     Work Interval           Recovery             Reps     

 3                  1 to 2.5 minutes       1-2 minutes      3 to 8

• General “Rule of Thumb,” when the Speed of Play of an activity drops, its time to recover.•

The smallest number of players determines the duration of an activity.

• Space will effect player actions, which will affect speed of play.