Annual training plan · U9–U13

Week 25: 1 vs 1 – Acceleration & Going Past

2 complete training sessions with 8 drills – created by licensed coaches. Open every drill in the easy2coach web app with one click.

This week’s focus

The year is slowly drawing to a close, and most teams in small-sided football have already finished the first half of their season.

In the younger age groups especially, lots of indoor tournaments take place around the turn of the year. Apart from setting a few key basic principles, you can give the players plenty of freedom there.

Indoors, if the tournament rules allow it, an overload in possession can be played out with the goalkeeper. But winning 1 vs 1 situations also creates an overload indoors or already leads to a goal-scoring chance.

Depending on the weather, the training week can be held indoors or outdoors. The focus will be on the head-on, attacking 1 vs 1 in the centre. Besides winning the 1 vs 1, it will also be about quickly carrying out a follow-up action. This can be, for example, a quick shot, a pass or tying up another opponent.

Author Luis Österlein

Session 1

4 drills

Winning an attacking 1 vs 1 requires technical and physical abilities. Good acceleration is crucial in order to get past the opponent with an explosive change of pace. If a player has a high top speed and plenty of space, they may even be able to outrun the opponent with the ball without the defender having any chance of making a challenge.

Besides athleticism, the attacking 1 vs 1 also requires good dribbling technique in order to keep control of the ball even at high speed and to be able to perform feints confidently.

If a player has the necessary speed and well-developed dribbling skills, they only need to put a few individual tactical instructions into practice in order to beat opponents regularly. A distinction is made between the defender being a short or a long distance from the attacker.

Coaching points for this session

Coaching Points:

Head-on attacking 1 vs 1 in the centre (short distance):

  • Close ball control
  • “Pull” the defender away from the middle of the playing area
  • Dribble past the opponent with a feint and a change of pace
  • When feinting, the centre of gravity
Drill 1

Dribbling at Speed with Cones

15 min20 x 20 metres
  • Every player moves around the playing area with the ball at the feet.
  • The player uses the cones as opponents while dribbling at speed and performs feints as specified by the coach.
  • On the coach's call, a cone of the colour named has to be dribbled around completely at a sprint.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Four cones mark the playing area; nine to twelve cones in different colours are spread out inside it.

Equipment: 13 to 16 cones and one ball per player.

Players: All players move around the playing area with a ball.

Coaching points
  • Look up from the ball.
  • Perform the feints to a high quality.
  • Pay attention to the other players.
Drill 2

1 vs 1 from Passing - Head-On, in the Centre

20 min40 x 40 metres
  • Green and Red pass the ball to each other from about eight metres apart.
  • After ten passes at most, Red takes the ball into the 1 vs 1.
  • Green adjusts position and engages Red in a duel.
  • After winning the ball, Green counter-attacks on Red's goal.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Cones mark the playing area; two goals stand at the ends.

Equipment: 2 goals, cones and several balls.

Players: Pairs of one green and one red player; in addition goalkeepers.

Coaching points
  • The attacker demands an explosive movement when receiving the ball in order to put the defender in difficulty immediately.
Drill 3

1 vs 1 After a Pass

20 minDepending on the ability level
  • The drill is started with a diagonal pass from the defender.
  • With that, passer and receiver set off into the playing area, and it is played 1 vs 1.
  • If the defender wins the ball, the defender can counter-attack towards the opposite goal.
  • A round ends when a goal is scored, the ball goes out of play or after 15 seconds.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Four tall cones mark the corners of the playing area; at both ends there is a goal with a goalkeeper.

Equipment: 2 goals, 4 tall cones and several balls.

Players: At two diagonally opposite tall cones there is one player of the one team each, at the other two the players of the second team wait in their own bib colour. Plus two goalkeepers.

Coaching points
  • Get to the finish with purpose.
  • Finish with both feet.
  • Look up at the goal and the goalkeeper once more before finishing.
Drill 4

1 vs 1 up to 4 vs 4

25 min30 x 20 metres
  • Every game starts with a 1 vs 1.
  • The task is to dribble through a goal on the opposite side or to pass along the ground through it.
  • After a goal or after the ball goes out over the goal line or the touchline, one more player from each team moves into the playing area — making it 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3 and finally 4 vs 4.
  • To do so, the new player of the team entitled to the ball dribbles in.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Cones mark out the playing area; eight tall cones form four goals.

Equipment: 8 tall cones, cones and several balls.

Players: Two teams of four players each.

Coaching points
  • Look for the 1 vs 1 bravely.
  • Get past the opponent with a change of pace and a feint.
The complete session as a ready-made training plan – with animated drills in the web app. Go to the web app

Session 2

4 drills

Winning a 1 vs 1 is the simplest way of creating an overload. Beating an opponent sets the opposing defence in motion, because another player from the defending team has to leave their own opponent to close down the player on the ball. This becomes particularly clear indoors and in small-sided football, because of the strong man-marking and small team sizes.

But to win an attacking 1 vs 1, it is not only the abilities of the player on the ball that matter, but also the behaviour of their team-mates. They can support their team-mate in the 1 vs 1 as follows:

  • Make the game wide and big to create space for the 1 vs 1
  • Make an overlapping run around the team-mate to open up the dribbling path into the centre
  • Move out of the dribbling path to draw the defender out of their ideal defending position.
  • Provide cover in case the 1 vs 1 is lost
Coaching points for this session

Attacking 1 vs 1:

  • Pick up speed
  • Go past the opponent with a feint and a change of pace
  • Draw the opponent out of the centre
  • When feinting, shift the centre of gravity sufficiently
  • Give the opponent no chance of a 2nd duel
Drill 1

Rondo 6 vs 2

15 min10 x 10 metres
  • Inside the playing area a 6 vs 2 is played for keeping possession.
  • The two inside players try to win the ball.
  • If a player of the team with the overload loses the ball, that player becomes a defender.
  • One of the two previous defenders plays on in the team with the overload instead.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Cones mark the playing area.

Equipment: Cones and several balls.

Players: Six players on the outside, two players on the inside.

Coaching points
  • Demand first-time play depending on ability level.
  • One defender presses, the other waits for the pass.
Drill 2

Dribbling Warm-Up

15 min

The drill consists of two lanes, which are completed one after the other.

  1. In lane 1 the players dribble through the channel and back again at the end.
  2. In lane 2 the players dribble up to the cones one after the other and cut at each one.

Variations:

  • Lane 1: alternating right outside of the foot, right inside of the foot, right outside of the foot, right inside of the foot.
  • Lane 1: take the ball along with the sole of the foot.
  • Lane 1: let the ball swing to and fro between the feet and look up from the ball.
  • Lane 2: add a feint in front of the cones and use the arms.
  • Lane 2: cut with the outside of the foot, with the inside of the foot or behind the standing leg.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Two separate lanes as shown in the graphic. In lane 1 the cones stand in two rows forming a channel, in lane 2 they are staggered one behind the other.

Equipment: 13 cones, 1 ball per player.

Players: The players spread out evenly over the two lanes and start one after the other.

Coaching points
  • Keep the ball close when dribbling.
  • Look up from the ball.
  • Start the feints in good time and keep an appropriate speed while doing so.
  • Use both feet.
  • Keep enough distance from the player in front.
Drill 3

1 vs 1 Tournament Format

25 min
  • Play is 1 vs 1 within the marked areas.
  • Each round lasts about two to three minutes.
  • The winner of each round moves up one division, the loser moves down one.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Cones mark out several areas side by side, poles form the goals. Each area is assigned a division.

Equipment: Poles, cones and several balls.

Players: Pairs who compete against each other in a 1 vs 1.

Drill 4

Funino as 3 vs 3

25 min
  • A free 3 vs 3 is played.
  • Goals may only be scored from the end zones.
  • The players try to play a team-mate into the zone with a pass into the run.
Equipment & set-up

Pitch: Cones mark out the playing area and the end zones; there are four mini goals at the ends.

Equipment: 4 mini goals, cones and several balls.

Players: Two teams of three.

Coaching points
  • Keep the rounds short and intensive.
  • Make the game wide in order to create space in the middle and for a switch of play.
  • The defending team must defend as a unit in order to keep both goals in view.
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