Footbonaut: Improving Technique and Awareness

Pitch: Four mini goals stand in a diamond shape, two of them opposite each other in each case. In the middle a square of four cones forms the standing area.

Equipment: 4 mini goals, 4 cones and balls with the coach.

Players: One player stands in the middle between the goals. Before the drill each goal is assigned a target or a value — depending on the focus.

• The coach calls out one of the targets and plays a pass to the player.
• This player has two touches to finish on the corresponding mini goal.

Variations:

• As group training with a maximum of five players per group: one player stands in the middle, the other four on the outside between the mini goals with balls. The coach calls out a name and a target — the pass comes from the player named, and the finish is taken on the goal named. In this way the ball does not only come from one direction, and two questions have to be answered at once: where is the ball coming from, and where does it have to go? This makes the drill more game-realistic.
• Use different goal sizes; the size of the goal depends on the importance of the respective target.
• As a partner drill: set team targets and go into the middle in pairs. One player stops the ball, the other plays it into the goal.