2 Soccer Defense Drills To Improve Your Player’s Defending Skills
Having a good defense in soccer is critical to your team’s success. When I say that your team has to know how to defend well, it doesn’t mean you have to put the “Bus” in front of your goal!
I’m a big fan of Benfica (since I was born), and this year I’ve seen a lot of teams doing just that when playing at “Estádio da Luz” (playing almost with 2 lines of 5 defenders in front of the goal) and ending the game with 4… even 8 balls inside that “super protected” goal. 
We all know that in a game of soccer the team who scores more goals wins the match. A team with even just one goal in the kitty can win the match, but only if it does not have any against it. Defending goals is one of the most important skills that your young players must excel in. It is a vital skill that wins matches and all players must be good at it.
It is of no use how good your team is in scoring goals if it is not able to stop the other team from scoring goals against it. When opposition attacks, the players must not only be in a position to quickly avert the danger but also get back in an attacking position as soon as possible. As is true for any other skill, this too demands a lot of practice and team work.
Today, we will discuss a couple of drills that will help your players learn the all important skills of defense.
Soccer Defense Drill #1 – Group Soccer Defending
The first drill can be named as “Group Defending.”
Setup of the drill:
- Draw a grid to mark the playing area.
- Create two teams. The players of the one team will act as defenders and the players of the other as attackers. You can use two different dresses for each team to make clear distinction.
- The team of attackers will have one ball for each of its players.
Purpose of the drill:
- To help train the players on how to work together by creating a real match-like situations.
- To help them in improving the determination power.
Instructions for the drill:
- Your Defender team must have two players less than the players in the Attacker team. For example, 5 in the Defender team (blue) and 7 in the Attacker team (red).
- The players of the Attacker team will have to keep the ball to themselves while at the same time trying to hit any free space available inside the grid.
- The players of the defender team will try their best to mark as many attacking players as possible.
Variations that can be introduced:
- Increase the number of attackers.
- Limit the number of touches.
Other points:
- You need to keep helping the defenders by letting them know how to fail the moves of the attackers.
- Keep instructing the attackers on how to find space and dodge the defenders.
- Keep changing the players for each team. Ensure that every player should get equal number of chances to act as an attacker or a defender.
Soccer Defense Drill #2 – Turnovers
There are many other drills that can be used to train your players in defending. We have another one here which focuses on the defensive aspect of the game. This is called Turnovers.
Setup of the drill:
- Draw a grid to mark the playing area.
- Create two teams. The players of the one team will act as defenders (blue) and the players of the other as attackers (red). You can use two different dresses for each team to make clear distinction.
- The attackers will play in groups of three.
- There are four defenders and a goalkeeper.
Purpose of the drill:
- The focus of the drill is to help train the players on how to practice defense and counter attacks.
- The drill trains the defender players on how to save the goals and get the ball from the attackers.
Instructions for the drill:
- The players of the Attacker team will have to keep the ball to themselves while at the same time dodging the defenders and dribbling through the defensive cover to hit for a goal.
- On the contrary, the players of the defender team will have to try their best to get the possession of the ball and hit back.
Variations that can be introduced:
- Increase the number of attackers.
- Limit the number of touches.
- Limit the number of passes that the attackers can make.
- Increase or decrease the defense line.
Other points:
- You need to keep instructing your defending players on how to gain the possession of the ball, so that the attackers can be stopped from scoring any goals.
- At the same time, keep instructing your attacking players on how to dodge the defenders and dribble through their defense line to score a goal. This way you will not only train your players for defense but also for the attacking skills.
- Keep changing the players for each team. Ensure that every player should get equal number of chances to act as an attacker or a defender.
Leave your comments below and let me know what you think…
Yours in soccer,
Andre Botelho
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thanks coach for ancie drill have agood day and my regards to u
caro amigo creio que são dois exercicios tacticos muito importantes de treino, não só para jovens como para seniores, obriga a criar coordenação e concentração juntamente com espirito de entre ajuda, muito importante em qualquer desporto colectivo.
um abraço
vitor marques
good the training
place i wuld training
i like it.thanks very much
Thanks alot. Good start for me, since this the only opportunity and access to learn from other coach.
Victor
Its so fantastic, i like that Botelho
Hi Andre Botelho. it,s fantastic.i like it . is good to see you on they facebook.pls reply me.
Dear Botelho,
Much has been achieved thruogh your drills- this can never go un noticed!!
This is all we need in the soccer world: people who are not selfish when it comes to sharing information.
My Best Regards-Please keep the spirit of oneness!!
Javan Safeli
I have to try this!
thanx alot 4 the defense skills.they are helping my team.
God bless you
after we perfect on this skills we will win the forth coming tournament.
What a drill that has variation in the field setting, I hope to use this in my next training.
hEY bOtelho this ha added excitement to my planning training sessions.Thanx a million