Football with Purpose: Training to Play, Not to Repeat

 

As we’ve discussed in previous articles, this section focuses on football training drills I’ve used with teams I’ve coached—always placing them in their context and understanding the “why” and “what for” behind each one.

👉 If you’d like to understand how these exercises were created and the ideas that shaped this approach, click here.

Context

 

When you’re hired to run training sessions for kids in another country, you typically plan with a generalist mindset—assuming that the players’ skill levels are going to be low or uneven. That’s why the go-to approach often involves more rigid drills with fewer decision-making demands.

Now, I’m not a big fan of that type of task in a team’s day-to-day routine, but let’s just say this was a different kind of training.

During my time in Japan, I found myself needing to adapt some of the drills I had originally planned. Normally, I expect to see a wide range of technical ability—just like in every country where I’ve done this type of work. But this time, things were different.

After the first two days, observing the level of the players, I realized that the focus shouldn’t be on how to do things, but on what to do.

These players could execute any drill with ease if the task was based on technique. What they struggled with was decision-making—choosing the right action at the right moment.

So, I had to tweak some of the drills. One of those is the exercise I’ll describe below.

Finishing into Mini Goals

You’ll need:

• 4 mini goals
• 4 balls
• 8 players per grid

Setup

• One player acts as the attacker, positioned in the middle of the four mini goals, which form a square (as seen in the diagram).
• At each corner of the square, a teammate stands with a ball.
• In front of each mini goal, there are three defenders.

Drill Flow

• The attacker begins the drill by calling for the ball from any of the players at the corners.
• That player passes the ball in, and the attacker, with one touch, controls and redirects the ball toward any open mini goal.
• Defenders must block shots and protect the mini goals.
• After finishing the first ball, the attacker immediately calls for the next one—until all four balls have been used.

Key Points to Consider

Distance between mini goals:
This is key for shaping defensive behavior:

• More distance = Defenders only protect the goal area, not actively block.
• Less distance = Defenders must actively press and block the shot.

Adjust based on attacker skill level:

• Higher level = smaller distance between goals.

Number of touches:
This can vary depending on your objective:

• Control + direct shot
• Control + two touches
• Possibility to turn or switch direction if the first target is blocked

This drill challenged players to make quick decisions under pressure—a skill far more valuable than just executing a clean pass or shot. In Japan, I learned that while execution might be flawless, the biggest room for growth lies in decision-making.

In a future article, I’ll share another variation we used with this same group, continuing to build on this concept.

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