Play Like Belgium/France – Attacking Third – Combination Play
1. Combination Warm Up
- Players are separated into 3’s in 3 different queues
- The central players start with the ball and perform a soft space pass
- To one of the outside players
- The passer then overlaps at speed around the incoming wide player
- The wide player turns passer and also plays a space pass in front of the third active player – the overlap repeats
- Stop when the players are out of space
Key Tip
- Soft pass / Fast overlap
- Play the pass in front of the attacker to avoid momentum loss
2. Non-contact pattern play
- 2 central midfielders combine and play a soft pass to encourage the wide player to collect the ball. Leaving space for the full back to overlap. The wide player slides in the FB with a space pass. Full back crosses for 2 strikers to finish at goal
- 2 central midfielders combine and play a soft pass out to encourage the wide player to come in off the line. The FB overlaps as before but the wide player uses them as a decoy and cuts inside. They link with a strike at goal. The ST follows in for a rebound.
2 Progressions
- WG plays a bounce pass with ST and switches the play (triggers overlap)
- WG plays to first ST who steps over the ball. The second ST plays a returns pass to the ST who scores
COACH: Vary play from both sides
3. Finding a Solution
- 2 equal teams
- 8 footballs
- 4 goals/pop up goals
- 1 team start off attackers, the other team defend
- The coach calls out a number 1-4 the nearest attacker responds by collecting a ball
- To score a valid goal there must be a direct pass to another attacker before shooting
- Once all the balls have been used, the practice stops
COACH:
- If the defending team block the goals on purpose add in a rule that 3 passes also count as a goal
Key Tip
- Combine quickly off 1 and 2 touches
- Check shoulders to aid decision making
