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for you and for everyone watching."2
Johan Cruyff
While the KNVB's basic games provide numerous coaching opportunities there are times when a specific soccer problem needs to be addressed. A close up photo so to speak. By using the soccer problems formula the coach can design just such a game. It will be focused directly on specific children, at a specific moment and confronted with a particular situation. They will see and have to solve this problem again and again.
The games do not have to be 4v4. They can be anything from 1v1 to 11v11. Often the numbers will be uneven, 5v2, 8v4 and so on. In Coaching Soccer the KNVB staff outline several such games.
In devising a game for a specific problem a second game might arise. Often it will have an objective opposite that of the original. For example; the counter attack from a corner kick game is designed for the defensive team on regaining possession and breaking out. They must win the ball and counter attack before the opponents can take up any effective positions. But if the attackers (the team taking the corner) were being coached they could work on making sure that "the ball goes dead." The structure of the game is the same but the objective changes depending on which team is the focus. If an assistant coach is available he can coach the "other" team in the game.
When coaching a specific soccer problem attention should be given to which team function is being addressed.
At the MSYSA's Dutch Vision Weeks a great deal of attention was paid to analyzing and developing practices for soccer problems. The form that the game took needed to address three questions:
- Does it address the problem? Is it relevant to the players and the match analysis?
- Will there be sufficient repetitions? Will the players have to deal with it often enough?
- Is it soccer? Does it have a functional relationship to the game?
If the answer was yes to each than the game was worth trying. Once the children were playing it was up to the coach to correct not only them but also the game as needed.
Examples of games for specific problems.
Wing play game.
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