“For this process I believe the 4 v 4 is perfect. By playing differ-ent variations of the 4v4 you will have a different objective everytime. For example when you play 4v4 with 4 small goals, andyou make the field wide and short, moving the play will automat-ically become the central theme. The organization of the exer-cise will force this without me pointing it out every time. Theorganization in essence decides the objective of the exercise.This is how you choose an exercise; the moment you want tocoach will automatically come back in the exercise.”

“A 4v4 can be played on a narrow and long field. For instance,you have a team which can play the ball around comfortably in agame, but they are unable to give direction to it, while you, as ateam, want to play forward and reach the strikers. Or that youhave wingers who have a lot of speed, but are not aware of thespace behind the defender and continuously move inside withthe ball. As a coach you can start yelling and telling them whatto do, but my perception is that you are better off looking for anexercise to coach this. A 4v4 on a narrow and long field may bea good solution, because when players receive the ball they will

continuously reduce the space up to a point where it is toosmall. In this exercise they will quickly realize that they have togo deep and ask for the ball. You can train this with wingers, butalso with wing backs. They also have to communicate with eachother in the game. When one player goes to the ball, the othergoes deep.”

“In an exercise they have to recognize this and you can see thisback in the game as well. When they forget, they will look at youand you can see them thinking ‘oh yeah’. So the beginning isthere. Of course I refresh their memory before the game by illus-trating it again on the board. You also have players you do notpick up on thing like this as quickly. But you continue to supportthese players, by explaining it again, sometimes trying a differ-ent approach to explaining it, talking to them individually, etc.The reason I do this is because a player who only has one run-ning move are too easy to defend against. As a player you willnot get very far if you can only move one way with the ball. Everyyouth player has to vary his choices to become unpredictable.”

38 No. 21 June/July 2007

Claudio Braga, youth coordinator and U13

coach Sparta Rotterdam:

“As the Sparta U13 coach I spend a lot of time on 4 v 4. I do not

really base my training sessions on the game. So I do not say:

this went wrong last weekend, so I am going to coach it. No, our

choices for the training sessions are based on a yearly process,

in which we try to improve our players in possession and loss of

possession play. Within this the team functions are extremely im-

portant.” This is how Claudio Braga, Sparta Rotterdam youth co-

ordinator and U13 coach, starts his story.

By: Paul van Veen

“4 v 4 as an educational model”

39No. 21 June/July 2007

“When we play a 4v4 during a training session with the objectiveto improve the depth game of the wing backs and wingers, I willcoach these players more during the specific warm up, hopingthey will recognize the moment to join in. I will pay a little moreattention to them than the rest. Besides that I may opt to putthe players who play together in games together during the 4v4as well. The 4v4 is a general exercise, but you try to make it asspecific as possible.”

“What are the most common mis-takes? Well mistakes may not bethe right word, because the have todevelop themselves. They have nothad the change to make it their ownand perhaps they have not heard itbefore. So you cannot really speak ofmistakes. Rather speak of skills inwhich they can develop themselves.It is the coach’s task to make play-ers better: they have to understandthe why of the exercise, this is how Imake them smarter.”

“A second variation of the 4v4 is the4v4 with two big goals without goal-keepers. I really enjoy this variation.You frequently hear players on thesidelines: pressure the ball, walkforward, but usually the playersdo not respond to this. So youstart looking for an exercise thatforces the players to do it. Whenyou train a 4v4 with big goals (or small goals)without goalkeepers, whereby players may score from anywhereon the pitch you are forcing them to pressure the ball. A de-fender who is walking backwards to defend his goal is giving hisopponent enough room to shoot on goal with an instep kick. Howcan you prevent this? Exactly, by pressuring the ball. Players willrecognize this quickly in this exercise, so when it does not hap-pen they will correct and coach each other. They will expect morefrom each other.”

“In the game they have to play like this around their own penaltyarea. You cannot permit the opponent the space to receive andshoot around your own penalty area. Defend the ball and pres-sure. That is a great process. You will see this come back in agame as well. Players will improve and start to recognize themoments. The midfielder and defenders have to be especiallyattentive, because they are frequently in these types of situa-tions. Or in a corner situation whereby the second ball is lost,you will have to immediately be on top of it. Do look, react.”

“An exercise like this will run itself, but I do not separate myselffrom it. I remain actively involvedas a coach. But lets not forget thebasics. With the U13s a coach

should concentrate on the technicalskills such as the instep kick, pass-

ing, the first ball, etc. They shouldhave already mastered the ‘I and the ball’

which is central with the U11s and U9s.But you have to continue with the technicalskills. My coaching is therefore very techni-cal, but it also has a tactical touch. There area lot of technical moments in the 4v4 withbig goals, but I also throw in some tacticaltouches without them even noticing.”

“A third variation of the 4v4 is the 4v4 onsmall goals. We play on a wide (40m) andshort (20m) field, so a deep pass will notbe played as often. The opportunities inthis variation lie within switching to theother flank. The moments I pay attention

to are the moments whereby pressure is ex-ecuted on the right. In this situation the ball

should be taken out and passed to the leftside. We will all look for that moment, so we all recognize it, be-cause your goal is to recognize it during the game.”

“U13s, however, still have some problems with distances, soopening with a pass to the other side proves to be quite diffi-cult. You therefore have to look for a connecting player, a centraldefender who joins the play and is able to move the play with an

40 No. 21 June/July 2007

open receive to the other side. At Sparta we have players whoare capable of doing this. From the player on the other side weexpect that he is free to receive the ball or in the case of loss ofpossession that he shifts in to make the field smaller. When aplayer realizes this he is conscious of the team process.”

“This process is fun to see. For us adults these are logicalthings, for us they are ABC’s. You often think: come on, whydon’t you understand it? But players of this age are still learningand need to have the space and time to develop themselves.”

“The thing you are correcting most is that players do not recog-nize moving the play. When we are stuck they get the ball out,but often pass it back to the same side, while the space is onthe other side. With the exercise you try to force this. You can-not go deep, so there are not a lot of opportunities on the right,forcing them to look elsewhere – left.”

“The forth variation is again about 40 meters wide and 25 me-ters long, but we then play line soccer. In this exercise theplayer should not play wide or back, but initiate the action. Beatyour opponent. When a player is not seeking his opponent andwants to go wide or back you can stop the play. The only thingthat counts is beating the opponent with a move.”

“Courage and nerve is what you want to see. You use specificplayers for this, the ones you expect it from, for example thewingers and the number 10. Maybe you should even expect itfrom your wing backs. A right and left half often play positioningand combination play, but when they master the 1v1 and canbeat a player in midfield you will create an overload situation.That can be a real plus for the team. So why should I not expectthem to take risks? The player on the ball is allowed to takerisks, while a player on the other side thinks defensively. A teammust be well organized at the moment of loss of possession.”

“In an exercise like this you are frequently motivating as acoach, but you must never forget the objective: the technicalskills. A pass without speed, may be stopped. They should mas-ter this, because in a complex situation whereby we want to playcombination play in a forward direction, the pass must be good.Receiving must also be good, so you should coach on this andintervene when the pass is too short/soft.”

“In an exercise like this you will obviously have a totally differentspecific warm up. Like a warm up with 1v1 with technical exer-cises, or something from the Wiel Coerver method. This is howyou try to raise players to that level. That is the specific part,while for other 4v4 you may use more of a passing and shootingexercise.”

“But again we are dealing with U13s, so the story is based onthat. Important is to make every moment a soccer moment,from the moment they enter the field up to the moment the exitthe field we are focusing on soccer. I put my down organizationdown and we start. It is important at this age that the ball is nota problem anymore for the future. And when you can also putthem in different game situations and they learn something tac-tical as well it is a great added value. Training should allow forthe development of all skills, technical, tactical, physical andmental.”

k k

v

v

v

v

a a

bb

c

c

Passing and shooting in preparation for 4 against 4 with 4 small goals on a narrow and long field

Organization- Play 1v1 line football in different squares - Play approx. 1-2 minutes, then rest and change opponent - Active coaching by trainer

Coaching- The forward has to take initiative in the action (player in possession) - Variations in the actions (more moves)- Ensure explosiveness during and after the move

1 against 1 in preparation for 1v1 line football

5

1

2

108

9

7

3

11

14

6

4

Vak AVak B

Organization- Play a possession game in two squares, whereby square A plays 6v3- The team of 6 plays in possession, the team of 3 tries to steal the ball.

When the team of 3 steals the ball they can open to the other side and thegame will continue in square B. Join in quickly is the progression.

Coaching- The forward has to take the initiative in the action (player in possession) - Variations in the actions (more moves)- Ensure explosiveness during and after the move

Possession game in a 4 against 4 with 4 small goals on short and wide field

41No. 21 June/July 2007

Organization- A passes to B, B wall passes with A. Player A subsequently passes deep to

player C, who receives the ball and immediately tries to dribble a few me-ters in order to create a scoring opportunity. After player C receives theball a defender tries to prevent player C from scoring.

Variation- A variation can be that player B receives the ball and passes deep to player

C. Or B dribbles deep to initiate a give and go with player C

Progression- Later in the exercise the players will have room to make their own choices;

they will decide how to create scoring opportunities

Coaching- Technique: ball speed, 1st touch and speed of execution- Insight: look up order to quickly look for depth- Communication: clear coaching (turn, wall pass etc.)