Functional Crossing And Finishing: Short And Sharp One Touch Play

The following sessions comes from the Soccer Awareness Training Center. Whether you’re a beginning coach who needs help getting started or someone who wants to add some variety to their training sessions, the Soccer Awareness Training Center offers a wide variety of drills to choose from. Find out more.


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Move the session close to the edge of the box and have the players attack with pace.

(10) can play the ball wide and (7) must try to play it in first time. (10), (9) and (8) make runs, near, far and in the middle but (8) is staggered if the ball goes behind the two strikers so they don’t attack in a straight line and it goes behind all of them and the opportunity is missed.

(11) or (3) can attack the area beyond these three as a fourth player.

It is all short and sharp and mainly one touch play if possible.

If there is time, strikers can make their runs away to come back or cross over as they attack, if no time then they just get into the position to score. We should then have a player in most areas the ball can be played into and this takes the pressure off the crosser.


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This shows the end product of the short and sharp finishing in this session. The session is great work for one touch play both from the crossers and the receiver’s points of view.

Other players follow in for rebounds off the keeper.

This session builds confidence in the players as there is no opposition and they can relax and shoot at goal.

Progression: To develop it you can add a defender or two in the box to challenge the attacking players and put them under pressure in their finishing ability