Transition game

Press play to watch it run. Open it in Playmaker to move the players and draw it your way.

Soccer drill · Under-11 and up

Two teams of three play keep-ball in a zone 30 yards from goal. When the defending team wins the ball they break out of the zone and attack the big goal straight away, while the team that lost it sprints to recover. It trains the five seconds after a turnover, which decide more goals than any set play.

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Time
15 minutes
Players
7: two teams of 3 and a goalkeeper, or 4v4 with a goalkeeper
Equipment
  • 4 cones for the zone
  • 1 full-size goal
  • Bibs in two colours
  • Balls on the edge of the zone for quick restarts

Setup

  1. Mark a 40 x 20 yard zone across the pitch, starting about 30 yards from the goal. A goalkeeper is in the big goal.
  2. Red keeps the ball in the zone: ten passes in a row is a point.
  3. Blue presses. When blue wins the ball they may leave the zone at once and attack the goal.
  4. Red may chase as soon as they lose it. The attack ends with a shot, or after ten seconds. Then the coach serves a new ball to red in the zone.
  5. Swap the roles every three minutes.

Coaching points

  • When you win it, look forward first. The defence is still in keep-ball shape, so the space is behind them.
  • The players without the ball go before the ball does. Runs in behind and wide stretch the recovering defenders.
  • Get the ball out of the zone in one or two touches. Every extra touch lets a red player get back goal-side.
  • If you lose it, sprint back goal-side of the ball at once. The first two seconds of the recovery run are the ones that count.

On the run sheet: Win it, look forward first, first pass or first run goes towards goal, finish inside ten seconds

Progressions

  1. A goal scored inside five seconds of the turnover counts double.
  2. Let red counter too: if they win it back during the attack, they score by dribbling into the zone.
  3. Go to 4v4 with a bigger zone, and add a red defender who starts on the edge of the box.

How it runs

Red keeps the ball in the zone and blue presses. In the animation, a red player tries to pass across the zone and a blue midfielder steps into the passing lane and takes it. That is the turnover, and everything changes at once. The midfielder carries the ball forward out of the zone while the blue forward sprints in behind and the winger goes wide on the other side. Two red players turn and chase. The midfielder slides the ball through to the forward before the chasers get back, and the forward goes on to shoot past the keeper, with the winger arriving at the far post for a rebound.

Count out loud from the moment the ball is won. Ten seconds is long enough for a good counter and short enough that nobody can turn it into a slow build-up.

Why coaches run it

Most goals in youth and adult soccer come within a few seconds of a turnover, before the team that lost the ball has got back into shape. A keep-ball drill teaches keeping it and a shooting drill teaches finishing, but neither teaches the switch between them. This game repeats that switch twenty times in a session, for both teams.

The mistakes to watch for

Winning the ball and passing it sideways or back. The forward waiting to see if the ball is won before starting the run. Red players who walk after losing it.

More soccer drills

Put Transition game in Tuesday's session

It lands on your practice plan already timed, with the coaching cue printed under it, next to your own plays.

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