Andre Botelho

How To Play Soccer Aggressively



Posted: Monday, August 27, 2007

by
SoccerDrillsTips.com

When you learn how to play soccer, the winning streak lies in playing aggressive. The simple formula that works in soccer is which team is stronger and faster.
Therefore, it is good that you learn all the skills, instincts and field vision, but at the same time, you must also learn how to bring aggression into your game.
 
  • Aggressive Play Is Very Important On Both Offense And Defense Hustling and playing aggressively is very important. If you do not play that way, you are very much likely to lose to a team that is significantly more aggressive. By aggressive play, I mean hustling. It means the players must not be afraid of making contact and "winning" the "50/50 balls." "50/50 balls" are the loose balls that either team has an equal chance of winning. If you are afraid of contact, it will be difficult for you to win these. The expert coach knows that the teams that wins most of the 50/50 balls and will usually win the game. The coach should ensure that the defenders are tough and are not afraid of contact. If you have a player in the team who is afraid of contact, it is big disadvantage for you. If you play him or her at Fullback or Sweeper, get ready to give up many goals. It is very critical for the coach to teach his players to not only be brave and unafraid of contact, but also to hustle and be aggressive about going to the ball and to win loose balls. However, it is also true that it is not an easy cake to teach the same. Some players are naturally timid and many of them even consider rough or aggressive play a bad thing. They think that if they play aggressive, someone might get hurt. Therefore, the coach needs to be well prepared with all his tools and methodologies when he is going to teach his players how to play soccer in an aggressive way.

     ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
    Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of how to play soccer. His web site, Teaching Youth Soccer Coaching Drills: www.SoccerDrillsTips.com, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.

    • This Article has been viewed 3,152 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
    Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
    » left by Anonymous 3 years 32 days ago.
    This article is not helpful. The response doesn't answer the question in the title. 
    » left by Anonymous 2 years 145 days ago.
    This is someone loving to hear himself talk!!! How about some examples Andre?
    Love,
    Your #1 Fan
    » left by Anonymous 1 year 16 days ago.
    Shame on you. Its this sort of teaching methods and behaviour which is detrimental to the English game and has brought about the end of so many careers through violent tackles. Wouldn't it be more important to teach a player the proper techniques of tackling safely and interceptions first? Or what about basic sportsmanship rules in ensuring the safety of other players first? Its only a bloody game.
    We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.