Soccer Formations For Youth Soccer Coaches

on Friday, August 10, 2012

A lot of new youth soccer coaches look at learning different soccer formations like they are a kind of "holy grail" for winning soccer games. They feel like if they can just come up with the right formation, everything else will fall into place. Unfortunately, that is putting the cart before horse.

While it is important to know and understand the different soccer formations, they will only help you if your team is first grounded in the basics. In fact, some youth soccer coaches recommend that you stay with the basic 4-4-2 formation for younger level players, and only move to different formations once they have a better understanding of the game of soccer.

Soccer Drills

Once your team has moved beyond the basics of the game, and you have progressed a little bit in your journey to learn how to coach soccer, you can start to mix in different formations. Just remember, winning coaches don't spend time trying to come up with new and innovative formations; they learn how to use the different soccer formations to get the most out of the players they have on their team.

Soccer Formations For Youth Soccer Coaches

When a soccer formation is listed, the numbers represent the players in different positions. For instance, a 4-4-2 formation means that there are 4 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 2 forwards. The goalkeeper is not listed because their position does not change regardless of the formation.

To give you an idea of how basic soccer formations work, here are a few of the most common ones that are used. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses. The better you are able to match the formation to the strengths of your own players, the more successful you will be as a youth soccer coach.

4-4-2 Formation

This is the formation that most youth soccer coaches start out with. It is popular because it is the most balanced of all the formations. Using 4 defenders will allow you to protect your goal, while the 4 midfielders will be able to give you support on offense and defense.

The weakness of the 4-4-2 formation is that with only 2 attackers, you may not be able to put a great deal of pressure on the opponent's goal. You will need to rely on your midfielders doing a lot of running as you transition from defense back to offense.

3-5-2 Formation

One of the strategies of winning soccer is controlling the middle of the field. While it is not always the case, a great deal of the time the team that controls the middle of the field controls the game. The 3-5-2 formation is popular because it gives you 5 players in the middle of the field.

This formation uses 3 midfielders and 2 wing players. You can use your wings to work the ball up the sidelines, and cross to your forwards as you get closer to the goal. The extra midfielders help you control the middle of the field, and they also help apply more pressure on the opponent's goal.

The weakness of the 3-5-2 formation is that it only gives you 3 defenders. If your midfielders are not quick at falling back on defense, your defenders could become outnumbered. That will allow the attacking team to push in closer to your goal, and they will get better shots against your keeper.

4-3-3 Formation

The 4-3-3 formation uses 3 attackers, so you should be able to get more scoring opportunities, and you use 4 defenders for a stronger defense. However, by only using 3 midfielders you are giving up control of the middle of the field.

If you are using this formation you will need a very talented center midfielder that has the stamina to cover a lot of ground.

Once your team has progressed past the basics and starts to learn the different formations you can make adjustments according to the players you have on the field. It can also give you a strategic advantage to be able to change formations during the course of a match in order to keep your opponent off balance.

Learning different soccer formations is an important part as you learn to coach youth soccer. Find ways to work drills into your practice that allow your players to see how each formation works. The more they get to try out new things in practice, the more prepared they will be on game day.

Soccer Formations For Youth Soccer Coaches

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