Controlling the tempo: long ball vs ball-possession.

On soccer, as in sports such as basketball and hockey, the most basic of game strategies is to control the tempo of the game and the areas of the field in which possession is being won and lost.

A team that can impose its will upon the opponents, force them to either speed up its game or slow it down - is likely to be the winner.

Tempo touches upon many aspects of soccer: player fatigue (fast-paced or slow-paced), playing style (short ball vs long ball), and the areas of focus (wings vs central channel, front-to-back thirds vs through-the-middle third).

The point of most importance to the coach is that the control of game tempo can enable a less-talented team to force a stronger opponent out of its normal style of game.

Let us consider two opposite-styled teams: one that controls possession through a short passing game and another that attempts to compensate for its weaknesses through a long passing game.

The possession team will develop its game from out of the back and through the midfield by continually providing the ball-handler with both short and intermediate passing options.

The long-ball team will immediately look to go deep into space behind the defense, often bypassing the middle third of the field.

Upon losing possession, they will immediately pressure the ball. They are, typically, athletic, well-conditioned, and as long as the score stays close they will play harder as the game progresses.

HAVING A BALL

Whenever the possession team gets caught up in the other's long-ball game, which can happen when the ball is constantly bypassing the middle third of the field, mostly bad things will begin to happen.

Fitness will become more of an issue because the game is being played faster and the ball is flying over the midfielders' heads. The players will begin suffering fatigue and leaving gaps as they extend themselves.

Ball-possession teams, especially when protecting a lead late in the game, must try to impose their tempo by controlling: (1) the time and quality of their possessions, (2) the areas of the field in which the ball is being played, (3) the areas in which their possessions are being lost, and (4) the quality of the passing options available to the opponents on possession losses.

They can relieve defensive pressure with one or two touch passes that will quickly change the point of attack. They may also maintain possession through short passes down the wing flanks, by limiting risk in their attacking third, and by never forcing their play, particularly against pressure.

They will, instead, change the point of attack to more favorable areas by exploiting "negative" space.

And whenever they do lose possession, they will apply immediate pressure to blunt the quality of the opponents' long ball. Pressure is also imperative after a lost pass late in the game when protecting a lead. It is absolutely critical never to lose possession in the central channel below their center circle. That's where a team can suddenly find too many of their players on the wrong side of the ball - making the team vulnerable to quick counters.

Another good reason for deliberately holding the ball longer is to relieve pressure on their own defenders. This kind of game calls for excellent conditioning and the avoidance of huge gaps between the front and back players, caused by midfielders attempting to force the attack.

When long ball after long ball begins raining on the defense, it's only a matter of time until a breakdown will occur, particularly late in the game. The ball-control team can put in some damage control by working harder at playing to its strengths and controlling the game tempo.

The question then becomes: How does a team improve its ball-possession skills, and, hence, its ability to control the game tempo?

The answer lies in lots of the right kind of practice, employing a warmup followed by either small-sided play or larger game scrimmage, all based on ball-control.

The warm-ups might consist of a half-field scrimmage predicated upon maintaining possession and completing a number of consecutive passes.

PRACTICE PLAN

We particularly like to divide the team into the three six-player groups, each clad in distinctive-colored vests. We then combine two of the groups and ask them to complete 10 consecutive passes against the third group (12 v 6). If possession is lost before 10 possessions, play is stopped and the two offensive (passing) teams are "rewarded" for their lapse by having to do 20 push-ups or sit-ups. The team causing the lost possession becomes the defenders.

A variety of restrictions can be added to emphasize individual ball-handling skills and pressure defense. For example: (1) requiring every third pass to be held for 5 to 10 touches; (2) requiring every third pass to cross the boundary that divides the area vertically from center circle to center goal (to emphasize changing the point of attack); and (3) requiring every fifth pass to be kicked over a 20-yard central zone (to emphasize accurate long-ball kicking).

We also use a variation of the above in which we use a possession chart to rank the three teams in an overloaded-underloaded game (12 v 6) or in an even-numbers game (8 v 8).

We pick one player from each of the three teams or two players from each of the two teams, without letting them know about it. We then have them play a five minute game (holding the ball for 10 successive passes) and record the play of the selected few: awarding a plus every time the player makes a pass that retains possession and a minus every time a player causes a possession loss.

The scores are tallied, with the minuses cancelling the pluses and the teams with the lower scores again having to do pushups or situps. The game is continued with new players being selected for the scoring.

"QUADRANTS"

"Quadrants" is a small-sided game between two groups of eight players who travel around the 20-by-20-yard square quadrants [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAG. 1 OMITTED], with one team trying to maintain possession of the ball, and the other team defending.

Two of the defenders (indicated by the circles in each quadrant) are restricted from moving to the other quadrants, while the four other players (indicated by the squares) try to keep the ball in play.

The 4-vs-2 play begins in quadrants A and C as both teams try to string five or more passes together before moving into quadrants B and D, respectively, and then back into quadrants C and A.

If the quadrant to be entered is still occupied by attackers, the possession team must continue to maintain possession until the quadrant empties.

If the defense wins possession or the ball is knocked out of bounds, the offense immediately restarts a new ball (from one of several placed outside each quadrant) and the game continues.

The coach scores the possession team - adding their number of lost possessions to their number of balls forced out of play. When both teams reenter their original quadrant, they switch assignments and play continues. The team with the lower number of lost possessions win.

CONTROLLED SCRIMMAGE

A 20-minute controlled scrimmage expands the theme, as shown in Diag. 2. It is played on a three-quarter-sized field with one team (indicated by the circle) emphasizing possession and the other team (indicated by the square) emphasizing direct play.

The field is divided into four zones (with flat cones): wing-channel boundaries from penalty box to penalty box and midfield boundaries extending from the wing channels to the center circle.

The Circles try to maintain possession (not attack the goal) and can only cross the midline through the wing channels. Violation is penalized by a free kick.

The Squares attack the goal via long air balls over the top to their strikers, who are confined to the attacking half of the field. Air balls must be played over the center circle into the Squares' attacking half. Violations are penalized with a free kick.

The Circles are awarded one point for each two minutes of possession in Zones A, C, or D, with the Coach doing the timing on a stopwatch. Scoring may also be based on the number of completed passes in the selected areas.

Possession in Zone B counts for nothing because a lost possession in that zone can be devastating to the ball-possession team. The object is to (1) dictate tempo against a team playing long ball, (2) control the area in which possession is being lost, and (3) improve a team's ability to hold a lead with ball possession.

SPECIAL SCRIMMAGE

A scrimmage with a slightly different twist is shown in Diag. 3. It is played 7 v 7 (plus 2Ks) with foreshortened goals in the middle of the top boundary of the penalty boxes.

The scrimmage matches a possession-oriented team against a long-ball team, with the former beginning with a 2-0 lead and 20 minutes left to play. One team tries to maintain possession while the other concentrates on the direct long ball.

To lessen the pressure on the possession team, we will frequently add the following restrictions: Whenever the possession team has control of the ball, two designated players on the other team must kneel on the field and hold still until their team regains possession.

As illustrated in Diag. 3, the middle-third boundaries (indicated by flat cones) run from touchline to touchline. The direct-play team attacks the goals conventionally, but is required to go over the middle-third zone with an air ball. If it fails to do so, a free kick will be awarded to the other team.

Note: They can first-play the ball into the middle third, but their subsequent kicks will be required to go over the middle-third boundary.

The coach, observing from the sideline, charts the possession team: where their possessions are lost and the number of passes they string together.

The direct-play team is given two points for every conventional goal, while the possession team is awarded just one point, that ends with a turnover in their attacking third, and loses one point for every two lost possessions in their defensive third.

TEAM DISCUSSION

A team discussion is held after the scrimmage or possibly just before the beginning of the next practice. Since the possession team's objective is to hold its lead by dictating tempo, we expect most of its possessions to last longer than three passes and most of its possession losses to occur in its own attacking half.

If the reverse happens, we have to assume that the team is concentrating too much on scoring (rather than on protecting its lead), possibly because its skilled players are finding it easy to attack.

Whenever this happens, we will add extra constraints: (1) force the team to make five passes before attacking the goal, or (2) move the ball from one wing zone to the other before attacking goal, or (3) have the players pass the ball back (into "negative" space) on any won possession in their middle or attacking third.

We might also use the kneeling player option to benefit the long-ball team.

Our major objective is to improve our ability to protect a lead by controlling the game tempo. With practice, our improvement will be reflected in our session-to-session statistics: our relative number of possessions, our percentages in the attacking and defensive halves of the field, and our game scores.