How to play with 1 and 2 touches?

[soccerkid89]

How can I practice playing one and 2 touches , it always seems like in the game I am the only 1 driblling other kids for goals. Both my high school and club coaches notice this and say that I should play the ball faster (get rid of it faster). It not that I can't pass very well or anything , its just I'm not used to passing the ball as soon as i get it. How can I help myself get used to this or does it just take time playing?

[joto 3]

when you are training... even in an unlimited touches possesion game, try your best to use the least amount of touches possible...

it will help you a lot if you know where you will go w/ the ball b4 you receive it... EX- while the ball is traveling towards you, sneak a peak around to see where to play your next ball, then be quick on the ball w/ few touches and get rid of it...

DONT PANIC!! when your on the ball... if you try to play too fast you will prolly screw up... just stay relaxed but focused on distributing the ball

good luck

[Bob Morocco]

A one touch drill that I've seen refered to as "the Barcelona drill" that Liverpool and Roma used during their warmups when I saw them play could help. Basically it's keep away in a circle with the players in the outer ring passing the ball to each other, but they are only allowed to touch the ball once, while those in the center try to win it back. If a player on the outer ring touches it more than once or loses it to a defender they switch places with a guy in the middle. The ratio I saw was 5 players on the outside with 2 inside for Liverpool and 7 outside with 3 inside for Roma.

[CC05]

Not really sure how you can practice 2 touches without any game situations. So you'll just have to try extra hard during practices to limit your touches, maybe get out and play some pickup (either join a game or get some friends together for one). Work on getting your first touch set up for your second one - so, putting the ball in the direction you want to pass/shoot.

I should say though, dribbling isn't a bad thing. This is from a women's soccer prespective but, I talked with a university coach for a team that went to nationals last year (well, for Canada), and he encouraged going 1v1 (in the offensive third of course). He actually really disliked that it was being discouraged by people. It's all in your judgement of when to dribble or pass though.

[Elninho]

A one touch drill that I've seen refered to as "the Barcelona drill" that Liverpool and Roma used during their warmups when I saw them play could help. Basically it's keep away in a circle with the players in the outer ring passing the ball to each other, but they are only allowed to touch the ball once, while those in the center try to win it back. If a player on the outer ring touches it more than once or loses it to a defender they switch places with a guy in the middle. The ratio I saw was 5 players on the outside with 2 inside for Liverpool and 7 outside with 3 inside for Roma.

5v2 keepaway is a pretty standard drill, seems like a lot of college teams use it during pregame warmups.

[camerony]

We do that in my team - its usually about 10 v 2 though, in a very tight circle. Same rules but if one guy on the outside stuffs up him and the guy to his left goes in. If a pass goes through a gap of 2 people on the outside, both of those people go in, plus if one of the guys in the middle gets megged they stay in for another turn.

[Michel]

The most important thing is that you'll have to know where you want to play the ball, before you receive it.

[camerony]

exactly right, its about thinking 1 or 2 steps ahead

[blech]

some good points already. to repeat some and add some others:

- the keep away games (varying numbers) are good for developing your touch for this.

- the comment about thinking ahead is right on target - you can't one touch it, or even two touch it, if you don't have your head up and figure out where you're going beforehand

- it requires a lot of movement from your teammates to get into passing lanes earlier - you can't pass 1 touch if you don't have the support from them, and then you can't receive a 1/2 touch pass back if you don't move into a good position yourself (some of the keep away games are bad about this because you're just standing around and the lanes are only created because of the advantage in numbers - think 3v1 and how you have to move to always support for a square pass)

- pace of the passes can become more important as well - if i fire a hard ball at you from 7 yards, you may be able to trap and control it, but will have a much more difficult time playing an accurate 1 touch pass - so, getting everyone on the same page is extremely important

- you can work on what you're doing, but as reflected by some of these other points it is going to require your teammates getting involved if it's going to be successful - during scrimmages at practice (5v5, 7v7, etc), play 2 or 3 touch - it could well be frustrating if you start passing, and then you're never getting the ball back (and i doubt it's the case, but in honestly analyzing your game, you should ask yourself if your teammates feel that way about you)

- watch the pros - count in a 5 minute span the number of times a player takes more than 3 touches and the number of times a player doesn't - you'll see how rare it is

- it doesn't hurt to have a good field without bumps, rocks, etc. as bad bounces will always make this more difficult :)

[pasoccerdave]

Excellent points above. If you play in a summer league for training, make it a rule for a game. You'll find out how hard it is to do well.

My son's team has been dominating their summer league. Last night they played against one of the weaker teams and had an enforced 3-touch limit (enforced by being subbed out on your 4th+ touch). It was quite enlightening to me. The more inexperienced players had a very difficult time. Though they succeeded in playing only 3 touches, their third was either a poor pass or a complete giveaway, as they were more concerned with getting rid of the ball on the 3rd touch than making a positive play. As a result, when the pass did connect, the player receiving the ball required one touch to correct his positioning to make up for the poorly played ball, leaving one strategic touch, and then 1 touch left to give up the ball.

The lone forward was forced to retreat deep toward midfield in order to receive the ball. Needless to say, he didn't have many quality chances.

What I realized in watching this "experiment" is that the runs made by the other players are as important, if not more important, than the quick movement of the ball from player to player.

[NHRef]

the last post made a very important point. If you have limited touches or need to get rid of the ball quickly, you need three things:

- You need to have an idea of what you are going to do BEFORE you get the ball
- first touch needs to lead you where you need to go, it should almost never be a "stop the ball dead at your feet" trap, it should direct the ball where you need it to go.
- the off the ball players need to be moving to good space for receiving a pass.

Number 3 is the hardest to teach, many times players without the ball stop being involved. Players who are 1 "level" from the ball need to be constantly moving to open space to support the ball and receive passes.

We try to teach our kids to think: shoot, pass, dribble In that order, when you receive the ball that is your prefered order of action.

[spartanpele]

Some good stuff in this thread.

The only point I was add is that there are often times when 1-2 touch passing is not necessary, or advised. Remember, the reason for 1-2 touch passing is to advance the ball quickly or maintain possession.

If you watch some of the Brazilian, Argentian, Mexico, etc games....they will often use the dribble heavily in their attack. Its something that is sorely missing from the US's game right now.

So feel free to work on your quick 1-2 touch passing, but, don't lose your flair and flavor for dribbling and taking on people....we need more of that in the US.