Fast, furious and fun crossing game By David Clarke

Fast, furious and fun crossing game

By David Clarke

Fast end-to-end matches can tire you out just watching, but boy, are they fun?! My players love games where they are constantly moving and having to think about what they are doing - and one mistake can mean a goal is given away.

In this continuous 2v2 game, defenders must stop attackers scoring from a cross to win their chance to break out and score at the opposite end.

It's fast, furious and fun...

How to play it

• Create a playing area measuring 40x30 yards.
  
• For this small-sided game, you'll need cones, goals, and eight players (four teams of two), plus two keepers.
  
• To start, the middle team players receive a ball from you and combine to pass wide to the crossers.
  
• Now the middle team players make runs to lose defenders and attempt to score from the cross.
• If successful, they receive a second ball from you and attack the opposite goal.
  
• However, if they do not score then the defenders break out to receive a ball and attack.
• If an attacking team fails to score, it becomes the defending team in that half.
  
• Play for five minutes then rotate teams so that, in a 20-minute game, each team has had an opportunity to be the crossers.
  
• At the end of 20 minutes, which team has scored the most times?
  

Technique and tactics

• Teams must make opportunities count with good running and decisive finishing if they are to continue to have opportunities on goal.
• Crossers must ensure accurate deliveries at all times.
• For all players, speed and intelligence of movement is the key part of this game.