Hit the wall

works on 1 v 1 attacking and defending as well as playing/defending the wall pass.

my thanks to FineSoccer.com for this drill

How to teach the wall pass

Start with a 1 v 1 game in a 20 x 10 grid with an extra player on each sideline.  See diagram below:

X gets a point by dribbling the ball, with control, over the lower end line.  O gets a point by dribbling the ball, with control, over the upper end line.  The player can either beat the defending with the dribble or can pass to either of the S's who are providing offensive support, for both teams.

The support players are limited to one touch and the idea is to either simply play the ball right back to the player who passed to them (if the defender drops back) or to try to complete a wall pass if the player who passed can get behind the defender.  The support players can pass to each other but are still limited to one touch each.

The purpose of the game (besides working on 1 v 1 defending and attacking) is to train the defender to drop back quickly when their player passes the ball to prevent the wall pass.  See diagram below for an example:

When the defending player drops back quickly after the pass, it prevents the attacking player from getting behind the defence for an easy score.

The game is a 3 minute game and then the two support player play against each other and the two players in the middle become the support players.

The next step in this game would be to play 2 v 2 with a support player on each side.