Football-adapted gameSet Pieces
Penalty Shootout Under Pressure
Two teams take penalties in a shootout format with a routine before every kick. Players learn a pre-kick routine and pick a corner before they run.
- Age
- U11–Senior
- Players
- 6–24
- Duration
- 12 min
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Intensity
- Low
- Area
- 20 × 20 m
- Type
- Technical
- Approach
- Intermediate
- Format
- Football-adapted game
- Objectives
- Technical: Finishing, Goalkeeping
- Tactical: Set pieces
- Concepts worked on
- Technical:ShootingShot-stopping
- Tactical:Set-piece routines
Training diagram
Legend
- Attacker
- Defender
- Goalkeeper
- Run without ball
- Shot
- Ball
- Cone
- Goal
Penalties are decided by routine and nerve. A shootout at the end of training, with the team watching and a consequence for the losers (collecting the balls), adds pressure. The coach teaches one simple routine: place the ball, choose the corner, step back, breathe, strike.
Objective
Take penalties with a fixed routine and a decided corner under pressure.
Organisation
- Penalty spot (smaller distance for younger players), one goalkeeper, two teams behind the halfway of the box.
How it works
- Teams alternate kicks; five kickers each, then sudden death.
- Each kicker must follow the routine: place the ball, choose the corner, three steps back, breathe, strike.
- The losing team collects the balls and cones.
Coaching points
- Choose the corner before you place the ball and do not change it.
- Look at the ball when striking, not the goalkeeper.
- Side-foot for accuracy, laces for power; strike firmly low into the corner.
Progressions
- The kicker must walk from the halfway line.
- Goalkeepers take a penalty too.
Regressions
- Bigger goal or shorter distance.
Variations
- Each kicker names the corner to the coach before the kick (practice of commitment).
Key principles
- Decide, routine, strike.
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