Skip to content
← Back to library

1v1RepresentativeTactics

Low block on the breakaway (u14)

Train smothering the ball on the isolated breakaway, when the attacker takes a long touch — the smother was untrained and is the position’s highest-reward, highest-risk action.

Add to a session

Which session should use this exercise?

You do not have any sessions yet. Create the first one to add this exercise.

New session
Choose a session and the exercise is added to today’s plan.

Load

minutes
12
dives/set
4
Sets and reps
3 × 4
Intensity
High

dives per set, per goalkeeper

Microcycle days it fits

MD-3, MD-2

Each bar’s height is that day’s dive ceiling.

Setup

Goalkeepers
1
server
1
outfield player
1

Space: 16 × 16 m

Equipment: Balls, Full goal

The coach serves and manages the breaks.

2 steps

The attacker receives and drives at goal. On a long touch, the goalkeeper attacks the ball and smothers it with a spread body; on a short touch, they retreat and hold the block shape.

Exercise sequence

Coaching points

  • Attack the ball on the long touch, arriving first with the hands and the body behind them.
  • Spread laterally over the ball, covering maximum surface, head behind the hands.
  • Never go feet-first into the attacker — safety and legality depend on attacking the ball, not the player.
  • If you can’t smother, retreat into the block shape and force the shot, winning the duel through patience.

Progressions

  1. Attacker in control with a short touch.
  2. Reduce the attacker’s starting distance.

Regressions

  1. Guaranteed long touch.
  2. Lower the dribbling speed.

Sources · 2

  1. BookAndy Elleray, «Goalkeeping in Football»
  2. BookLeonhard Zeilinger e Franz Gruber, «The Ultimate Guide to Goalkeeper Training: Develop Motor Skills, Technique, Tactics, and Mindset» (Meyer & Meyer Sport, 2025), ISBN 9781782552918