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Footwork and movementGameCompetition

Small-sided game with a widened goal

Multiply lateral movement volume inside a game, using goal width as a constraint rather than instructions.

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Load

minutes
14
dives/set
5
Sets and reps
3 × 1
Intensity
High

dives per set, per goalkeeper

Microcycle days it fits

MD-4, MD-3, MD-2

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

Setup

Goalkeepers
2
server
0
outfield player
6

Space: 30 × 34 m

Equipment: Balls, Bibs, Cones, Full goal

One goalkeeper works while the other serves or observes. Swap after each set.

2 steps

Small-sided game with the goal widened by cones to 10 or 14 metres. The wider goal naturally forces more lateral movement and harder positioning decisions, without anyone having to ask for it.

Exercise sequence

Coaching points

  • With a wide goal the angle narrows less: correct position is higher than instinct suggests.
  • Recovery after each action must be faster — there is more goal to cover.
  • Movement is continuous, not in jumps: track the ball always, don’t only correct when a shot is imminent.
  • This is a constraint, not a punishment drill: the wide goal does work a verbal instruction would not.

Progressions

  1. Widen to 14 metres, at the limit of what is manageable.
  2. Move to 4v4, with more circulation and more angle changes.

Regressions

  1. Return to a normal goal.
  2. Reduce to 3v3 in a smaller space.

Sources · 3

  1. StudyAdvice from “pracademics” of how to apply ecological dynamics theory to practice design (2023)
  2. Curriculum«Lifetime Development of a Goalkeeper», US Youth Soccer
  3. StudyThe physical demands of professional soccer goalkeepers throughout a week-long competitive microcycle and transiently throughout match-play (2020)