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Home/Training Drills/Finishing Drills/Timing the Run to Beat the Offside Line
FinishingAdvanced

Timing the Run to Beat the Offside Line

Time the run to beat the offside line. Stay level with the last defender, break as the ball is played, get in behind, and finish past the keeper.

Create your own drill
Live animationFIN
Duration
12 min
Total drill time
Players
4
Recommended
Pitch
52 × 36 m
Setup space
Level
Advanced
Skill required
Intensity
High
Physical demand
Age band
U13-U14
Any format

Setup & instructions

A defender holds the offside line. The striker checks to stay level and onside, then times the run to break in behind the instant the passer plays the through ball, and finishes. Emphasise staying level until the pass, then the burst. Vary the timing and the weight of the pass. Use an assistant or a line to judge onside. Rotate the striker and passer.

Setup time: 1 min

Tactical breakdown

Offside is a timing skill wearing a rules problem's clothes. Strikers who are repeatedly flagged are rarely confused about the law; they are moving before the ball, because standing still while a teammate looks up feels like doing nothing. The instruction that fixes it is not be careful, it is break on the pass.

Staying level with the last defender is the starting position and it requires watching him rather than the ball. A striker who watches only the passer drifts, because the defensive line steps up and he does not notice. A glance at the shoulder every few seconds is the same checking habit defenders need, applied in reverse.

Bending the run is what turns a legal run into an unstoppable one. Running straight forward from an onside position means arriving in the defender's eyeline with him facing the right way. Curving from wide or from slightly behind the line means arriving from his blind side, and by the time he has turned his head the striker is past him.

The timing that matters is the passer's foot, not the ball. Breaking when the ball is already travelling is a fraction late, and that fraction is usually the difference between arriving at the ball in stride and stretching for it.

Two honest points. First, this drill needs a real defensive line to be worth anything, because a cone cannot step up. Second, a striker doing this properly will still be flagged sometimes, and a coach who reacts badly to every offside will produce a forward who stops running in behind at all.

How to run this drill

  1. Use a real defensive line, not cones. The line has to be able to step up. Against static markers the timing problem does not exist and the exercise trains nothing about offside.
  2. Stay level with the last defender. Watching him rather than the ball. A striker who only watches the passer drifts offside because he never notices the line step up.
  3. Break on the passer's foot. Not when the ball is travelling, which is already a fraction late. That fraction is the difference between arriving in stride and stretching.
  4. Bend the run from wide or behind. Curving in means arriving from the defender's blind side. Running straight forward puts you in his eyeline with him facing the right way.
  5. Take the first touch towards goal. The run has bought a yard and it disappears if the touch goes sideways. Forward and into the stride keeps the recovering defender behind.
  6. Accept being flagged sometimes. A striker timing this properly will still be caught occasionally. A coach who reacts badly to every offside gets a forward who stops running in behind.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Stay level with the last defender, do not drift offside
  • Break on the pass, not before it
  • Bend the run to come from behind the line
  • Take the shot early before the keeper sets
  • Communicate the timing between passer and runner

Common mistakes

  • Going too early and straying offside
  • Going too late and letting the defender recover
  • Running square instead of bending in behind
  • Snatching at the finish after the run

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Add a second defender to hold a proper line
  • Passer disguises the moment of the pass
  • Finish first time under a set time limit

Regressions

  • Passer calls the pass so the runner can time it
  • Remove the offside rule to groove the finish
  • Walk the timing of the run first
Equipment
Cones×1
Full Goals×1
Tactical principles
timing the runbeating the offside trapoffside linerunning in behindstriker movementfinishing drillcurved runstaying onsidethrough ball timingu14 finishing drill
Audience
U13-U14

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