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Home/Training Drills/Crossing Drills/Wide Channels Game
CrossingIntermediate

Wide Channels Game

Attack through the wide areas and finish from crosses. Get the ball into a channel, deliver a quality cross on the move, and time runs to the near, middle and far post to score.

Create your own drill
Live animationCRO
Duration
16 min
Total drill time
Players
6
Recommended
Pitch
36 × 24 m
Setup space
Level
Intermediate
Skill required
Intensity
High
Physical demand
Age band
U11-U12
5v5

Setup & instructions

Mark a wide channel down each flank. A team must play into a channel and cross to score, and goals from a cross count double. Limit the winger to two or three touches in the channel to force a quick, quality delivery. Coach the timing and variety of the cross and the runs into the box. Rotate the wide players so everyone crosses.

Setup time: 2 min

Tactical breakdown

Conditioning a small-sided game teaches by making the wrong option impossible, and that is both why it works and what it costs. Marking out wide channels and requiring the ball to travel through one before a goal counts will produce more crossing in fifteen minutes than an hour of instruction. It will also, left running too long, produce players who go wide because the rule says so rather than because the middle was blocked.

So use it deliberately and then take the condition off. The behaviour you actually want is a player recognising a congested centre and looking wide as a consequence. The conditioned game creates the repetitions, and the free game afterwards is where the decision gets attached to them.

Inside the game itself the coaching point that matters most is getting the ball wide early. A team that works it out to the flank only after the defence has already slid across finds a full-back and a covering centre-back waiting, and the cross goes nowhere. Early means before the defensive block has finished shifting.

Two things worth saying to players honestly. Crossing has a low success rate even at the top level, so a session built on crosses contains a great many that come to nothing, and that is normal rather than a sign the session is failing. And a cross is only ever as good as the runs attacking it, which is why asking for near post, middle and far post on every delivery matters more than the technique of the ball itself. An excellent cross into an empty six-yard box is a wasted attack.

How to run this drill

  1. Mark the wide channels clearly. Players need to see the boundary without thinking about it, otherwise half the stoppages are arguments about where the line was.
  2. Require the ball through a channel before a goal. The condition is what makes wide play the only route. It is doing the teaching, which is also why it must not stay on forever.
  3. Get it wide before the block slides. Switching late finds a full-back and a covering centre-back already waiting, and the cross has nowhere useful to go.
  4. Deliver on the move with the head up. Every extra touch gives the defence another second to reorganise, and a second is a long time inside a penalty area.
  5. Fill near, middle and far post every time. A cross is only as good as the runs meeting it. An excellent ball into an empty six-yard box is a wasted attack.
  6. Expect most crosses to come to nothing. The success rate is low even in professional football. Tell the players, or they read a normal conversion rate as failure.
  7. Take the condition off and play free. The goal is a player who chooses wide because the middle is blocked, not one who goes wide because a rule told him to.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Get the ball wide early to stretch the defence
  • Winger: head up, deliver on the move, do not overrun it
  • Vary the cross: driven to the near post, cut-back, floated to the far post
  • Runners stagger near, middle and far post, arriving late
  • Attack the cross, meet it with pace rather than waiting on it

Common mistakes

  • Staying central and forcing the play through traffic
  • Overrunning the ball in the channel, no time to cross
  • Crossing to no one, runs not timed with the delivery
  • Everyone attacking the same post, easy to defend

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Two-touch maximum in the channel to speed up delivery
  • Only count goals scored first time from the cross
  • Reward using both channels in one attack with a bonus

Regressions

  • Leave the channel free of defenders so the winger has time
  • Widen the pitch and add a target to aim the cross at
  • Any goal counts while learning the pattern
Equipment
Cones×2
Full Goals×1
Markers×4
Tactical principles
wide channels gameconditioned small sided gamecrossing gamewing play drill5v5 gameattacking wide areastiming runs at the far postssg conditionsu12 crossing gamestretching the defence
Audience
U11-U125v5

Make it yours

Save this drill to your private library, then tweak the animation, swap equipment, or drop it into a session.

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LIBRARY
All Crossing drillsAll drill collectionsCrossing for U11-U12Crossing for 5v5

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