In order to win a soccer match you have to make sure you score more goals than your opponent. Scoring is therefore an important component for every age category. Training on scoring is often associated with shooting on goal from distance. However, scoring actually involves a lot of as- pects of play, because often scoring a goal means being at the right place at the right time. This is often a gut feeling that players develop and is therefore hard to teach.
Finishing is the act of intentionally placing the ball in the opposite goal by the use of physical techniques. It is often referred to as scoring or shooting. The former word refers to a successful finish. The latter can be somewhat confusing as the term is associated with kicking yet finishing can be done with the head or virtually any body part other than the hands.
Finishing Methods
As a coach you should train all possible situations that create scoring opportunities. A good tip is to keep track of all scoring opportunities that your team creates during the next five matches. Divide these into categories and you will find out which situations lead to scoring opportunities and you should be coaching those with your team. After your evaluation you will see that goals are scored from long distance shots, 1v1 situations against the goalkeeper, simple tap-ins and once in a while a goal will be scored with a header. We will obviously be unable to outline all scoring situations in this e-book by means of presented training session, but below is a quick outline of the various finishing methods.