MODULE 3.03 Objectives of the rondo / A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO PREPARING FOR COMPETITION

Question 1

What are the objectives, concepts, and criteria?

Answer 1

• Learn to want to possess the ball as a team. The team concept starts with the rondo

from the first moment. It’s not about individuality when it comes to

possessing the ball, it’s about working as a team.

• Optimize the coordinating (COO), cognitive (COG), socio-affective (SAF),

emotional-volitional (EVO), and creative-expressive (CEX) aspects of the game.

All of these concepts or structures must coexist simultaneously in the rondo exercises.

• Identify, interpret and practice the elements of our playing style in spaces of mutual assistance.
• Adapt our socio-affective playing style to the continuum of the game. Soccer is

complex and continuous, and it’s not about ending a play after a pass or a kick,

but rather understanding the permanent dynamics of the

game in which we are always connected.

• All players participate in the possession stage, along with recovery if the ball has been lost.

Playing means knowing which of the two teams possesses the ball, and with it

outperforms the opposing team. For this, the cooperation of all players in the two halves

of the game (understood as one within the continuum of the game) is essential.

• Rondos can also have a playful component, making these ideal for the start of the session.

They help focus the player’s attention on the exercises planned by the coach

and serve as a type of coordination warm-up.

Question 2

What are the objectives, concepts, and criteria

For the possession stage (involves COO - COG - SAF - EVO aspects)

Answer 2

• The ball is ours and we can’t lose it. Everyone should enjoy playing.
• Improve the short pass and guided control (use both legs and different contact surfaces).

Passes and control, situated in a reduced space, are part of our playing style.

• To give continuity to the game: to release the ball at the start, as well as

before, during and after with the same inertia as the pass, aiming for the following

action and avoiding crossing the line of the ball.

The pass is not an action that ends after it is completed.

• Learn to look, see, predict, anticipate and decide.
• Short and long game alternatives, outside and inside (long pass). When performing a rondo,

there is always a teammate who is furthest away and available for a long pass

(outside and inside), in order to secure the spaces behind the opponents.

• Offer pass lines, repeat passes, and give support (encourage communication).
• Deceive and surprise the retrievers (unexpected pass). Tricking the opponent and our

mutual understanding are two variables that go together; you cannot have one

without the other. It is important to make the most of a good group performance.

Knowing our teammate and understanding the action he/she will perform,

just by observing his/her initial movement, gives an advantage of tenths of a second.

This is possible through a high level of optimization of the socio-affective structure

and can be achieved, among other ways, through hours of training

in highly specific situations, from rondos to games.

Question 3

What are the objectives, concepts, and criteria

For the recovery stage (this involves SAF and EVO aspects)​

Answer 3

• Feint to deceive the opponent in this recovery stage. Feint.
• Do not hit.
• Cover the dominant foot.
• ``Communication between retrievers to block the path of the ball.

The 1st player stays with the ball, the 2nd with the opponent.

Question 4

What two structures should be emphasized in recovery?

Answer 4

SAF and EVO, are of the utmost importance in the concept of recovery.

The positive relationship between players will provide benefits of cooperation

to the team and greater chances of recovering the ball. Willingness is essential

in order to try to recover or keep the ball.

Question 5

Concepts, criteria, and efficient information (for the coach)

Answer 5

• Provide the player with individualized and efficient information in each pause of the game.
• Change the positions of the players. Everyone changes all the time.

This is crucial so that the profiles are different, and to vary the style of the

possession plays. In addition, it allows the player to understand how decisions

are managed in each space of the playing field.

It is essential to work on this aspect from an early age.

• If the ball is recovered by both of these players, then they should both exit

to allow the passer and receiver to enter. The success of a move is the

result of something having been done well before.

The same happens with moves that fail.

Question 6

1. Criteria for possession in 4v2 rondos.

Answer 6

Before passing:

1. Look,
2. Correctly position the body,
3. Keep the feet active
4. Feint before receiving the ball,

in order to deceive the opponent and provide a pass line to the possessor.

During the pass,

There are two possible options. It is important to remember that

opponents always affect our possibilities.

• Control oriented towards the best free space and

pass (the more unexpected, the better).

• Mark the nearest opponent to generate a 2-1 with the teammate,

and thus achieve numerical superiority.

After the pass:

Give the receiving teammate an exit on a different line from the ball’s trajectory.

Question 7

2. Criteria for possession in 4v2 rondos at all times.

Answer 7

At all times:

• Maintain mobility.
• Occupy the sides but not the corners or angles of the playing space.
• Keep the feet active.
• Correctly position the body to see all the spaces in the game (look near and far)

in order to choose the best alternatives for a short game (side pass)

and long game (between the two opponents).

• The best supporting position for the possessor (emergence, continuity,

progression, attracting the third man playing on the line).

Question 8

1. Criteria for Recovery in 4v2 rondos.

Answer 8

Before the pass:

• Agitate the possessor on his/her dominant side, forcing him/her to use the less dominant leg.
• Place yourself in the middle between the two opponents and stay positioned,

preparing for a possible 1 on 1 situation with your teammate if faced

with a situation of mutual assistance in the recovery stage.

During the pass:

• Occupy the space between the two opponents and stay positioned in

order to consider the possible intermediate pass.

• Agitate the possessor by cutting off the trajectory of the pass

behind him/her, towards the third man.

After the pass:

• When we have recovered the ball, it will be necessary to make 3

passes in order for the ball to be ours. A good option is to repeat pass 1 -> 2 and,

in the third pass, leave that zone to avoid losing the recovered ball.

At the same time, provide sufficient time to reorganize the players who were

waiting for ball recovery (evidently, this does not usually happen when

practicing rondos, although you can perform exercises with continuous cycles,

for example, with transitions: with and without the ball, etc.).

Question 9

2. Criteria for Recovery in 4v2 rondos at all times.

Answer 9

At all times:

• Do not follow the trajectory of the ball.
• Position the body to see as much of the field as possible and at least 3 opponents.
• Cut 1 or 2 pass lines from the possessor.
• Give the possessor only one option to escape.
• One defensive player must pressure the possessor
  (entry) and the other must cover him/her.
• Take advantage of the error (in a pass, ball control, etc.) to put more pressure

on the possessor and force him/her to lose the ball, followed by recovery.