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Some coaches frown upon the idea of using neutral players in practice sessions. Personally I believe that this is a ridiculous thought. Neutral players can be a highly effective way to add more punch to your practice sessions.

If you are looking to coach your players to play attacking, dynamic soccer then you need to have plenty of activities that involve neutrals. Neutral players give the attacking team a numbers up advantage.

Having a player who is always unmarked trains your team to look for the open man. Your best opportunities for scoring occur when you can get into 2v1 and 3v1 situations. Playing with a neutral player helps your team to recognize these chances more readily as they will appear frequently in your sessions.

In addition to these benefits, neutral players help to facilitate possession. As your team reaches the U14 age group, it is critical that they learn to be patient and maintain possession for prolonged periods of time. Neutral players allow this to happen more easily.

There are positives for your team as it relates to defense as well. Because numbers up situations for the offense create more scoring chances, it is important that your players learn to defend when they are numbers down. Principles of support and contain have to come into play with neutral attackers on the field.

Because there is always an open player, your team can easily transition from defending to attacking. It is critical that your players be able to flip the switch on both sides of the ball. With a neutral player, transition will happen very quickly.

It is a good idea to rotate players through the neutral role. This will allow strikers, midfielders and defenders to all have a feel for what it is like to be the playmaker. If you have a player that is naturally lazy and doesn’t exert much effort toward defending, it is not a good idea to use him/her as the neutral player. This will just reinforce the bad habit. It is best to pick players that are natural hustlers already for this role.

Using a neutral player also solves a common issue that coaches run into where they have an odd number of players. Rather than unbalance one team by always having them be a man up, you can have one of the players be a neutral.

If you have even numbers, you as the coach can serve as the neutral. There are a couple of things to keep in mind if you do this. First, make sure that you have the skill and fitness to hang with the level of play. You will quickly lose the respect of your team if you give the ball away the first three times you touch it.

Second, you should be a facilitator of the game, not the focus. With younger players they will often try to just get the ball to you as they think it will please you. Encourage them to make the right pass, not just get it to you all the time.

Adding a neutral (or plus one) forces your players to execute on both sides of the ball in your soccer practice drills.

Soccer is an easy game to play and follow, due to the simplicity of the rules. With 11 players on each team each, different positions are assigned to various players. To stop the opposition scoring goals a goalkeeper is used and can use and parts of the body including hands to stop the ball. Shall the ball pass behind the baseline after last touching a player in the opposition, the goalie kicks the ball in off the ground. If the ball had been grabbed by the goalie using their hands, the can perform a drop punt. If a defender kicks the ball out behind the goals a corner kick occurs.

The aim of soccer is to score a lot of goals without conceding many. They do this by putting the ball through the goals at their attacking end using any body part except their hands. A player can run as far as they want with the ball. However, it is advisable to pass the ball around to increase possession.

Tackles are implied in order to regain the ball off opponents. Dangerous tackles will result in a free kick to the player fouled against. Players must also not point their studs up as this is dangerous. Extremely bad cases will result in a yellow or red card being handed out. A red card will get the offending player sent off the field and the team must play short of a player. Fouls are also awarded for pulling a shirt and pushing. Tackling a goalkeeper will have you instantly red carded.

A foul in the penalty box will result in a penalty to the attacking team. A penalty is when only the goalkeeper can defend a shot on goal taken by one player. All other players must stand outside the penalty box until the kick has been taken. In most cases a player will capitalise on a penalty and score a goal.

If the ball goes out of play by an opposition player your team is awarded a throw in. This means that one players take the ball and throws it in to a team mate. The throw must be over the head of the player throwing it in and the ball must be released behind the head.

When a player from the attacking side stands on the goal side of the last defender an offside occurs. This gives a free kick to the defending team.

Soccer consists of two forty-five minute halves. These are the basic soccer rules.