---
title: "Either Way"
description: "Both teams play in the middle third and can attack either goal, and whoever gets into an end third goes alone against the keeper: decide which way to break out, and when."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/either-way
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Either Way

> Both teams play in the middle third and can attack either goal, and whoever gets into an end third goes alone against the keeper: decide which way to break out, and when.

U8 to U14 · 8 to 12 players · 25 × 36 m · 15 min

Also called Break out and score, Dribbelkunst, Zauberer.

![Diagram of Either Way](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/either-way)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 25 metres wide and 36 long, split into three thirds of 12 metres, with a goal and a keeper at each end. Two teams of 3 to 5.
2. Everyone plays in the middle third. Both teams may attack either goal.
3. Dribble into an end third, or receive a pass there, and nobody may follow you: it is you against the keeper.
4. After the shot, the keeper rolls the ball into the middle third to the team that did not shoot, and the shooter comes straight back.
5. Play blocks of 4 minutes and change keepers after each one.

## The decision it trains

With two goals open, the player on the ball always has two ways out. A quick look both ways shows which end has room in front of it, and a turn often finds it, because one team cannot block both. When there is no gap and no free teammate, the better choice may be to keep the ball: shield it, wait for a teammate to move, then go. Off the ball, players drift towards an end third so that one pass can send them through. The team that loses the ball has two goals behind it as well, so the nearest player presses while the others close the way to both ends, and a ball won back is a chance to break out at once.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** make the middle third deeper, 15 metres, so there is more room to keep the ball.
- **Too easy:** let one defender chase the breakaway into the end third.
- **Uneven teams:** the bigger side must string four passes together before it may break out; the smaller side may break out as soon as it wins the ball.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When you got the ball, how did you choose which goal to go for?"
- "When did you keep the ball and protect it, and when did you pass?"
- "When your team lost the ball, what did you do first?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as "Break out and score" (2022), delivered by FA tutor Emma Dennis with five players against three. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): Break out and score
- Swiss Federal Office of Sport (mobilesport.ch) (Switzerland): Dribbelkunst
- Football Association of Finland (Finland)
- Football Australia (Australia)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany): Zauberer
- Canada Soccer (Canada)
- Ontario Soccer (Canada)
- US Youth Soccer (United States)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)

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