Two Pitches, One Team

1. Mark two pitches side by side, each 20 metres wide and 25 long, 3 metres apart, with a mini goal at each end. Two teams, each split across both pitches: with 16 players, 4v4 on each; with 18, 4v4 on one and 5v5 on the other; with 12, 3v3 on each, on pitches 15 by 20.
2. Both games start together and last 4 minutes. Each pitch keeps its own score.
3. Win both games and your team goes up a level: in the next round one of your players is a roamer, free to switch pitches whenever they like. Every level adds a roamer, up to three. Lose both and you drop a level. Win one each and you stay.
4. Between rounds, give each team a minute to choose its roamers and its plan.
5. Both teams start at level zero, with no roamers. Note each team's level at the end, and start from there next time.

Every player has two games to read, not one. The roamer looks across: we are a goal down over there and level here, so go and make it five against four where it matters, knowing the pitch they leave is now a player short. The teammates left behind change their game too: keep the ball, slow it down, do not concede until the roamer comes back. The other team has to spot the overload and answer it, with a roamer of its own if it has one. And between rounds the team decides together who roams this time: the fastest runner, the best passer, or whoever reads both games best.