How to build and drill a high press that can't be broken down, taught by the head coach of the Japan mini football national team

This edition's theme, following the first part, is "How to Build a High Press That Can't Be Broken Down! 8 Points That Dramatically Change Defending from the Front Line." The instructor is Itaru Kato, who serves as head coach of SC Toyohashi Azalea in the Aichi Prefecture Adult League and is also the head coach of the Japan Mini-Football National Team.

In the second part, under the theme "Tactical Understanding of the High Press and Effective Training Menus," he introduced 4 points from "management" to "switching" and an example of a day's training. (Written by Tomoyuki Suzuki)

"Management" and "Recovery" to Prepare for Long Balls

If you apply pressure from the front, there will always be situations where the opponent, in desperation, kicks a long ball.

The fifth point, "management," continuing from the first part, is for the players behind to prepare to deal with long balls based on that prediction.

When you apply pressure from a high position, there is a vast space behind your own last line, so in a straight race, the faster player wins. Therefore, Kato says he tells his players the following.

"First, stand where you don't want them to run. If you stand where there is cover, it's fine even if they run. I tell them to prepare while eliminating the places where they don't want to be hurt, and to go hard at the ball that comes in front of them."

The sixth point, "recovery," is for the front players to press back against the ball that the back players have dealt with, creating a numerical advantage and picking up the second ball.

Kato says he has created a shared phrase, "if you're beaten, go back," and if the ball settles with the opponent's front line, he drills into them that they go to sandwich it from front and back.

Win It and Attack Quickly, Lose It and Switch. The Foundation Is the Ability to Keep Going

The seventh point is "quick attack." If you can win the ball in front of the opponent's goal, the goal is right there. Kato, citing a remark by Coach Klopp to the effect that "the mechanism of the high press is worth the same as acquiring one striker," speaks of the importance of preparing plays that lead directly to goal after winning the ball.

The eighth point is "switching." If you lose the ball you have won, you immediately return to defending and aim for an immediate recovery. If the opponent advances, you win it in midfield, and if they still break through, you form a block in front of goal, but depending on the phase of the game, you may also push them back and go to win the ball from a high position.

"What matters in executing the 8 points is concentration and the ability to keep going. In order to synchronize the team's awareness, everyone must maintain concentration and keep going. The will to keep going and the ability to keep going determine the quality of the defense."

Training to Instill the 8 Points

Kato structures a day's practice into four parts: warm-up, training 1, training 2, and game.

The warm-up is a 6 vs 3 possession game with three teams of three players each. The grid is divided into three sections, the attacking side may have up to two players in each area, and the defending side may enter with any number of players. The setting is that when the defending side wins the ball, the team that lost the ball goes on defense.

Here, they check the middle, containment, decision-making, and coordination. They look at whether they are eliminating both the man and the passing lane, and whether, after one player makes a decision, the players behind are coordinating with him.

Training 1 is a training session on a half court with 8 vs 9 plus a goalkeeper and a target, in which they win the ball from an opponent building up in a 4-4-2 and aim for goal.

If the attacking side passes to the target and breaks the line by receiving the drop, or if they can dribble through between the cones on the side, the high press is considered to have been broken down. It is a setting in which all 8 points, up to management, recovery, quick attack, and switching, are organized.

"The high press only works because there is an opponent building up. Therefore, an approach is needed not only for the defending side but also for the attacking side. On top of that, I tell the defenders to abandon the player on the far side, narrow inside, and try to create numerical equality or a numerical advantage near the ball."

Training 2 uses a full pitch, with the attacking side scoring 1 point for breaking through and the defending side scoring 1 point for winning a goal. Finally, they finish with an 11 vs 11 game.

[Instructor] Itaru Kato / Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. After serving as a teacher at an Aichi Prefecture public high school for 16 years, he transitioned to a professional soccer coach and individual analyst for professional soccer players. Currently, in addition to serving as head coach of the Japan Mini-Football (6-a-side soccer) National Team, he runs coach development and clinics as the representative of "Itaru Football Support." He has written 3 books, including "Introduction to Soccer Training from an Individual Analyst" (Heibonsha). On the ground, he serves as head coach and GM of "SC Toyohashi Azalea," and as an advisor (junior and junior youth) for the soccer club of Nihon Fukushi University Affiliated High School and for Seagrosso Chita. He has also served as head coach of the Aichi Prefecture Youth National Sports Festival Selection (U-16), head coach of the U-17 Tokai Selection, and coach of the Barcelona Academy Aichi school, and has worked widely both in Japan and abroad, including as director of Uganda's "KOMOREBI FOOTBALL ACADEMY." He holds the JFA-certified A-level General License.