Have you heard of Tiki-Taka?
Barcelona, under Pep Guardiola, popularized this style of play.
The core concept of this gameplay was creating triangles in every area of the pitch to trap an opposing player while using combination passes to progress the ball up the field.
Players in the triangle pass the ball around with one or two touches in order to beat the press of the opposing player who ends up in the middle. They shift positions regularly, maintaining the triangle, as a way to get the ball upfield.
This is a type of rondo.
This also implies that performing the rondo drill with teammates is a great way to master one of the best soccer gameplays to exist.
Want to learn more about this impressive soccer drill? Read on!
What is a Rondo in Soccer?
A rondo is a soccer possession game that closely resembles the children’s game “monkey in the middle”, which is played with an object that is passed around with quickness to prevent the child in the middle from grabbing it.
Since soccer is played with the feet, the general idea of this game is to keep the ball away from the feet of one or more defenders who are trapped in a circle, square, or triangle created by the players who will be passing the ball around.
“Rondo” as a term was adapted from the Italian version of the French word “Rondeau”, which means “a little round”. This is because rondos are primarily done in circles, with triangles and squares being adaptations of the drill.
Just like the children’s game, the player whose pass gets intercepted swaps positions with the defender who intercepted the ball.
How Rondos Can Help Your Team
The late Johan Cruijff, the legendary soccer player and coach, invented the Tiki Taka style of football. He called it “Total Football” at the time, and it involved creating passing pockets to allow players to trap their opponents while passing the ball with few touches towards their goal.
In one of his famous interviews, he talked about how pivotal rondos are to soccer. He said: “Everything that goes on in a match, except shooting, you can do in a rondo.
The competitive aspect, fighting to make space, what to do when in possession and what to do when you haven’t got the ball, how to play one-touch soccer, how to counteract the tight marking and how to win the ball back.” Everything that Cruijff mentioned is exactly why rondo drills are important in a team.
Not only do players learn how to pass the ball, especially in high-pressure situations, but they also learn how to time interceptions (steal the ball) to give their team an advantage.
Rondos also build players’ endurance for high pressing, which forces teams to make mistakes and creates opportunities for attacking turnovers.
Traditional Rondo Drills
Traditional rondo drills refer to the basic way the rondo drill is performed. Just like the children’s game, one player stands in the middle of two or more players who will hold their position and pass the ball around.
The setup is usually three players with one defender (3v1), four players with one or two defenders (4v1 or 4v2), five players with one or two defenders (5v1 or 5v2), and six players with one, two or three defenders (6v1, 6v2 or 6v3).
The coach must choose a rondo drill that matches the skill and physicality level of the players in his team else it will be an exercise in futility.
All other variations (some of which will be discussed below) stem from these ones. Soccer formations also stem from rondo drills, too, especially the 4-3-3, which was Johan Cruijff’s preferred formation for his “Total Football” philosophy (playing method).
The aim remains to make sure that players remain close enough to each other to pass the ball, and to train the pressing players in defensive coordination.
Fun and Creative Practice Ideas With Rondos
Here are some creative practice ideas with Rondos that can be fun as well.
Escape The Rondo
This is a fun rondo drill that simulates the act of closing down opponents to win possession back. While passing the ball around in a game, a player can miss a pass or mistime the defender’s actions leading to an interception (a steal).
The next thing is to close down the defender who wins the ball before the ball is released to a teammate for a counterattack or a dribble into space.
Escaping the rondo simulates this scenario on the practice grounds. The set-up is the basic 4v1 rondo where the players pass the ball around while the defender hustles to win it.
Once the defender wins the ball, his next task is to dribble his way out of the rondo and make his way to a cone that has been set outside to act as his goal. Any of the traditional rondo setups can be used as well. The target is escaping the rondo.
Rondo Pressure Drill
This rondo drill simulates the back-and-forth between teams in a soccer game. As players on one team work to keep possession of the ball, the other team presses them to win it back.
In many cases, transitions into counterattacks may not happen because of a good defensive setup from the other team.
In such cases, the player who wins the ball back passes to his teammate so that his team can begin the act of keeping possession to create their own goalscoring opportunity.
The rondo pressure drill is done with two teams standing on either side of a line. One team begins a rondo with a player from the other team trying to get the ball as is done in regular rondos.
If that player succeeds, he must pass the ball over the line to his team and join them for a rondo. Then, one player from the first team crosses the line to attempt to win the ball back for his team. The rondo pressure drill can be gamified.
Rondo To Attack
This variation incorporates finishing as part of a basic rondo drill. First, players must be comfortable with their finishing having performed as many soccer finishing drills as they have to to get better.
Next, try this rondo drill, which simulates the act of holding possession until a chance to score has been created. For this drill, there has to be a goalpost and a goalkeeper waiting to save shots.
Players in the rondo will have to complete a minimum number of passes in their rondo before the last receiver breaks away to score.
While the last receiver is breaking away, the defending player(s) can also go after them to prevent the finish.
Where the players cannot complete the minimum number of passes that will allow them to break away and score goals, regular rondo drill rules apply where the ball winner replaces the one who lost the ball in the rondo.
Two Teams Against One
This rondo drill needs a lot of players, which means it can only be done with a team. It can get heated and competitive too, because it is a gamified rondo drill.
The setup is simple: three rondo teams differentiated by differently-colored soccer vests/bibs, a playing area and a ball. One of those teams will act as the defenders in the middle of the rondo while the other two will make up the rondo circle.
One rondo team will complete a minimum number of passes between themselves before they pass to the other rondo team to do the same.
The team in the middle will try to steal the ball at all times from either team as they try to complete their minimum number of passes.
The winner is the team that lasts the longest outside the middle. The “two teams against one” drill is a personal favorite because of how fast-paced it gets!
Spaced Out Rondo
In this rondo drill variation, players are given zones to occupy. Most rondo drills allow for players to encroach on each other’s spaces and even switch with another player in the rondo.
This one does not. The drill is done with a 6v3 setup, and its core learning is for players to understand offensive zones and how to make them work for the team.
They must all stay spread out and pass the ball around. Once any of the three defenders win the ball, they will play a mini rondo versus the player who they won the ball from in that player’s zone.
If that player wins it back, he goes back to passing the ball to his teammates in their zones.
In essence, there is no swapping out of players with the ones in the middle. The ones in the middle are a team that is only waiting for the opportunity for its own rondo. It can get rough!
Three Team Possession
This is like the Two Teams Against One rondo drill variation with the difference being that it is played over a much larger area.
Also, unlike the Two Teams Against One rondo drill variation, not all members of the defending team are applying pressure to steal the ball.
The pressuring team only sends two players into the zone of the rondo team of the moment, who are attempting to complete a minimum number of passes.
If they successfully do, they have to send a long pass to the other team in their zone.
This is why some members of the defending team remain in the middle, as they have the chance to cut off the long pass if their teammates are unable to win the ball back successfully using their pressure.
This drill teaches players the importance of accuracy in passing because a lot of diagonals (long passes made across a field from one angle to another) will be played.
Find The Killer Pass
To set up this drill, there will be one or more neutral players running around with the rondo team. The aim of these neutral players is to get into a box in the middle of the rondo grid, which will be marked out by cones.
The defending player or team has the dual responsibility of trying to steal the ball from the rondo while making sure that the neutral player does not find a good path to the box.
The “killer pass” is the pass that locates the neutral player in the box and wins that round for the Rondo team.
In live soccer games, the killer pass is that one pass that is made to an attacking player who beats all his markers to run into space where he can cause problems.
This drill works more on the defending team than the attacking one, because of the dual responsibility they have of watching the sneaky neutral players and also trying to steal the ball.
How to Get the Most Out of Rondos?
Here are some pointers on how to get the most out of rondos in your team.
Consider the Size of the Space
Whatever variation of the rondo drill you want to carry out is dependent on space. You cannot play the three-team possession rondo drill in the same space as the traditional 4v1.
Also, a larger playing area will give players more space to work with and thus more time to think, while tight spaces force players to think on their feet due to incoming pressure.
Adjust the Number of Attackers and Defenders
Tweak the number of players used in your rondo drills as you like so that your players feel more challenged and improve at faster rates.
Minimum Passing and Time in Possession Requirements
Many of these variations require a minimum and maximum passing limit. As the coach or the drill instructor, you can adjust this to up the ante.
For example, it’s much harder for a team to complete 8 passes than 4 passes in a row. You can also restrict the number of touches for better results.
Final Thoughts
As a drill, this is one of the least complex to set up. It is a wonder how something so simple was ignored for so long until Cruijff made the move to inculcate it into his soccer school of thought, which has become the template for how most modern soccer is played.
Players who want to get better must join a team to reap the benefits of the rondo. If you play soccer casually, you can adapt one of the drills described above, because they can be just as fun!
