What is 5v5 indoor soccer? (4v4 and a keeper)

It is a quick paced game that emphasizes quick decision making and reinforces the importance of your first touch. It rewards one-touch and two touch passing. It focuses on the importance of immediate transition from attack to defense. Players touch the ball 25 percent more per game than 5v5 with a keeper, but you seem 50 percent more involved. It forces players to work on all areas of their game. There is a lot more cycling of players through the field and less "position" specific play.All players attack, all players defend.

Excerpts from a U.S. Soccer coaching guide

The 4v4 game includes all the qualities found in the bigger game. The shape of the team is a smaller version of what is found in the eleven-a-side game in that there is width, depth, and height to the team. The shape is dynamic in that the players are able to combine and work together as teammates in order to be successful and there is the potential for a constant interchange of positions and roles. A solid understanding of the principles of play, found in the basic 4v4 form allows for continued advancement as the players adapt to the added demands placed on them when more players are added to the tactical picture.

The basic attacking shape should create enough space to allow the players to find options in every direction, with the essential purpose of creating quality goal scoring opportunities. The most basic shape that allows for this space is the “diamond”, with a deep player who supports the attack from behind, two wide players who give the game width, and a high player who stretches the game forward and offers himself as a target. Attention should be given to how the 4 players adjust as the ball and players move. Players must be prepared to move to different spots on the field, based on the movement of their teammates and the ball. For example, if the deep player steps forward with the ball, someone must replace him in the spot that he has just vacated, so that there continues to be support from behind.

Principles of Attack

Penetration - dribbling, shooting, and passing.

Support - providing all around support for the player with the ball.

Mobility - an attempt to create gaps in the defense by a variety of different runs.

Width - spread the defense to create space.

Improvisation - make the attack unpredictable through creativity.

The most effective defending shape should slow the opponent’s movement forward with some form of collective defending. The need for quality pressure on the ball remains an essential part of the team defensive effectiveness. Added to this pressure is the ability of the group to supply good “cover” for the pressuring defender in case the quality of that pressure is not sufficient to stop the forward progress of the ball. Finally, the group must keep a compact shape, not allowing the team to become too “spread out”. This limits the time and space that the attacking team has at their disposal and maximizes opportunities for the defending players to work collectively. At the same time, individual and group defending can also discourage the first ball forward by dropping and filling space closer to their own goal, rather than stepping and pressuring closer to the ball. These decisions, by the players closest to the ball, as well as the covering players, need to be made based on the principles of defending, and what makes the most sense on any given play.

Principles of Defense

Pressure - win the ball back as quickly as possible.

Delay - gain time to organize the defense through appropriate pressure on the ball (pressure may be “dropping”).

Support-Cover - provided to pressuring defender.

Balance - positioning away from the ball to cover vital areas.

Compactness – keeping spaces between defenders as small as possible.

Control and Restraint - individual defending under control.

Counterattack - win the ball and go to goal, if you can!

5v5: (4 field players plus a goalkeeper)

As the team progresses to 5v5, the added dimension to the team’s “shape” is the emergence of a central midfield role. The goalkeeper has the added responsibility of being the “last” player in the attack, allowing the “central back” to step more in to a midfield role. This, in essence, allows for another option for playing the ball forward out of the back, a role that serves as a “link” between players in the back and those up front. This further complicates the game as it demands that a player serve in a role that has pressure coming from all around them, rather than just basically from one direction. Now the basic shape remains a “diamond” but has a player serving in the “middle” of that diamond. At the same time, as the central player becomes more competent, the attacking team now has a player who has the potential to play the ball in many directions, thereby making the attack less predictable and therefore more effective.