The influence of the field orientation on physical demands in soccer small-sided games

The aim of this study was to compare the physical demands of SSG with either greater length (SSG(length)) or width (SSG(width)) with official soccer matches. Sixteen Brazilian U-20 national-level soccer players participated in two sessions with SSG(length) (4v4, 40 m length and 26 m width) and two sessions with SSG(width) (4v4, 26 m length and 40 m width). External and internal load variables were monitored and compared to official games (12.8 +/- 8.9 games per player). Data were standardized to the time and compared between the experimental conditions by a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures (level of significance set at p < 0.05). The effect size was calculated by the partial ETA squared (eta p2). Results showed that the total distance covered during SSG(length) was significantly higher compared to official matches (8.1%; p = 0.001) and SSG(width) (5.2%; p = 0.049). Highest values were registered in the matches when compared to SSG(length) and SSG(width) for high-speed distance, sprint distance, maximal speed and number of sprints. The number of accelerations was significantly lower during official matches than SSG(width) (36.5%; p = 0.002) and SSG(length) (45.0%; p < 0.001). The number of high-speed actions was higher in official games when compared to SSG(width) (47.1%; p < 0.001). No differences were found between matches and SSG(length) (p = 0.059). We concluded that the physical demands of the 4v4 SSGs adopted in this study were different from the physical demands of official match play. The use of a field with a greater width rather than length does not appear to make the physical demands of the SSG more similar to the official games.

Automated summary

The physical demands of small-sided games (SSGs) were found to be different from official soccer matches. Compared to official games, SSG with greater length covered more distance but had fewer accelerations. SSG with greater width showed more similarities with official matches in terms of high-speed actions.