There are a lot of different formations that you can use when putting your team on the field to play. The standard 4-4-2 formation is one that is most often used in junior soccer but there are a number of other possibilities that have various strengths and weaknesses. 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-5-2 and 4-5-1 are other formations that you may choose to use. Your decision should be based on the various strengths of your players, whether you have an attacking or defensive mindset, and to some degree on the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent.
4-4-2 is probably the most widely utilised formation in junior soccer. The strength of this formation is that it allows you to dominate the centre of the field. Two strong centre backs, and two strong centre halfs in the middle of the field will mean that your opponents will have to go around you rather than through you. There are some variations on the formation as to whether you play a flat back four or you play with a sweeper and a stopper. You may also choose to play with an attacking centre half and a defensive centre half. A drawback of this formation is that you can lack penetration in attack if you have two forwards playing against a strong back four. You can also have problems where your halfs get forward to support your strikers but then fail to recover when the ball is lost.
3-4-3 is one of my favourite formations for junior soccer. If you have a strong back three you can hold a team playing a 4-4-2 formation as you will still have a defender to spare. It also gives you much more penetration up the field. The aim of this formation is to keep the ball in the opponents half of the field. This formation gives much greater goal scoring potential than 4-4-2 but can also mean that you may give up more goals as well. This is an attacking formation and relies on having strong players in defence and through the middle of the field. It is an effective formation for creating width in your attack.
3-5-2 is a formation I have used when playing against stronger teams without wanting to become too defensive. When you drop too many players back behind the ball you spend most of the game trying to get out of your own half. As a result you tend to have less possession, poor field position and you will tend to give up goals. A 3-5-2 formation allows you to dominate the middle of the field. You can play with either 2 defensive centre halfs and 1 attacking or vice versa. Again you try and force teams to go around you rather than through the middle of the park with this formation. I find it a very good formation for holding stringer teams across the middle of the park.
4-5-1 is a particularly defensive formation for playing against stronger teams. It can be used very effectively if you have a couple of very quick players that you can put into wide positions in the halfs. This is a counter attacking formation so that when you break out with the ball you can use the fast players on the flanks to counter attack. These players must recover their positions in the halves when the attack breaks down. This formation gives you a lot of players behind the ball. This can mean that you lose field position and possession, however your team should be difficult to score against. Do not plan on scoring too many goals with this formation unless you can coach your team to counter attack very effectively.
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