The drag push is a 1v1 feint. You drag the ball across your body with one foot as if you're going that way, then push it back the other way with the outside of the same foot and accelerate past the defender. Coerver Coaching teaches it under that name; no governing-body manual we found names it, so the steps below also lean on FIFA and FA ball-mastery work. We read the drag-then-push motion of your foot and your balance on the standing leg; the ball and the part of the foot touching it aren't tracked.
Set up
Dribble toward the defender with small touches, head up and eyes forward, in a relaxed posture rather than a stiff one.
Loose, eyes up.
Slow down as you get close. Stay low, behind the ball and close to it.
Ball within reach.
Drag-push
Watch the defender, not the ball. Drag the ball across your body with the sole (or the inside) of one foot, as if you're going that way.
Sell the first direction.
Keep your standing leg bent and your upper body slightly forward while you drag. Don't lean back.
Over the ball, not behind it.
Before the ball rolls out of reach, use the outside of the same foot to push it quickly back the other way, past the defender.
Drag, then snap it back.
Make the push firm enough to take the ball away from the defender, then accelerate after it.
Push and go.
Feel it
The drag should look like a real move in one direction, and the push should come quickly off the same foot. Coerver's cues are quickness, precision and balance: the ball stays close, your head stays up, and you're moving at speed the moment the push is made.
Fix-its
- You stare at the ball and the defender reads it Look at the defender during the drag. Practise with your head up and eyes forward until the touches don't need watching.
- You lean back and lose balance on the drag Bend your standing leg and keep your upper body slightly forward, so you're over the ball when the push comes.
- The drag is too big and the outside of your foot can't reach the ball Keep the drag short and stay close to the ball. The push has to come off the same foot before the ball gets away.
- The push is soft, or you stop after it Push firmly into the space past the defender, then accelerate straight away.
- It looks stiff and slow Relax. A loose posture lets you move fluidly; a tight, rigid one slows both touches.
Drill
- Surfaces warm-up (FIFA): in a 30x20m area, one ball each, touch with the inside of the right foot then turn the ball back with the outside of the same foot. Switch to the left foot on the coach's call.
- Mannequin runs: dribble at a mannequin or cone 4–6 m away, drag push past it, exit through a gate and rejoin the queue. Use both feet.
- Passive then live defender: a partner passes to you and closes you down. Beat them with the drag push and push the ball away from them. Keep the defender passive for the first few goes.
- Coerver area game: a 20x30m zone split into four areas, two attackers with a ball and two defenders giving light pressure in each. Keep the ball and use the drag push. 4 sets of 4 minutes with 2 minutes of active recovery.
- Evade pressure (FIFA): 7 attackers each with a ball against 3 defenders in 30x20m for 60 seconds. Use the drag push to keep your ball.
Sources
- Coerver Coaching via YouCoach — The drag push (n.d.)
- Houlahan (FAW coach) — Mirror Moves: Drag push and drag scissors (Sport Session Planner)
- Sportplan — Drag and Push to Beat Defender
- FIFA Training Centre — Anton Corneal: Building relationships between the surfaces of the boot (2025)
- FIFA Training Centre — Mastering ball control (session plan)
- England Football Learning — How using the sole of the foot can benefit players (2023)
- easy2coach — Dutch turn exercise (coaching points)
Last checked 2026-10-26.