Sounds like you have a good start already. In addition to the items that you listed, I would add the following to your practice list:
- Receiving the ball. Work on receiving crosses, receiving the ball with your back to the goal, receiving on a half-turn, receiving in the air, etc. The better you can control the ball, the faster you can set up a shot.
- Headers. Practice placing headers from corner kicks or midfield service.
- Turning onto a defender (after you have received the ball, be able to turn onto a defender while keeping control.
- Moves to beat opponents. If you get the ball with enough space, you'll often need to get past at least one defender to take a shot. Make sure you get at least 4-5 moves down perfectly (hundreds or thousands of repetitions). Make sure you can do them with both feet. Choose moves that can be strung together to create options for yourself. For example, I teach my players to do a slap, slap/cut and slap/stepover - when they know all 3 well enough, they can change the move mid-stream depending on how the defender reacts to them.
- As for fitness, you should really focus on speed and agility. Agility runs, plyometrics and wind sprints will all help.
- Make sure you can strike well with both feet. It turns out, especially for players who are relatively new to the game, most shot opportunities come to your weaker foot (the easiest 'move' under pressure is to tap the ball with the inside of your strong foot, so you are setting up a shot with your weaker foot).
Futsal is a great way to train, by the way.
Good luck!
- Receiving the ball. Work on receiving crosses, receiving the ball with your back to the goal, receiving on a half-turn, receiving in the air, etc. The better you can control the ball, the faster you can set up a shot.
- Headers. Practice placing headers from corner kicks or midfield service.
- Turning onto a defender (after you have received the ball, be able to turn onto a defender while keeping control.
- Moves to beat opponents. If you get the ball with enough space, you'll often need to get past at least one defender to take a shot. Make sure you get at least 4-5 moves down perfectly (hundreds or thousands of repetitions). Make sure you can do them with both feet. Choose moves that can be strung together to create options for yourself. For example, I teach my players to do a slap, slap/cut and slap/stepover - when they know all 3 well enough, they can change the move mid-stream depending on how the defender reacts to them.
- As for fitness, you should really focus on speed and agility. Agility runs, plyometrics and wind sprints will all help.
- Make sure you can strike well with both feet. It turns out, especially for players who are relatively new to the game, most shot opportunities come to your weaker foot (the easiest 'move' under pressure is to tap the ball with the inside of your strong foot, so you are setting up a shot with your weaker foot).
Futsal is a great way to train, by the way.
Good luck!
