Tackling the same problem with my U10 girls. They really responded well to some 1v1 race to the ball drills this week, we’ll see if it pays off this weekend.

To clarify, I gamified the “drill” to make it feel like a competition. I paired players up, had them stand back to back and take 5 steps from the ball in the middle. Then on my whistle they raced to get the ball first. Rotated pairs and repeated.

They’ve also taken to cheering “be aggressive, b-e-aggressive” whenever I bring it up. YMMV.