Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of using neutral players and different task conditions in 1vs.1 small-sided games (SSG) on amateur soccer players’ heart rate responses and distance coverage. Equipment and methods: Ten amateurs’ soccer players (26.4 ±5.3 years old, 8.0 ± 3.2 years of practice) from a Portuguese regional league participated in this within-subject repeated measures study. The heart rate responses, distance coverage, speed and acceleration were recorded by using heart rate monitors with GPS throughout all SSG. Results: Two-way MANOVA results revealed that neutral players (F = 43.6; p = 0.001; η_p^2 = 0.017; Power = 1.00; small effect size) and task conditions (F = 84.7; p = 0.001; η_p^2= 0.038; Power = 1.00; small effect size) had significant main effects and small practical effects on heart rate responses and distance coverage. It was concluded that, in very small-sided game, the use of neutral players increased the heart rate responses and distance coverage.

Keywords: Computational Tracking; GPS; Heart rate signals; Football; extreme small-sided games; duel; goal; performance analysis.