AirFutbol
This site is in spanish but you can navigate it easily with only a very limited understanding of the language. This website is really cool because it’s all about the top young starlets all around the world. Basically anyone under the age of 20 who has garnered significant press at home or is highly regarded in a top pro club’s youth system is featured here. Plus there’s video for most all of the players. So not only can you find out about the stars of tomorrow before anyone else does, you can actually see what level world class looks like at the youngest ages. I think it’s always hard for young players to conceptualize what the best looks like relative to their age, but this will give you a decent idea. Make sure to check out Henri Saivet, the young French striker/winger. I’m a big fan of Football Manager and this guy essentially becomes the best striker in the game (provided you nuture him properly!). So after he banged in some goals for my Spurs team as a 16 year old, it was pretty sick to see some video of him in real life.

Far Post Report
Just found this site the other day and it was the one with the Pepijn Lijnders interview. It says it’s a news site for Northern California Soccer, but it seems to basically be a repository of soccer articles. Some interesting stuff related to soccer coaching. I plan on visiting this site with more regularity to see what all they have on here that I don’t find through my normal channels.

UEFA
The UEFA website has some cool stuff related to coaching. I directed the link to the Training Ground, where there’s a lot of coaching information. A lot of what they have on there is higher level stuff like how certain formations function, or how to deal with tactical problems like a fast striker, but there’s a lot of information on the grassroots movement in Europe. Basically a variety of good information that you might find appealing.

MLS
This is MLS’s website. There’s good video on here and it’s free (unlike the Champions’ League highlights on UEFA’s website, which used to be free several years ago). So you heard Beckham hit a sick 60 yarder to put the game beyond reach? Find it on here. There’s also articles about all of the teams plus matchtrackers when games are playing, league standings, golden boot race, the normal stuff for a league to carry. Pretty nice site.

US Soccer
Pretty well laid out and thorough site covering the national teams and the Academy program. There’s usually pretty good video here of national teams training and the like. Information on national coaching schools is here as well. But of more interest are the various blogs related to national teams. Here is the full national team’s blog. There’s links on the side to others, like the womens’ team and the youth team blog.

US Open Cup
Like watching the English FA Cup where all teams amateur and professional fight for a place at Wembley and a chance to win some prestigious silverware? Then look no further than the US Open Cup, the American equivalent. While this used to be dominated by the semi pro sides that are still in existence (including four time winners, locals Ukrainian Nationals), it’s only been won once by a non-MLS side since 1996 (Rochester Rhinos in ‘99). While typically this doesn’t get near the attention that the FA Cup gets, I think it deserves some respect for being a great competition. With this year including a birth in the CONCACAF Champions’ League for the winner, I think many more MLS teams will take it seriously (as of this post only the New England Revolution and my team, DC United are left. Winner plays in the final against either of two USL-1 sides, Charleston Battery or Seattle Sounders [next year will be MLS]). Keep up with everything that’s happening from amateur qualification to live video (for some games).

Soccer Insider
Steve Goff, of the Washington Post, keeps this blog updated multiple times per day with the latest news on DC United, MLS, and abroad. As a DC fan, this is where I start each day. Goff always has good video of soccer action in addition to his great news scoops.

Soccer By Ives
This is a great news site updated several times per day. Lots of news related to NY Red Bulls, MLS, and European leagues. Ives also writes articles that appear on ESPN’s soccer website with some good insight and commentary. I check this site everyday for the latest news and so should you.

ESPN Soccernet
ESPN’s website has all the up to date info about everything going on in the soccer world. Some articles every day about the top players and leagues in addition to articles related to soccer in the US as well as South America. I read this everyday to keep abreast of the world at large.

du Nord
I love this site. Bruce has a great sense of humor which makes du Nord humorous to read. But don’t think that means there’s not a lot of info here. du Nord is a collection of a variety of soccer articles ranging from MLS game reports to world articles related to soccer. Lots of interesting things you won’t find at any of the above websites. Usually updated in the evening. I look forward to finding new cool articles each day.

Big Soccer
This site is one of the best and one of the worst at the same time. It’s just a huge soccer forum where people from all over the world can talk about soccer in any capacity. It’s broken down well so if you’re interested in MLS discussion but not the national team it’s easy to get to the right place. It’s great because some very knowledgable people provide their thoughts on all manner of soccer subjects. From what I understand, former Chicago Fire GM Peter Wilt used to post on there so fans could ask him questions. Stuff like that makes Big Soccer great. Finding up to date news about transfer rumors and intelligent conversation about youth development in the United States is why you come here. Absolutely idiotic posts from uninformed posters, worthless posts asking if Giuseppe Rossi is still eligible to change his mind and play for the US instead of Italy (he’s not, case closed), and wading through pages of crap to get to worthwhile information is why you stay away for weeks at a time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

There’s other good websites out there. These are just the ones I read with regularity. Hope you enjoy.

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Warmup
All players with a ball in pretty large space, focusing on proper dribbling technique for close control.
After some work alternating feet to work on the weak foot, I brought the boys in and demonstrated a 1v1 move (ex. stepover, Cruijff, etc.) to beat an opponent.
Then had the boys dribble around and practice the move. Would repeat the cycle for a new move. Of course I was giving individual feedback and suggestions and would talk to the group each time I stopped for issues multiple players were encountering. Also stressed keeping the head up to see where they were dribbling. We did this for about 20-30 minutes (mostly because players were coming ten minutes late and the ‘A’ team only had six players total anyway) before giving the boys a water break and moving on to a 1v1 ladder competition.

Plus: Boys were warming up, moving around getting lots of touches on the ball and working both feet. Working on basic 1v1 moves and getting feedback to improve technique.

Minus: Players got bored of the activity and were eager for something different.

Improvement: I had tried to leave an unstructured space so they would have enough room to do the moves. In retrospect I would probably just make a large space so they would still have each other as traffic to avoid while giving space for them to find to perform the moves. I thought they got bored kind of quickly because they’ve seen these moves before, but they don’t execute them very well on the whole. This is a problem I’ve encountered with all ages, from U-10 boys and girls up to college players. How do you convince or show players that they need to work on the fundamentals that they think they’ve mastered (when they clearly haven’t)? Sure the players think they’re not challenged enough, but they aren’t performing the skills at an adequate level and seriously need to improve to be among the best at their respective age. This is a problem I need to solve to become a better coach. I would think putting them in an environment where they can perform the skill under pressure and are unsuccessful would provide the opportunity for them to realize they can improve. Maybe I need to set that up and do more of the coaching at a later stage in the practice where they come to the realization themselves?

1v1 Ladder Competition
Now that I had shown them some moves, I wanted them to go 1v1 against each other for game like practice. The introduction of the ladder realizes a competitive element that should make the boys strive to move up to the top. They still enjoy it either way, but it’s more fun if you’re successful. And if you see yourself constantly losing, then maybe you realize it’s an area you can stand to improve upon. Saw some good things with regards to attacking 1v1 and some players shielding the ball well.

Plus: Players willing and eager to go 1v1. Seemed to be having fun. I was able to stop and give some instruction with regards to keep the ball safe while dribbling past an opponent but otherwise didn’t give too much coach intervention. Some players shield the ball well and others would have scored more goals (stopping the ball on the line) if they were able to shield the ball a little better.

Minus: Maybe not enough use of moves. Players prefer to use change of pace to beat an opponent, which is fine, but one dimensional. 1v1 defending was not very good.

Improvement: I think this went pretty well. I have a tendency to over-coach because I see so much that I can positively influence in all of the players. But I stepped back and let them play more, which is what they need. They’re improving by doing the activity, which is the ideal scenario. I did well to adjust the field size based upon the success/failure players were encountering. Also made use of player input when coaching (ex. asked them when dribbling past an opponent, which foot should the ball be on? And then helped them work through why it should be on the foot farthest away from the defender) Maybe I would call all of the players together at the end to see a final 1v1 between the top two players. This would add more importance to being the best and would maybe stimulate the competitive spirit of the others so that they will be the best next time. Then again this might not work as well due to their age.

With the ‘B’ team I used a 1v1 activity I found in a book I recently purchased. It ended up being a bit too confusing for the players as they have a teammate who basically does nothing half of the time. I’m not a fan of how that works, maybe I would do something more along the lines of having a continuous 1v1 with three goals (like this activity used) where the players switched after each goal and let the scored-upon team start by dribbling the ball in from the endline. So even though the same two players would be going against each other, they would alternate turns to start attacking and defending. After a period of time it would make sense to change teams around in some fashion (when using two fields you could just switch the pinny teams from the two fields). Unfortunately due to the fact that I was the only coach around and the ‘A’ team was arriving and needed to warmup, I didn’t get to spend as much time with this group as I would have liked. I let them finish with ten minutes of 3v3, although I would’ve liked for this time to be longer. I realize that it takes longer to get through each activity and still get what I want than I originally plan. I probably should run the practices a little tighter with regards to time spent per activity and move on to something different after the set time while still being cognizant of how they are progressing with the skill being focused on.

With the ‘A’ team I let them finish with a half hour of 3v3. They had cooperated well and they get the most joy out of scrimmaging. Plus I didn’t like how the one activity had gone with the ‘B’ team, so I scrapped it. I tried to give some instruction to the group while they were playing (’coaching in the flow’ in USSF parlance), but mostly in terms of asking them to think of how they could create more space for themselves or get open for a teammate to make an easy pass. I stopped it once when one player was trying to play a kick-in and his two teammates were hiding behind defenders and went about it by asking the passer if he could easily get the ball to his teammates and where he’d like them to move. I thought this was a good way of letting the players find the answer without telling them. Maybe (although their limited attention span makes this somewhat difficult) I would have the teammates switch spots with the passer to see what he sees and realize how they were in poor positions (stole this idea from Laureano Ruiz’s Spanish Soccer Coaching Bible). I was pleased that I was able to use more guiding technique this practice instead of always telling players the answer. It will hopefully make them better players and problem solvers in the future.

I still need to find more activities that stimulate them and that they enjoy playing. When I ask them for feedback they tell me they like scrimmaging the best. I’ll have to try more small-sided games and see how they like those. I still need more work as a coach and to do a better job with these guys. The age specific characteristics are harder to handle than I originally imagined. It’s all good experience for me and will make me better in the long run. I find that reviewing each practice like I am on this blog and thinking through things that go well and things that need work is really helping me to eliminate repeat mistakes. I recommend all coaches do so if they don’t already.

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Ignoring the training session I ran for the girls’ team several weeks back, I hadn’t really planned and run a training session since last spring when I was coaching high school JV girls. Even then I was really more of a trainer since I didn’t go to all practices or games, so going further back to fall of ‘06 was the last time I had control of the whole process from start to finish. There’s definitely a different pressure I put on myself to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. With the college team I know what to expect and have a good idea of how I can contribute at each practice (although i’m learning more and improving in this regard all the time). To top it off, I haven’t worked with this age group before (U-10 boys). So I was a bit unsure what to expect.

Everything turned out pretty well. It was definitely hectic controlling the whole group of eighteen players, which was further compounded by the fact that half of them were the ‘B’ team of this age group (I’m the head coach for the ‘A’ team and the trainer for the ‘B’). I felt fairly unprepared for this group a couple of weeks ago so I bought a book called Coaching Under 10s which is written by a guy involved with the KNVB, the Dutch equivalent of the USSF. The book proposes a ‘circuit model’ which basically entails setting up two activities to run simultaneously and then having the players rotate after twenty minutes. In this way it’s easier to set up and explain everything to the group and gets everyone on task much faster. The only clean up involved is removing some cones and you already have a field assembled for the next activity. I’ve already been doing the last part on my own, but it’s good advice. The downside is that the coach and players are generally more familiar with a system where the coach runs a single activity for the whole group and has a bit more control over making coaching points. I think the circuit model is supposed to aid in players learning from each other and playing with somewhat less structure/involvement from the coach so as not to suppress their natural curiosity/instincts.

I have to admit that I liked the circuit model after using it tonight. While I still had to go around and re-explain rules of each game (which this model is supposed to eliminate), the players were able to get on with it by themselves pretty well. The guys assisting me really helped out and everyone seemed to get into the flow pretty naturally. I definitely liked having things set up and planned out as too much time off task is really bad for this age. It was really easy to step in and out of the small groups (each activity consisted of no more than eight players) and provide instruction without really interrupting anything too much, which can be difficult with the more traditional method of coaching. That being said, I think this would work almost exclusively for individually focused skill and tactic work. For team or even group tactics, I’d like to be more involved and see everything as the coach instead of seeing bits and pieces from each group. I also found that the players didn’t seem to like the one activity which provided little opportunity for rest (mental or physical). But they loved the one where they were basically in line (although getting a high number of repetitions as the line was only about four players deep) and got the chance to execute a skill, receive feedback and go at it again thirty seconds later. The other activity ended up with players stopping or going half speed maybe because they couldn’t focus for that long. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time. I plan on using this style of coaching again, but will gradually use different exercises and probably do some practices where the whole group stays together so I can have some more control over them. Maybe I’ll only do that rarely if I think I’m getting good results. And if you’re lucky to have multiple assistants (I have two who are knowledgeable, quite good for U10s), it’s the best way to utilize their talents as well. They don’t feel awkward stopping the activity or a player and giving feedback, which can feel strange when one person is running the whole show.

The DVD portion of the book is decent, basically provides video of Dutch players doing the activities and being coached by Erwin Koeman. They seem really under control and focused for him! I guess I just need to become a professional coach…or let the players know that if they don’t work hard everyday then they’re gone at the end of the year, haha. On an unrelated note I just bought two other books, Zone Play by Angelo Pereni and Michele Di Cesare and Developing Game Intelligence by Horst Wein. The first book looks like an extremely thorough discussion of modern tactics and how zonal play throughout the whole field dominates those tactics. It’s written in 1998, so it might be a bit outdated, but I imagine 90% of the principles are applicable. The modern game has really only increased in speed somewhat and degree of defensive mindedness in those years I believe. Already learned some things about defending, I think it’s a book that will take a while to digest but will offer a ton of info. Wein’s book is supposed to be pretty awesome, judging from what I’ve read about it (which is limited). All about activities and coaching to help players understand the game. Maybe through reading it I can have a small part in ensuring that the next generation of American players aren’t ‘tactically naive’ compared to their Euro or South American counterparts. Hopefully I’ll be able to read them and provide reviews in the not too distant future.

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* From a tactical perspective though, I was disappointed with the US. Argentina’s attack is so fluid and incisive it’s incredible. I don’t think any other team in the world looks that good when attacking (although the Dutch counter attack looked unreal against Italy the other day). But Johnson and Donovan. Their off the ball movement is pretty weak (Donovan’s is better, but not by a whole lot) and what’s worse is that there’s very little help from the midfielders. It’s clear that the outside midfielders (Dempsey and Beasley) basically hug the touchline all game long. How many times do you watch the top teams and see that happen? Wingers cut inside on the dribble and to support all the time. If anything, modern soccer formations are typically more narrow than in the past, yet the US tries to spread things out as far as possible. Then we’re all at impossible angles to support when a ball reaches the strikers or is played into space for them to run on. Too much of the movement was reactionary, and consisted of one or two players, as opposed to most of the team. I think Bradley was probably trying to keep things tight, figuring it was a bad idea to attack too much and expose too much of the field for a swift Argentine counter. Makes sense, but I haven’t seen much better stuff during most of the games during Bradley’s tenure. At least let your own son (who scored something like 19 goals in the Eredivisie this year from the same position) get up and make late runs into the box or to support the attack. That drives me crazy almost more than anything. We still have a long way to go tactically folks.

* I have to admit I’m disappointed by the fact that the US appears to struggle to have any homefield advantage throughout the nation. I understand that soccer plays a greater part in immigrant and 1st-2nd generation families and thus those fans are more likely to travel greater distances to support their team (one of my friends who I attended the game with noted license plates from Maryland, Virginia, etc.). But what really irritates me are the Americans rooting against the USA. I had the displeasure of sitting one row in front of such a person, who continually complained when Argentina didn’t draw fouls and actually yelled “sucks” when pockets of American fans started chanting “USA.” I don’t have a problem with fans cheering for the team they support. I don’t have a problem when my Mexican-American friends, who were born in the United States, cheer for Mexico as it’s part of their heritage and their families support Mexico. The thing is, if the United States plays any other nation, they root for the United States because they also identify as Americans. Same for others I know who are Italian-Americans. But what I struggle to accept is fans who are either American born or are permanent residents of the United States, who openly cheer against the United States at any opportunity. Maybe it’s some of that damned Eurosnobbery, but it’s something I can’t accept. If you live in the United States, at least cheer for them if they’re playing against someone other than who you more closely identify with. Otherwise just move to another country please.

* Luciano Emilio, clearly in response to my article about his struggles, creates one goal and scores another as DC wins in Chicago 2-1 after having two men sent off and going down a goal in the first half. Incredible performance from the team and especially Emilio, who was dangerous all night and looked much sharper than he has in the previous month. Check out his gamewinner (in the 93rd minute no less) right here.

* I’m excited to start working with my two youth teams (U13 F at one club, U10 B at another), which should start in the first week of July, at least for the girls. I’m the trainer for the girls team, so I’ll just run their practices and kind of provide general counsel to the head coach in terms of what I think they should be focusing on during games, what the best course of action is for their year long development plan, etc. The girls apparently need a lot of work all around, so I’m eager to see how much can realistically be accomplished during a season. The plan is to start working hard on technique during the summer months when attendance isn’t at 100% and start including more tactical work once we have the whole team together. As for the U10 boys, I’m supposed to meet with my two assistants tomorrow to iron out details for the season. I hear they finished middle of the pack in a pretty strong league (top division) but weren’t that competitive with the top teams. I’m eager to here the reason as this club typically produces pretty good players (they feed into a top high school program). I haven’t worked much with young boys, so it will be a new challenge, but I think we can have success.

* Euro 2008, with nearly all games carried on ESPN 2 so far. MLS games carried on ESPN 2 on Thursday night. Soccer routinely making it into the Top 10 plays on ESPN every day (even from games I wasn’t really aware about, which is highly unusual). A Saturday MLS game on Fox Soccer Channel. I have to say that soccer coverage is the highest it’s ever been since I really started watching games in 1996. The ‘96-’97 Champions League final between Juventus and Real Madrid is the first game I really remember watching, taping, and watching again (Madrid won 1-0 from a Predrag Mijatovic goal). After that I’d go in my backyard and practice stuff I saw on the game. But back then there was one Champions League game on during the week. So things are moving in the right direction in this country. More and more I run into average sports fans who have a pretty good knowledge of soccer. I’m impressed when I meet friends of friends who are really into the game, own soccer jerseys, and can talk about the top teams, games, and transfer rumors with me (who few would argue is pretty obsessed with soccer). All great strides.

* Along the lines of great strides, what about Jozy’s transfer to Villarreal? Finished second in the very strong La Liga last year. If Jozy can become a big time player for them, he’ll be one hell of a national team player. We just need Freddy to start getting consistent time at Benfica and we’ll be on our way. And just think if Zizzo or Szetela pan out, or Bradley gets better and his dad realizes how to use him, or if any of those Bradenton kids (who beat a full strength U17 Brazil at the Nike Friendlies) continue to improve. We might have a decent team in 2010. The only question then would be whether we have a capable coach who can take advantage of our good (but not great) talent.

Expectations - While I think this is less of an immediate issue and rather one that contributed to some early losses, I think it’s still worth discussing. All the buzz around the league in the offseason/preseason was just how incredible DC looked on paper. Reigning MLS golden boot winner and MVP Luciano Emilio was returning to lead the attack. I don’t know off the top of my head how many years it had been since there was a 20 goal scorer in MLS, but that was Emilio last year. The expectation was that he would probably come close to his total and additional help up top would only make DC’s attack more effective. While Moreno doesn’t contribute much besides holding the ball and scoring chip shot pks, Kpene and Addlery did nothing last year. The arrival of bite sized striker Franco Niell (on loan from Argentinos Juniors of Argentina’s premier division) and the return of a supposedly reinvigorated Santino Quaranta (imagine having to salvage your career at 23) were cause to believe that an even more dangerous attack was on the cards. Add in the arrival of Zach Wells at goalkeeper, Gonzalo(s) Peralta and Martinez (the latter with Serie A and Colombian national team experience), the return of Fred, and most importantly, the designated player signing of Marcelo Gallardo and it looked like DC had cured several of their problems from last year (Boswell and Vanney at center back, the sometimes inconsistent Troy Perkins at goalkeeper, and the aging Christian Gomez at playmaker). No one doubted DC’s credentials in the offseason and while other teams made some bold moves, like LA hiring Ruud Gullit as coach or KC signing Claudio Lopez as their designated player, it looked like this would be the year DC should return to glory. So after another heart breaking loss in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup and a couple early season losses, the wolves had already come out, disappointed by DC’s surprising fragility.

Injuries - Loss of key players Josh Gros and Ben Olsen have been especially hard on DC for the lack of depth at their positions. In all honesty the salary cap in MLS prevents teams from having anything resembling depth so injuries to big time players can really kill a team. Josh Gros provided solid defense and very good overlapping runs/crosses down the left flank as either a outside back or wide midfielder. His combativeness and determination allowed him to really push and make plays when the team needed them. Similarly, Ben Olsen’s injury is the worse of the two. While Gros was in and out of the lineup last year due to his concussion/headache problems, Olsen has been the heart and soul of DC for several years now. You can’t mention the words combative, tireless, or determined without picturing Olsen going box to box to make plays on both ends of the field. McTavish looked decent in the beginning of the year, but he too has suffered injury problems and from the sounds of it, didn’t have a great game on his return last night. DC’s best player (in my opinion), however, is Fred and with quadriceps and hamstring problems causing him to miss several games there’s seemingly no one to play the left flank, not to mention that the defensively weak Quaranta has been deployed out of position on the right flank. No team plays well missing key players and playing other important ones out of position and DC is no different in this regard.

Leadership - The injuries segue nicely into the lack of the leadership that seems to currently envelope the team. That is a minor problem when a team undergoes cosmetic surgery over the offseason, but can be a serious issue when the entire squad is overhauled at nearly every position. With a new goalkeeper, new center backs, new playmaker, and season ending losses to two of your biggest on field leaders you need to have some strong personalities step up, immediately establish their credentials to the rest of the team, and then play extremely well while motivating the rest of the group to match their intensity/playing level. So far it appears that this hasn’t happened. I’ve seen pictures of Olsen helping out at practice, but he’s not able to be on the field during the games. Moreno possesses years of experience, but he doesn’t seem to be an outspoken individual on the field. Nor does anyone for that matter. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen defensive miscues, particularly between one of the centerbacks and Wells. I’ve read quotes where Wells claims he has to be more outspoken on the field. But being outspoken doesn’t mean rushing out blindly, which is what he seems to do most of the time. Someone needs to step up, play well consistently, and then get on his teammates when they slack. Unfortunately I don’t see that happening with anyone this season (maybe Fred if anyone).

The New Guys - As I mentioned, the roster was almost completely overhauled in the offseason. While they looked great before the season started, I’m not sure if any of the additions were upgrades over what DC already had. In my mind Wells has been worthless as a goalkeeper. I’d love to have a really solid guy back there, and while I don’t think Perkins was great (he was much better when he was worried Rimando would take over the starting job each week, which makes me wonder about his inner drive/personality), I think Wells is pretty dreadful. Sure Perkins basically cost us the Champions’ Cup series against Chivas (the real one) last year when he let the wet ball slip through his hands, but his positioning was pretty good, he made pretty good decisions, and only occasionally let in soft goals. He could be depended upon for the most part although I did think his lack of motivation was the reason he never looked as good as when Rimando’s injury allowed him to become the starter. But Wells’ positioning is pretty bad. He frequently gives up the near post and has allowed goals where no opportunity should really exist. The goal in the 2nd leg against Pachuca was back breaking for the team and while you have to anticipate the next play at every position, you can’t allow goals to the near post, it’s like Goalkeeping 101. His reflexes are good and he makes some great saves at times, but his communication is poor on top of his bad positioning. There have been several miscues throughout the season between Wells and his defenders which have on occasion lead to goals. Too many soft goals like the one Jorge Flores scored against DC on Saturday are examples of why I think Perkins was better.

The center backs are roughly an upgrade from Boswell and Vanney. Vanney was never that great and Boswell really blew it last year. He was very much involved in the two goals Chicago scored against DC in the playoffs (2nd leg I believe) and I had no problem with him being shipped out no matter how well he had performed previously. I’m not sure he’s done particularly well in Houston since leaving DC either. Martinez is on the wrong side of 30, but is pretty solid. He routinely shows good speed and excellent timing with moving out wide to tackle players on the flanks. A good upgrade over the old guys. But Peralta, taken from a 2nd division Argentine team, looks very good at times and at other times leaves no doubt as to why he was in the 2nd division. Too inconsistent in his play, Peralta will make some good tackles or good headers to clear dangerous balls, but can also get in the way of others’ defensive efforts and can be pulled out of position with good running from the other team. Not sure whether he’s worse than Vanney or similarly bad.

In the midfield, I think McTavish is an adequate deputy for Olsen. While not new and featured in some games last year, I think he looked pretty decent as a wide midfielder early in the season. I hope he helps ease the pain we all feel from Olsen’s shaky ankles. But the real change in midfield is showing Gomez the door to make room for Gallardo. Now Gallardo’s pedigree is much superior to Gomez’s, who has never been capped by Argentina, much less traveled with them to the World Cup. Gallardo also played for Paris St. Germain, a typically top team in France’s Ligue Un. However, he hasn’t really proven to be an upgrade over Gomez. Frankly I’m surprised at Gomez’s renaissance in Colorado and thought showing him the door, while tough from a personal perspective, was necesary in the ruthless pursuit of success. But I think Gomez, who prefers to receive the ball fairly high up the field and dribbles at opposing defenses where he can shoot if the opportunity arises or slide balls through to teammates to finish, is better suited to MLS’ style of play. Gallardo is clearly a more nuanced passer and I daresay more intelligent playmaker than Gomez, but his style is pretty dependent upon the talent that surrounds him. He’s a pure passer who drops deep to receive the ball and can spread it all around the field. But he’s not going to be able to carry half of a team’s scoring load. He can rack up assists if his teammates are up to the task of making crafty runs or applying a decent finish, but without that, Gallardo doesn’t offer anything more than Gomez. Could be an upgrade, but needs some more talent to help out, especially up front.

In attack we have Niell and Quaranta joining Emilio and Moreno. Quaranta seems suitably reinvigorated as all the preseason hype suggested and I’m glad he seems to have come to terms with what it takes to make it as a professional. Unfortunately he’s probably wasted his talent to a degree and won’t be able to make up for the time lost during prime development years that maybe could have seem him turn into an extremely good player. At the very least he probably could’ve become as good as Bobby Convey, who’s a decent Premiership winger and would be very good in MLS these days. But I don’t know that he’ll ever become a standout MLS player. He maybe will always be in the league as a number two striker, but we’ll see. He has the talent is a youthful 23 years old. I think his speed and skill can be dangerous up top and I thought he sparked the rout of Harbour View in the return leg at RFK when he entered as a second half sub. But as an outside mid he’s not great. He has too much defensive work to frequently get involved offensively and then the coach blames him when the team concedes goals. Put him up top to complement one of our slow strikers and I think we’ll see the best of him. And Franco Niell sucks. His feet are quick but he puts his head down and dribbles into three defenders and loses the ball. Plus he’s slow so his runs aren’t dangerous and while his feet are quick he really does nothing 100% of the time. Except the one goal he scored, which was nice. I hope for the sake of the Front Office that they never saw him play and signed him on reputation alone. But seriously, 150k/yr could be spent on like 2 decent players in MLS. Or put it all at one solid player who can start or come off the bench. Seriously, as bad as Addlery or Kpene and paid almost 10 times more, utterly ridiculous.

Tom Soehn - Now we’re starting to get to the real problems. I was cautiously optimistic when Soehn was hired seeing as he was assistant to Nowak when DC dismantled everyone in MLS en route to realizing it’s not how you play the regular season, like nearly every other league in the world, but how you do in the cup run at the end (called the playoffs here in the states), and the lack of squad rotation left the burnt out players too tired to finish what they started (twice). But his playing pedigree wasn’t really good and while I always hesitate to consider that a flaw seeing as I aspire to coach professionally and will probably never play at that level (neither did Mourinho or Rafa), it still worried me. MLS defenders, particularly in the earlier days, weren’t known for their tactical nous and Soehn has looked out of his depth most of last year and all of this year. He at times gets it all right, like the 2nd leg against Pachuca (I thought the idea of high pressure and winning the ball up high clearly worked well, DC just couldn’t score), but those times are few and far between. It’s impossible to tell if it’s really Soehn’s fault for DC’s recent struggles, but it just seems to me that most of his comments to the media are of the typical American soccer coach variety. We need more hustle, we need to work harder, etc. All the intangibles that at the youth level are typically indicative of a lack of understanding of the game. I don’t think this is necessarily any different. While Soehn undoubtedly has a deeper understanding of the game than myself, I see the fact that Emilio is typically receiving the ball about 30 yards from goal as a serious problem. The fact that we really have no fast strikers, besides maybe Quaranta, further compounds this problem. This just allows the opposition to compact the field and really squeeze DC until they give away possession. But really Emilio works best inside the box. He’s ok holding up the ball a la the typical target man but is terrible turning with the ball and has no pace so is unable to beat defenders 1v1. He needs to stay high where he has the best chance of finishing crosses and hitting shots from the edge or inside of the box. I think Soehn has worked to get Gallardo to play higher up the field which should help the attack as well, but best case scenario is he’s struggled to accomodate the new faces and get the team on the same page and worse he’s completely outmatched by other coaches in MLS and shouldn’t be a head coach. I don’t think Tom Soehn is the coach to lead this club forward. I like the idea of continuity within a club (see United, Manchester) and belive it breeds long term success, but the guy needs to be capable and I don’t know that Soehn is the answer.

Luciano Emilio - I really place a lot of blame on Emilio. And it’s not really fair to blame one guy for all of the problems DC is experiencing. But when you’re making the big bucks and you’re the league MVP, a certain standard is expected. I’m personally a fan of recruting quality individuals, guys you can count on to exhibit certain character traits you have deemed important. I think this is the basis of every organization, every team. And you try to find players to fit that mold and you rarely stray from that path or you’re lenient with your decisions and it comes back to haunt you. I believe DC strayed from the path with Emilio. While his club list isn’t extraordinarily long, I really think he’s basically a mercenary. The rumors swirling around online this offseason were that Emilio was unhappy he wasn’t offered more money after a great season and was hoping to be sold to a club in say, Mexico, where he could make a lot more cash. Money motivates a lot of modern athletes, but as a professional you’re required to honor the contracts you’ve signed and act in a professional manner no matter how bad the conditions may be. David Beckham is a model professional who has never looked to blame others or gotten upset and whined to the media when things haven’t gone his way. I think he was treated somewhat unfairly toward the end of his time at Real Madrid but again he handled it with dignity and preserved his class. Emilio on the other hand, has come back out of shape (according to Tom Soehn) and his touched has looked awful. Particularly in the early part of the season he squandered opportunities to score when it was harder not to. While it’s easy to overlook problems when you lead the league in goals scored, I’ve never been a big Emilio fan. I hate streaky strikers. Yeah it’s great you can score goals and when you get hot you put in two or three. But what about those clutch games when it doesn’t seem like the team’s going to score and you badly need a win? Will you step up and get a clutch goal? Maybe not if you regularly go through hot and cold streaks as Emilio has shown he is prone in his season and a little bit in the nation’s capital. I think last season his inconsistency, poor first touch, and poor decision making (I routinely yelled at the TV when I would see him misplay passes back to the midfield which would kill a promising attack) were overlooked by the goals he scored. But I noticed. And everyone does when you’re not scoring. The fact that the club has to up your contract and put you into the designated player bracket (which is really a pretty minor issue in terms of the money increase he gets) to try and motivate you just screams to me like he’s the wrong type of guy to have on your team. I only hope they manage to offload his bloated contract in the summer so they can sign a real striker. I don’t think Emilio offers enough as a goalscorer (unless he suddenly hits 20+ over the rest of the season) to justify his weaknesses and his contract. When someone gets that kind of money (particularly in regards to the rest of the team), there’s an obligation to play him. I hate to blame one guy for so many problems, but I really think that maybe Emilio is the biggest problem of all.

I know a lot of people online are talking about Henry possibly coming to MLS next year or a player that MLS should target, but why not Shevchenko? I think he’s in a similar position only a year older and his wife’s American. Plus they were even married in DC I believe. He’s reaching the end of his playing days, but like Angel has some good years left. I think he could tear MLS apart seeing as the offensive quality of the league has far outgrown the defensive quality over the past few seasons. I would love to see him wearing black and red. Does anyone else think he would make a good signing for an MLS team?

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Level: Beginner to Advanced

Pros: This book is intended to be a curriculum for teaching a Brazilian style of soccer and includes technical and tactical elements. Extremely thorough.

Cons: None

Let me start off by saying that I bought this book about a year ago in an attempt to learn more about how other nations teach their youth. I bought this along with two others, one related to Dutch youth coaching and the other to Spanish youth coaching. I started reading this book but was somewhat put off by the sheer amount of information included. Even reading something that seems relatively simple, like receiving the ball, is covered in so much detail throughout several pages that I became lost. While it was very interesting and a lot of the information was even pretty new to me, I became bogged down and put the book away. But about a week ago I dusted this book off and decided to give it a real fair shot. It has since become maybe my favorite book of the moment. Weighing in at a whopping 280 pages, this book blows so many others out of the water with the depth of its coverage.

It starts with a brief overview of what the author considers some of the more influential soccer philosophies in the world, including the Brazilian, Dutch, German, and British styles. This book is ten years old (was 1998 really that long ago?) and so it can be forgiven for being somewhat simplistic in this regard. I would argue that the Germans don’t necessarily play quite the way the book portrays anymore. And I think the author could’ve spoken more of a Continental European style which borrows elements from all of these into something unique, but I suppose he does boil it down to the most basic elements. The second chapter, Seasonal Planning, is completely unlike anything I’ve read in any other book. It provides the reader with several charts (monthly, weekly, game analysis, physical training, goalkeeping) with which to plan activities and gauge progress over time. Additionally, this chapter provides information on how professional clubs are organized (basic functions of head coach, assistant coach, etc.), describes what sort of development should be occurring at each age group (this info is gold) and even provides instruction for organizing tryouts (complete with explanation of how to judge each quality [speed, leadership, body type, etc]). I challenge you to find better or more detailed information in another book. I’ve only really conducted one tryout before, when I was coaching a 9th grade boys high school team and I wish I would’ve had this info available to me at that time (it will, however, require that you have a couple of assistants to help run the tryout). Chapters 3 and 4 provide some solid information on role modeling, proper behavior, and some other psychological principles but this info can be found in many other books. The fact that this is included, spanning two short chapters, further illustrates how in depth The Principles of Brazilian Soccer actually is.

Chapter 5 is where things start to get interesting. This is an entire chapter devoted to conditioning, Brazilian style. Besides providing guidelines for the physical trainer (almost always the coach here in the USA), there’s info on how to develop a conditioning program with respect to the players’ ages. It includes a lot of circuit training exercises, all of which have time guidelines per age group. Warmup exercises are not overlooked either. This chapter provides the first basic info on how everything the Brazilians do is geared toward their electrifying style of play. The constant movement through warmup and various movements incorporated into the physical conditioning are quite different from the standard training done in the United States, which is informed from strength training (at least to my experience). As I’ve mentioned previously, I once played for a Guatemalan coach who made us warmup and condition in a very similar manner. It’s very tough on the legs at first, even though I was in quite good shape at the time. All sorts of leg and arm movements while running combined with balance and coordination training really made a positive impact on my play. I really believe it provides the players with the flexibility needed to play more loosely and explosively.

The next 75 pages (!) completely cover all of the basic skills like passing, receiving, heading, finishing, and shooting. I know that my technique is pretty decent and don’t have trouble teaching these aspects, but the small considerations covered in the book were all the small details I wish I had been taught when I was growing up. Everything from what surface to receive the ball with depending on the height of the ball to the proper considerations when utilizing a toe pass. Literally every aspect of technique is covered in these pages. I think every coach can pick up something from reading through this as we all have techniques that we’re more comfortable teaching than others. Furthermore, for every single one of the techniques there is a complete progression from the absolute basics of the skill up through all of the tactical considerations on what variation of the skill to use under what circumstances (like when to cross early versus dribble to the endline and cross). After that is covered, there’s several pages covering teaching the skill with regards to game context to ensure the players are capable of executing the skills under realistic pressure. If you follow the steps covered in the book I have no doubt that your players will appear infinitely more confident executing their skills in the game.

The last chapter covers the tactical principles inherent to the Brazilian style. Again, this is some mind blowing stuff that I really can’t do justice to with the written word. All sorts of offensive patterns are covered in this book, developed from the absolute basics of a keeper, a couple of defenders, and a couple of midfielders, up through the entire team. The basics are included so the players always have the knowledge to fall back on if the pattern breaks down or if the best option isn’t available (which obviously happens innumerable times during the game). This chapter really just covers everything about the basic way all Brazilian teams play. With outside backs overlapping and getting down the line to provide crosses to the runs players should make to get on the end of said crosses to how to circulate the ball if a crossing attempt isn’t available. How the players in each position should move relative to their teammates to maintain team shape, triangulation, and balance. Combined with the technical knowledge from the previous chapter, the players will have all the necessary knowledge to play technically stylish and tactically sharp soccer. Really. Anything you could possibly want to know, even how the team should collapse defensively, is covered in this chapter. It truly is a whole curriculum for teaching the Brazilian style of play.

This is probably the most important book I’ve ever read. I don’t know that I necessarily captured my enthusiasm for this material in the rest of the review, so let me state it as plainly as possible. This is one of those books that truly changes the way you think about the game. Just like when you hear a piece of music or a band and can’t imagine what your life was like before you were aware of it/them, this book is exactly the same. I always appreciated the way the Brazilians played soccer as much as the next guy; maybe a bit moreso because of my affinity for attacking soccer, but to actually see the inner workings of their philosophy and how it can be implemented is wonderful. I’m about to start coaching a U10 boys team for a local club here soon and I’m eager to start putting some of these ideas into practice. The importance of developing exceptional technical skills at a young age can never be overstated and in my opinion this book has filled all the tiny gaps in my technical knowledge. While I was confident of my coaching ability before, I feel like I can really provide my players with a unique experience due to the influence of this book on my own thoughts and philosophy. While I believe that the high school or advanced coaches will take the most away from this book, particularly if they’re looking to utilize some of the common patterns, beginner coaches can learn an exceptional amount simply from the technical skills chapter. I’m so glad that I decided to take this book off the shelf and give it a fair chance. The information contained within is a virtual goldmine for any coach who’s interested in adding a litle ginga to their team’s play.

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Level: High School/Advanced

Pros: This book offers a plethora of activities geared towards all aspects of attacking play. Both tactical and technical elements are covered, broken out by chapter. Organization is decent and some information is provided as introduction to each set of activities.

Cons: While each chapter focuses on a different aspect of attacking play, there is little or no organization within the chapters. If you’re not an experienced coach who knows how to put these activities together, you’re better off looking for another book. A lot of the activities seem to focus on a very English style of play. If you don’t know what this means or don’t know how to adapt these activities to fir your team’s style, you’re again better off with another product.

Attacking Soccer is really a collection of activities/drills that focus on several different aspects of attacking play. The book does feature a bit of explanation with regards to each aspect covered, but don’t expect things to be covered in depth. That being said, the start of each chapter does provide a bit of interesting insight to the topic, albeit a less than deep discussion. Nearly every aspect of attacking soccer is covered and the book needs to be credited for the breadth of its coverage. For years I didn’t like this book as I was looking for more in depth information about each aspect covered in this book. It wasn’t until I set down to read this book with the intention of reviewing it that I began to appreciate it for its strengths. There is some very good information and activities contained within, but this is not the one book you need to remedy your team’s attacking woes. Nor will reading this book imbue you with the knowledge to transform your U-12s into the Brazilian national team. But if you want to add some variety to your attacking play-related sessions or want some ideas for teaching a specific aspect of attacking play, you can use this book.

The real strength of this book, as has been mentioned, is that it provides numerous activities for all aspects of attacking play. There are activities related to maintaining possession, switching the point of attack; there are throw-in routines, corner kick routines, several free kick routines, as well as sections focusing on developing the individual attacking skills like passing, dribbling, etc. Credit has to go to Joe Luxbacher, and it should be mentioned that each chapter is written by a different coach. There are several Division I college coaches as well as professional coaches and federation (USSF) staff coaches who contribute. But despite the variety of coverage provided within this book, it’s not necessarily one of my favorites. I’ve mentioned elsewhere on The Upper Ninety the fact that I’m biased against what I consider to be a more English or Northern European style of play where wide flank play and long direct balls into attacking spaces are prevalent. Thus I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that I believe almost all of these activities are geared towards that style of play. It’s somewhat ironic that the second activity in the entire book is based upon playing to a midfielder’s feet out of the back, but this is quickly corrected by the next activity, which is playing balls from the backs the length of the field in the direction of the strikers. The last activity in Chapter 1 also features balls from the back four to space for the strikers to run onto. I believe this succinctly sums up the entire book.

However, there is some style-neutral stuff in here that’s pretty solid. We have a former Pittsburgh Riverhounds coach writing a chapter on playing through the middle which features some good activities for circulating the ball as opposed to whacking it long. But within this chapter is my main reason for saying this book is not for a beginner audience. Some of the activities (this happens throughout the book) seem to take a step backwards. While one might include each team playing in a specific direction, the following activity is a directionless game. In my mind, this is a step backwards. The game with each team playing to a direction is more game like and should necessarily follow a directionless activity. I’m sure there are some more specific high level applications of the reverse, but for most practical purposes I find this to be one of the book’s major faults. It’s really not a huge deal as a knowledgeable coach can easily recognize the issue and plan accordingly. But for me it seems like lazy editing or arrangement and is a reason why this book isn’t for beginner coaches. Lastly, the free kick routines and patterns of play are kind of weak. I think it’s kind of hard to really develop original routines for dead ball situations and partly due to this I believe the simpler the better. How many times do you see professional teams use all sorts of misdirection runs with balls played into player X running this way to play back to player Y who plays it out wide to player Z…you get the point. I think a couple of players around the ball and some intelligent runs are all that are necessary. A few wrinkles are useful, but I’m not a fan of the complicated or seemingly useless routines found in the book. Likewise I think the patterned plays are a little too simplistic. Some are somewhat useful but I’m not crazy about them. They’re mostly two passes and look for a cross where only two or three players are involved. I mentioned before that I prefer ball circulation styled attacking and these don’t quite fit the bill. It all falls into the rather direct style of play that has clearly influenced this book.

I recommend this book for high school or advanced coaches who want some activities for developing attacking play. If you prefer a counter attacking style or a more direct style of play a la the lower to middle Premiership teams, I think this book will be helpful. If you prefer attacks that circulate the ball more and are more akin to a South American style or Continental style, then I don’t think this book will be your best purchase. In contrast, I really like The Principles of Brazilian Soccer by Thadeu Goncalves which I was reading last night. There are much better ideas for pattern play that differ based upon what part of the field in which the ball is won. Goncalves goes into detail as to where certain positions should move in relation to the attack, what to do if the attack breaks down, etc. Much more detail than in Attacking Soccer. Overall this is a decent book, a good one if you’re influenced by the Northern Europeans, but I just don’t think this book offers enough that isn’t basically common knowledge/experience to really warrant a purchase. Maybe check it out from a library (especially if your club has one) or borrow it from a friend. Some good ideas, just nothing incredible.

But it’s mostly good news on that front: while the head coach and I are unhappy with the number of players who didn’t seem to stick too closely to the workout packet provided for winter conditioning work, it does appear that the three rising seniors who will be captains next year are totally on board with our philosophy. I should mention that the program has been very unsuccessful for the past several years and doesn’t have much in the way of success throughout their history (certainly in the past 15-20 years at least). Thusly, a less than ideal mentality had spread throughout the team. I actually played at this school my freshman year of college when I was recruited by a coach who intended to turn the program around. He had a successful year which enticed several recruits like myself, but he unfortunately took a different job that prevented him from coaching the college team. I played one year under the previous regime, so I can speak first hand for team mentality and environment, which was not conducive to winning more than a beer pong tournament. But the three seniors-to-be have followed the workouts and look sharp in training. One of them has visibly trimmed down and just looks more serious. Overall they try to push their teammates and are accepting their responsibilities well. This will be crucial for success next year. With the captains setting the right tone, it will be much easier to get the younger guys to follow suit. When we started last week, I was expecting to be disappointed by the quality of play as players who didn’t push themselves in the off season would take a while to work the rust off. However, everyone looked pretty sharp. I dare say they look at least as good as they did at the end of the fall season and some are probably looking a bit better. One freshman striker in particular has impressed me with his technical sharpness and appears more confident in his play. While he still has a lot to work on tactically, I think he’ll get a couple next season and could be a pretty good player in our conference junior and senior years.

We’ve also had a couple of players cut themselves, which makes our job for the fall that much easier. One was a headcase who just wasn’t capable of playing at the college level. I believe nearly anyone can play at the college level if they work hard enough, but it’s much better if that hard work is invested when the player is in his teens than when he’s almost twenty or so. I don’t think this player had the mentality to make the necessary improvements that would have yielded playing time. Another player came out for the first day and didn’t come back. Unfortunately we haven’t seen one of our goalkeepers, who is very talented and performed well in the few games he played last year. He struggled with injuries and mentality. I don’t know that he is serious enough to prepare himself the way a college athlete must prepare himself both physically and mentally. It’s a shame as he’s stronger than the goalkeeper who saw the most time last year, but I always have more time for a player who is dedicated and desires to improve himself. In that case, I’d much prefer the goalkeeper we have, even if his natural abilities aren’t as great as the other guy.

I’m interested in seeing how the recruiting class ends up. I’m afraid we’re going to be a bit thin at some key positions. We have a good target man striker coming in, who impressed me when I saw him play with this high school. I think with some good players around him he’ll be able to link up well and get in the box to finish crosses. He’s deadly with his head and I think he’ll add a different dimension to our attack. Most of our other strikers try to get face up to go at defenders, but all of them lack breakaway speed and the tactical knowledge to make the correct runs. I’m trying to figure out how to coach them better as I was a striker throughout my career. I had the last gear to separate from defenders, particularly if I could run onto the ball, and I think I made pretty good runs for the most part. All of our attacking players get caught from behind when they get the opening to go forward. It’s frustrating because it kills off many attacks when we have to pull the ball back and try to build up closer to their goal when everything is congested. We mostly lack the players who can break down defenders in tight space like that and I dare say the average Division III team lacks the quality to break a defense open through team movements. I’m trying to work with our strikers to be able to shoot after getting just a bit of space. It’s more likely that they’ll be able to unbalance a defender from a simple movement and open a tiny window than completely get past a defender 1v1. It’s tough to teach the strikers which runs to make because the situations change so frequently. They really have to have an idea of what to do at all times and too often I see them make poor decisions. The one I’ve worked with the most has gotten better (he’s the most complete package we have at the position), but still isn’t scoring the number of goals that will make him a dominating player in our conference…and he’ll be a senior next year. Maybe I was bit more natural at it than I realized, but I refuse to accept that. If I’m going to be serious about coaching at the next level I need to figure out how to improve the play at the striker position. I think I’ll try to talk to the head coach about taking them aside next year during practice and trying to work very intensely on some specific work like I mentioned above. I think the way I learned was mostly from my dad correcting my mistakes time and time again until my instincts were more correct.

Part of it is mentality as well. I think my instincts are very predatory and I always had the knack for finishing from any way possible. One of my favorite goals was from when I was a youth player (about fourteen) and playing against one of the top 4 teams in the state (Julian Valentine of Wake Forest, US U-20, and LA Galaxy fame was one of their defenders). After some bum officiating throughout the game, I was knocked down inside the box while the ball got played out wide. I was frustrated and slow in getting up off the ground while I protested the call. There were some bodies in the box as my team tried to force a goal. All of a sudden a cross came in from the wide left (I was sitting about the left edge of the six) when I saw the ball falling in the gap between a defender and the goalkeeper. It came over the defender’s head and the goalkeeper was running out from the goal line to catch the ball. As he came out to grab it, I, while sitting on the ground, lifted my right foot up to meet the ball and popped it over the keeper’s head. Goal. But enough of my own self celebration. You have to score them any way possible and ALWAYS want to score above all else. I think the players with that mentality are the natural strikers. Maybe others become strikers because of their speed or technical skills when they are younger and just grow up playing the position. But it takes that mentality and the clinical edge (ice running through your veins) to be good at the position. I see so many players skying the ball over the goal. But you have to be singularly focused until the goal comes. You can’t think about the defenders or anything except the way you’re going to strike the ball and where you’re going to put it. I never hear or see almost anything else when I’m thinking of scoring. I make the decision to attempt the goal and instinctually calculate where to put it, how to strike it, and when to pull the trigger. And my mind is calm and focused until it’s in the net. It’s like being a goalkeeper. It’s a different mentality. I could never be a goalkeeper because I don’t have that mentality, but I have a striker’s mentality. Why do strikers sometimes work better when they’re all alone up top? Why do some seem so distant or self centered when compared to their teammates? The job requires a different mentality where you have to be wholly confident in yourself and your ability no matter how many opportunities you spurn, no matter how many times teammates yell at you that they were open, because you have to know that you’re the one most qualified to take the chance.

Well that rambled on longer than I thought it would. Besides the college team I accepted a position coaching a U-13 girls team which will provide some much needed revenue. There’s also the possibility of coaching a U-10 team at another club which I hope comes through. I should know in the next month or two whether that will happen. I never hold out hope in this business though. It’s tough to break into and really, like most things, is all about who you know. Who I know helped to get me the college job, but more experience will unlock more doors. I’ve also been training a U-10 girls rec team as a favor to someone I know who also has a busy schedule and is trying to do a good job with the girls. I think doing volunteer work puts some things in perspective and it helps me appreciate the time that volunteers invest to provide children with the opportunity to experience and enjoy this game. I’m thinking about contacting the club and trying to drum up some personal coaching business. I talked with them about it two years ago or so and things were about to go through but I had my first of two knee injuries which put the kibosh on that. I think I’d be more prepared to do it now anyway with more coaching experience under my belt. On top of the coaching stuff I’ve been rehabilitating my second knee injury (ACL reconstructed) which is about three times a week (two if I’m lazy) and chasing paper four days of the week at a restaurant. Hopefully that job will fall by the wayside within the year (the sooner the better).

Last thoughts: my beloved DC United fell to Pachuca earlier 3-2 on aggregate. Two solid goals after the 85th minute gave me some hope, but it was too little too late. MLS squads are still not deep enough to compete over a sustained period against Mexican teams, but the quality is improving, mostly due to the foreign imports. Tom Soehn had very little he could bring off the bench. Loanee Franco Niell was about it and he actually contributed a goal, although I don’t expect much from him this year. Luciano Emilio is also one of the most frustrating players I’ve ever had to watch. He needs so many opportunities to score that it’s embarrassing. He had converted one of his THREE (3) clear cut opportunities, DC might be in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup Final. His second, where he took too many touches inside the box, after collecting a great Moreno pass with the WRONG foot was the worst. I love him when he scores, but I really don’t care for him all that much when I’m not reveling in post goal celebration. I wish DC would find a more consistent performer. Emilio is too streaky. Were he consistent he might actually be too good for MLS, but then I see his poor touches, inconsistent passing, and inability to do anything except come back to the ball and take multiple touches and I’m brought back down to earth. At least Quaranta is clearly going to do some damage this year. I always liked him and am glad to hear his story. He’s got his head on straight now and I hope to see good things from him. DC’s backline will be very hard to contend with this year. Martinez and Peralta are sick nasty although Wells isn’t any upgrade from Perkins. He’s pretty much equal, give or take a little bit. I was never super psyched about Perkins by the way. But I think Soehn actually did some good coaching this series against Pachuca. I think the pre season form and insane altitude at Pachuca’s stadium cost DC the first game, but he made some intelligent comments pre game about pressuring Pachuca’s back line and the like. It clearly paid off in the first half. They gave up one good opportunity which Wells did very well (no pun intended) to save and created three for the ever wasteful Emilio. Gallardo almost scored a sick half volley as well, but put it just over. The goal they gave up was merely a result of pushing up in search of two goals as time was running out. I had Soehn marked as a motivator type, a la Bruce Arena, who never seemed to vary his tactics much. But some good signs from Soehn. He may yet make a contender of some sort out of DC. Superliga maybe? I think Superliga victory and MLS Cup or Supporter’s Shield would be worthy goals for this DC team. Good to see MLS continuing to improve across the board though. But jeeeeeez, can Houston find a worst backup goalkeeper? I watched their Texas derby against Dallas this weekend and he sucked. Then I saw him play against Saprissa tonight. First and third goals. Seriously? Were I Dominic Kinnear I might send some of their scouts out to look for the fountain of youth so Onstad can play a few more years. This Caig dude should return to whatever local pub league he came from. I hope to have some more book/DVD reviews up shortly. I enjoy doing them, but take into account the fact that I have to read a whole book to do the review. It takes longer than I thought it would to do a good job. The DVDs are better, but I don’t have as many coaching related ones. We’ll see what I can come up with in the next week or so though.

My personal belief is that the Academies will help because the players will be placed in a more professional environment. Instead of playing in a regional premier league, or worse, against local competition, the clubs will be competing against a select group chosen for their quality from across the nation. No longer will clubs steamroll their way through state cups and face little opposition until they encounter similar-strength programs at nationals. The clubs won’t have to travel to tournaments on opposite coasts to play a couple strong teams and a couple of weak teams. The quality is assured by the USSF, which means that these clubs should face much better competition on a more regular basis. And because these clubs are seriously limited in what competitions they can be involved with outside of the Development League, there’s much less risk for burnout as kids are no longer playing 60-80 games per year. There’s a ratio of games to practices to ensure the Academy club players receive ample training time as well. All of these improvements lead me to believe that the players will be better prepared than in the past. I don’t think that means that suddenly we’ll be producing fifty top professional prospects each year as opposed to the five or ten we do now (I’m thinking of players that are able to sign with quality professional teams instead of entering college). But I do think this will raise the overall level of the average player, which in theory should produce some better college players, some better MLS players, some better senior national team players. I stress that these small steps will help, but will not be a panacea.

That being said, I think the whole initiative has the potential to provide great benefits to the US player pool. Right now I think the quality of coaching and players is too dispersed among the sixty-some odd clubs that are involved as well as those who aren’t involved with Academy clubs. However, it also appears that some of these Academies are starting to become slightly regionalized, so as opposed to representing one club, they’re acting as a pinnacle for several clubs to aim their prospects at. Examples include Chicago Magic/Chicago Wind merger (only at Academy level) and the Schulz Academy holding open tryouts/forming a sort of alliance in the Treasure Coast area, which comprises several clubs. I think this is a good situation and believe it will continue at it adds depth to the player pools in each area. In essence, I see a more European model emerging from this system as the Academies adopt other clubs as feeders and become more regionalized, all eventually hoping to get players involved with either the youth national teams, or hopefully, with MLS clubs. As players like Matt Kassel and Jorge Flores develop through the MLS youth systems and are able to sign pro contracts, I think the MLS clubs will really be able to select from the top talent in their respective regions and will thus be viewed as a step above the average Academy. Thus we will begin to see a more direct connection from youth player at random club to national team or MLS player.

But those are simply my thoughts on the Development Academies and the trends I see or believe will occur. It’s the here and now as the Academy system takes flight that the article examines and as I see great potential, it’s important to keep everything in perspective. And some of the comments from on high really bother me. We hear the argument all the time about how the US has never produced a world class player. We’re seeing more and more potentially very good players, but we have yet to produce that diamond that shines on the world stage. To me, along with what we know about development procedure and policy in the US and abroad, means that the United States still needs to make changes at nearly all levels before we can produce players of the quality seen in Argentina, Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy. As a coach in the system who is eager to learn and improve, I’m constantly looking for more information and guidance from more experienced coaches. In the aforementioned nations, there are players who were outstanding players or have proven themselves outstanding coaches. But when you look at the very cream of the crop in the United States, most everyone is quite unproven from a global perspective. Bruce Arena performed well with the senior national team and DC United, but has never coached a foreign club. I think the US would be well served to do everything they can to learn from their European and South American brethren, so I’m disheartened when I read our national team coach, Bob Bradley, state:

“We all are respectful of what goes on around the world. Many coaches in this country have gone to great lengths to learn from methods and coaches around the world, so I think we’re always looking to see how things get done elsewhere,” Bradley said. “In the end it has to be applied to what goes on here. You have to understand soccer in the United States and understand our levels and where we are with leagues and youth programs and the college system. That’s all important. We’re always trying to balance those 2 things. There are those people who sometimes believe that all the answers need to come from somewhere else, but there are a lot of very, very good people in this country who have worked in the game for years. So you need to balance between having an open mind about ways to improve and– recognizing the unique aspects of soccer here and the good things that have gone on here.”

It’s good to be respectful and good to have enough confidence in your ability going forward that you don’t have to abandon your ideas for someone else’s. That being said, there are other nations who have won multiple World Cups and consistently produce great players. Some may say that there are socioeconomic differences that lead Brazil and Argentina to be able to produce players at the quantity they do, but surely the United States and Spain or France have enough in common that we can more closely emulate some of their methods. This sort of logic really ticks me off. From my experience, those involved with the USSF more often than not always want everyone else to understand that emulating other nations simply isn’t that easy nor necessary. They want to chuckle at those foolish enough to think that the success of other nations has surely left clues as to those successes. Everyone thinking logically like that must simply understand that because our youth programs are not as strongly tied to a professional system like in other nations and that the majority of our youth players are fed into the college soccer system, we simply must spend years figuring everything out on our own. Why look to more successful models and try to install useful elements (think what the Japanese have done with soccer in their country) when you can spend an eternity reinventing the wheel? That stereotypically American arrogance drives me insane every time I hear it. If you ever stop and ponder why the United States, with its vast amount of resources, hasn’t produced a world class player or placed beyond the quarterfinals of the World Cup (somewhat luckily if you want to be cynical), just listen to the top brass in our country speak about player development and the direction it needs to take.

I do agree that the United States has specific challenges, just as every nation does. But that doesn’t mean that we need to mostly figure out on our own how things could possibly work. The NCAA’s rules and structure are extremely detrimental to player development. The players don’t get enough games and training. There can be a lot of variation between quality of opponents on a given team’s schedule. There are limits to what the players can and can’t do with regards to playing/training with professional clubs. These are challenges the United States needs to solve before we reach our potential as a soccer nation. But BYU’s soccer team doesn’t play in an NCAA conference. They play in the Premier Development League, an amateur/semi-pro league that is recognized as the best of its kind in the nation. They aren’t limited by NCAA statutes, only by the PDL’s rules. It would certainly be challenging, but finding ways to get more players into similar situations year round (many top college players participate in the PDL during the summer) would improve the player pool. Surely universities would be unwilling to move in the direction BYU has taken due to money and publicity reasons. But David Richardson of Chicago Sockers mentions is quoted in the article as saying that “U.S. Soccer has $40 million or more it’s trying to figure out how to spend.” Might it be reasonable to suggest some of this money could go towards compensating or rewarding universities that make similar changes as BYU, if at all possible? Maybe start a college league like they have started the Development Academy League with some of that money being used to reward the members who join (meeting certain criteria established by US Soccer) and paying for TV production (Fox Soccer Channel already broadcasts some Division I soccer games each week during the season)? Now that might be some direct connectivity that Bradley speaks about. That way US Soccer would be completely free of outside interference with relation to player development. They would set all the rules from top to bottom.

I think until we have more coaches striving for intensive education experiences in top soccer environments; until we recognize we still have a lot we can learn and incorporate from other nations; and until we can make changes to either the college system or the fact that the majority of player pool passes through said system, the United States will continue to struggle to reach the true soccer potential it’s capable of reaching.

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I think it only makes sense to examine our problems somewhat in regards to England because, while our nation is huge and culturally diverse, from the top down we have mostly adopted practices from England in regards to soccer. I’m sure it’s because a language barrier exists when comparing the United States to France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, etc. that we have looked to our English brethren for guidance in the sport. But now is the time for the United States to try and adopt ideas and practices more common among those nations, the true world’s elite.

Some of the interesting points the article makes are the ways in which the structure differs in France and Italy. In Italy, for example, players participate in small sided games (SSGs) until they are they are thirteen. How many clubs or leagues do we see in the US playing nine-a-side at U-13? Quite few, if any, I imagine. While some recreational leagues may play small sided all the way up through the age of thirteen, I’m sure very few ‘travel’ or ‘premier’ leagues follow suit. I know that through the influence of US Soccer there has been additional emphasis placed on SSGs at age group level. While it would have been common ten years ago to see players at the young ages playing eleven-a-side, it’s now at the point where most leagues and clubs are at least making an effort to use SSGs as the competition format, particularly at the younger ages. I think SSGs have a strong connection to the tactical development of young players. While they also increase the number of touches, and thus technical ability of each player, the fewer players on the field equals simpler soccer problems to solve. This makes it easier to reinforce good habits, particularly those of supporting runs. I think using SSGs makes it easier on the coaches to identify problems and correct them among players and keeps things simple so the players learn the basics more quickly. It looks like we’re already developing better players in the United States, judging by the personnel and their results at tournaments like the U-20 World Cup and U-23 Olympic Qualifying, but we’ll probably have to wait another 5-10 years to really see the results of increased attention to SSGs.

The style of play in the continental nations also requires a bit of examination. From my experience watching games on TV, it seems like the Italians are possibly the most technically and tactically precise of any in Europe. The player positioning is superb and there are very few mistakes made when performing the range of basic skills. The fact that the Premiership is so fast probably adversely affect quality of all technical execution, but the game is really end to end with much less adherence to strict tactical plans. La Liga is somewhere in between, with technically sharp players who are relatively disciplined tactically. That being said, I think Serie A is one of the more boring leagues to watch week in and week out. Just like any league, the top teams are usually fairly enjoyable, but the average team in the top flight is where you can really see the true quality of a nation’s players. The Italians are almost like slaves to tactics though, and the reason I find their league somewhat less entertaining is that everything is precisely measured and there are few moments where opportunity takes center stage. Right now the average players in the United States rely too much on athleticism and are beginning to show signs of technical precision as well. But we still lack the quality tactical play that will propel our players to the next level. We’re still chasing England in all of these regards, but seem to be recognizing the fact that we also need to carve our own path to the top tier. That the US is a maturing soccer nation with so many different influences to consider both helps and hurts. From all corners of our nation we have individuals with great experience in foreign soccer cultures teaching our youth their way of doing things. It’s great to have that cosmopolitan flavor throughout the United States, but it also makes me wonder what would happen if we declared a somewhat ‘national style’ a la the Netherlands. All of the Dutch players grow up playing in a 4-3-3 with real wingers. This makes it easy for the national team as the players all know how their system is intended to be played. They are constantly producing players that fit this system because this is what they learn. This could help our youth development to have some specific standards that clubs must adhere to when coaching youth players. While it might not work as well with a fledgling soccer nation like the United States, it’s interesting to think of what the best path possible is and whether a ‘national style’ would be beneficial in the long term.

While some may argue that a foreign national coach will help alleviate these problems, I respectfully disagree. I do believe that a foreign coach (like an Italian, Frenchman, or Spaniard, but not the average Englishman) would introduce a greater degree of tactical sophistication to our senior team, but I don’t think it would really solve any problems in the long run. I don’t know that we would be necessarily that much more (or any more) successful at the World Cup, which is all the senior team is about. But hiring a foreigner as a technical director to our youth national teams might push the United States in the right direction with regards to player development. For too long I feel that we’ve been attempting to figure everything out on our own. Sure we hired Carlos Quieroz (Sir Alex Ferguson’s right hand man at Man U) to write the 2010 report, but from what is commonly understood, very little of that report was every utilized. It did result in Generation Adidas, which has done some good for MLS, and Bradenton, which is the crown jewel of US player development, so it did yield some positives overall. But hiring an experienced foreign coach to make changes and adjustments to the way our youth soccer players are educated could provide the necessary boost that would take years to happen otherwise. The French won the World Cup in 1998, ten years after the creation of Clairefontaine, an institution similar to Bradenton. Clearly we are moving in the right direction, but have we done enough?

Where England and the United States are close to level terms is with regards to youth trainers. Just like in England, we have the least experienced and least qualified coaches working with the youngest ages. The more experienced coaches naturally want to be working with the older age groups, where they can teach more complicated subject matter like higher level tactics. With the young players, it’s really a matter of being patient and not expecting too much too soon. With older players the coach can demand that they learn faster and the ones who don’t simply fall by the wayside. This is true all over the world. When the U-18 players don’t make the grade in terms of what they’re supposed to learn, they’re forced to leave the club they’re currently at. This happens from professional clubs in Europe to top level premier teams in the United States. With the youngest ages though, particularly in the United States, we don’t have a ‘premier’ system in place that selects for the ones that are currently most capable. While Ajax, of the Netherlands, world renowned for their youth development system may have one year contracts stipulating a player learns ‘x, y, and z’ or is not offered a contract the next year, the local soccer club can’t typically afford to cut the less promising eight year olds (nor should they, as they aren’t offering a direct path to the pros like Ajax is). I think the youth clubs need to make some changes so that more experienced coaches are working with the younger age groups, at least at the premier clubs. If the clubs brought in specialized skills coaches to work with players outside of the normal practice (like an extra session a week for ‘x’ amount of weeks or something like that), I think the technical quality of the players would significantly improve.

While the United States has made great strides in player development, we have yet to produce a world class talent (a player who would be an automatic selection for any national team). We still have much work to do before ours is a truly great soccer nation. I hope we can learn from the mistakes of others like England as well as the success of some South American and continental European nations to shorten the time before now and our first World Cup victory. While articles like these inevitably raise more questions than they answer, I’ll take my own stab at some changes I believe the United States should make to improve the quality of our player development.

Matt’s recommendations for change:

These changes are based on idealism, not necessarily feasibility:

1. Hire a continental European, Argentine, or Brazilian as technical director of US Soccer. This individual would have control over coaching education and player development programs. The head coach of Bradenton would report to this person. They would have the power to institute required changes to all youth clubs in the country (suggestions like ‘x’ v ‘x’ at U-whatever, etc.). This individual would have influence in deciding how the US should implement teaching their style of play at each age.

2. At all Academy and Cup level clubs, the coaches should specialize at their age group and should be paid professionals, not volunteers coaching their child’s team. That would mean that a coach works with the U-12 boys and doesn’t move up in age group each year while staying with the same team. This would make it easier to implement a club curriculum and eventually we would have coaches who excel at teaching the necessary skills for each level and would hopefully be able to spot talent at their age group.

3. Institute at least one more Bradenton style institute (West Coast) so as to develop more players and provide high level training to a greater number of players, theoretically increasing the national player pool.

4. Develop some guidelines for a US style of play. I don’t think this should be too narrowly defined as one of our strengths is our foreign-tinged population. But I think certain elements should be taught no matter what. As the US will, for the foreseeable future, be producing top athletes, I think examples might include outside backs that always overlap and get into the attack. Maybe developing outside midfielders who can attack and defend equally well would be another.

5. Continue to include MLS clubs in the development plan so they exist as the highest plane of club level soccer. Hopefully through their own abilities they emerge as the best options in comparison to the other Academies. But if they aren’t, hopefully they will work with the best so the players have the chance to become involved with a professional club from increasingly younger ages.

I think these changes would be giant strides toward improving the quality of player development in the United States. We currently are seeing small pockets of quality emerging (ex. Jozy and several U-17 players coming out of Schulz Academy in Florida) throughout the country, but we need this to be happening in all fifty states. We are slowly learning and growing, but the sooner the better. We all have the same goal, we just need to all figure out the best ways going forward to help increase the US’ stature on the world soccer stage.

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