I think it boils down to two main components:

1. The soft skills. Specifically, a continual and unvarnished discussion of soccer philosophy that reflects the values of the greatest teams, players, and managers in the world.
2. The hard data.

The second component is why we started our soccer data product. And today, we’ve realeased a further refinement – a simple visualization to quickly assess what age groups, at what level of play, and for what gender a coach has experience in.

Raw Data

So now when you search for a coach, instead of only being able to inspect a raw data table like this:

Visual

You can quickly glean insight from the following visuals:

p.s. 3four3′s product currently displays a select sample of data from Southern California. This is our testbed. Expansion and opening up the dataset to other competitions will come. Give us a hand with your feedback so we build the best possible tool for you!

There is a belief in this country that US Soccer and its domestic league, Major League Soccer, have a goal to greatly improve the quality of the American player and the status of the sport in this country. US Soccer and its figurehead, Sunil Gulati, state unequivocally that the objective is the same as that of every other federation on the globe: to win a World Cup. MLS Commission Don Garber has stated his intent to make his league one of the very best in the world.

And yet, outside of broad pronouncements and colorful supporting materials, what does either entity actually do to ensure their stated goals are met? In my opinion, not much, and certainly, not enough.

In recent days, US Soccer has come out with its US Youth Soccer Player Development Model. It is a grand and admittedly exciting document, especially for a youth coach and student of the game like me who has recognized for some time the practical changes that need to be made in how we bring along our players. The document’s release comes in the wake of several other occurrences in recent years: the issuance of US Soccer’s Best Practices manual, the appointment of Claudio Reyna to the post of Youth Technical Director, and the long-wished-for (in many circles, at least) hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann to head coach of the USMNT.

Deconstruction of the Developmental Model

Taken together and at a distance, these things produce a flattering image of cohesive vision and purpose. However, much like a George Seurat pointillist work, when viewed more closely, the connection between the various components is lost, and, therefore, so is the vision.

How so? While the Federation has gone to great lengths to codify exactly what needs to be done in our youth program (the details and directives of which I wholeheartedly accept and am certainly glad to see), I can’t conceive of anything practical that will make very much of it possible on a local level. Further, I don’t believe that Sunil Gulati has the conviction or even intent to make it happen. With a daughter who plays at an advanced club level, I am all too familiar with the Wild West that is American youth soccer. State federations often seem bent on ignoring the Fed for fear of ceding authority, and local clubs have a similar relationship with their states. It is a nation of independently-minded and motivated non-soccer people, running clubs in their local cow-town, completely unwilling to give up their lucrative pay-to-play privileges and overtly monetized system. Anything that hints at a disruption to the gravy train is immediately scrutinized. My daughter’s prior club did not even acknowledge the presence of the Best Practices document when it came out (at least not in the way of a public comment to parents), let alone move to adopt any of its principles.

To give some more current examples, the Youth Player Development Model document states, among many other things, the notion that there should be no player tryouts below U13, no excessive (read: overnight) travel until U11 at the absolute earliest, and a much-reduced tournament emphasis. These are noble and necessary goals and ones I completely agree with, and yet I have absolutely no faith that Gulati and the Fed have the means or the stomach to impose any of them, or any of the myriad other ideas in the model. The thrust of the document is to give specific detail to the overall stated purpose of US Soccer, namely to move from a win-at-all-costs mentality at the youth levels to the ever-more-buzzworthy “development” approach, leaving the focus on winning to the much more mature ages. But let’s be honest: they’ll be demanding (asking nicely?) that state federations and local clubs voluntarily forego the buckets of cash that presently flow into their coffers like so much intoxicating moonshine, and I don’t see the Fed pulling out a 6-shooter to make that happen.

So what are we left with? Another document that contains simply more high-falutin’ dreams about moving to a system that will rival the world’s best, but no credible means of enforcement. Until or unless we can successfully impose the well-intentioned objectives in these documents, and give real authority to the new appointments within US Soccer, our youth development system will continue to do nothing more than line the pockets of the two-bit club sheriffs, while still producing technically and tactically deficient players of artificially stunted quality.

MLS : The Tail That Wags the Dog

And having now introduced the concept of “artificially stunted quality”, it is a perfect time to detail how MLS and Don Garber fit into this. They are the tail that is now wagging the US Soccer dog.

MLS has created a league, one sanctioned by Gulati and US Soccer, that Mr. Garber states will one day be among the greatest leagues on earth. For a league to be great, however, it must have great players, more than just a couple, and on more than just a few oddly “lucky” teams. Case in point: When Don Garber admitted that there were too many ties in MLS (I think he meant “draws”, but whatever), suddenly we saw the almost instantaneous formation of a couple Superteams, namely the LA Galaxy and RBNY, to shake things up. Further, when David Beckham came to the final year of his first contract in MLS and had not yet won the MLS Cup (which would have been a massive indictment and financial boondoggle for the league) suddenly Robbie Keane dropped down from the sky to help achieve David and Don’s cherished marketing objective. A compelling storyline, no?

No. Hell no.

At this moment, allow me to state for the record that I find nothing about MLS to be compelling except its absurdist contrivances.

The phrase-that-pays in MLS is “Competitve Balance” but in and of itself competitive balance is not compelling except to the undiscerning. Technically and tactically engaging football is. Call me a Eurosnob if you must (an honor I gladly accept), but I am not terribly interested in seeing largely soccer-deficient college graduates fight for scraps in a league that often pays them less than they might earn with their degrees. I prefer not to watch players who studied more than they trained over their college years, especially when I have satellite TV and can watch the very best teams in the world any time I want. But it’s not really the players’ fault. They’ve been let down, and they, along with more demanding fans, continue to pay the price. And let’s not get into the whole “high school and college soccer produce a more well rounded player and person” discussion. This is about soccer, end of. No country has won a World Cup, or produced a world-class league, by using a system such as ours.

It’s the Quality, Stupid

Have I tried to “support” MLS? Yes, several times. There have been years where my hometown Chicago Fire have made for some good viewing. But realistically, the more I watch soccer at its highest levels the less I find I can tolerate a league like MLS.

What would attract me permanently to MLS? It always comes down to quality of play, and MLS, in its present form, simply does not meet my standards. To truly raise the level of play, you need better players and better coaching. However, MLS has built a league on soccer-specific stadia that generally hold only between 20,000-25,000 fans. These stadia would rival those of 2^nd division or 3^rd division teams in most countries. So how, exactly, can you spring for 1^st division world talent and pay for it with artificially managed gate receipts? You can’t. People cite the league’s salary cap as the main reason world class players aren’t brought in, and that is certainly a reason. But the salary cap is redundant: a team couldn’t afford even a couple $10M players when you max out at a crowd of 20-25k, and that’s just how MLS wants it. A club needs only (can only?) fill 20-25k seats, so having a league full of world stars in their prime is financially non-viable.

If, by some miracle in the next, say, 10 years, interest in MLS suddenly jumps from the steady build it’s been designed for to a much steeper growth curve, do we really believe the league will demand, and owners will build, an entirely new set of 45,000 seat stadia? Of course not. MLS is perfectly content with soccer being a niche sport in this country, remaining a non-threat to the behemoth that is the NFL. Indeed, MLS was planned with all of that in mind.

Luckily (predictably?) for MLS, then, the league has continued to move toward capacity with young (well, 23 year old) ex-college kids. And with growing attendance figures, the league has increasingly little additional capacity left to fill, so there’s no motivation to push for major increases in the quality. With that being the case, payroll increases can remain on a modest slope, and the finances continue to look good, which is all the league has ever really cared about. It certainly doesn’t care about the sport itself. MLS has masterfully created the perfect scenario that takes advantage of US Soccer’s failings, and frankly helps to sustain them. It is a self-referential and self-fulfilling cycle. The present-day American college player, a product of the flawed American youth development system, is exactly what MLS needs to maintain its financial vision—nothing more, nothing less.

The Uncertain Allure of the Development Academy

You might believe that the Development Academy system, and MLS participation in it, is an indication that all relevant institutions are, in fact, concerned with improving the development process. However, DA’s generally continue to charge their participants, rather than carry them as they would do in foreign clubs. The DA’s that do cover some or all of the cost often do so by passing the cost on to the other non-DA players in the way of higher fees (or at least they try to: this was a major reason why an MLS club I have intimate knowledge of recently began de-affiliation proceedings with its Juniors programs, as the Juniors program would not give in to this demand to charge its players more to fund the DA).

Ultimately, then, is MLS really interested in personally throwing the kind of money into their DA’s that would truly increase the quality of home-grown players? The quality out there right now—from the pay-to-play youth programs right through the HS and college systems—has proven plenty good enough for the needs of MLS. The sham, and shame, of our DA system is that it simply creates another revenue stream and added control for MLS, under the guise of giving a damn. In fact, I am aware of a 16 year old player who just left an MLS Development Academy team for a professional youth contract in Holland. Why? The DA training wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and the best possible outcome was that the player would still (and only) be fighting for a job in MLS rather than a top-tier foreign league. Not exactly the level of motivation one needs to take the sport seriously, or serious enough for someone who is already motivated. If MLS were truly on a par with foreign leagues, and the MLS academies were fully funded, I might have more faith that MLS involvement in this process was a good sign and a good thing.

Soccer “Culture”

Further, because there is no promotion or relegation in MLS, the last remaining impetus for pushing the quality barrier is removed. Teams can languish in mediocrity, knowing they’ll never have to suffer any real consequences of poor performance as other teams around the world might. The details of the pro/rel argument are many, and that discussion is best left for another column. Suffice to say, players, coaches, even owners, would push themselves much harder if they had a bigger communal fight on their hands.

So the league has no motivation to drastically improve quality, and as a result, I have no lasting motivation to continue giving them a shot. But guess what? The dirty little secret of MLS is that they DON’T WANT supporters like me, and, frankly, they don’t NEED ones like me. In fact, their business model was built to exclude us. Let me repeat that: the MLS model was built to exclude the hardcore learned soccer fan. They have created a league that exists only in a petri dish (gives new meaning to the idea of a soccer culture, doesn’t it?). They are content with raising, sometimes from scratch, roughly 20,000 “supporters” in each MLS city, fans who somehow are more enamored with the idea and experience of fandom than the actual level of play on the field. They have been sold the idea of “competiveness” over outright quality. And they have been bamboozled. These folks suffer from a classic condition: they are in love with the IDEA of being in love. They love the IDEA that they have a local team in “their” sport, one whose scarf they can wear, one that they can celebrate, cheer for, wring their hands over, enter in a fantasy league, have mock-drafts about. It’s more about the trappings, and is about as artificial as it gets. But it’s exactly what MLS, their PR folks and their brigade of citizen-robot bloggers worked so hard to create, and work so relentlessly to protect.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gulati and US Soccer continue to thumb their nose at FIFA and allow the league to operate as it does, with all the inherent accommodations and contradictions. Why? Because MLS is the real boss in American soccer. MLS is doing just fine with the existing sub-par American player, a few over-the-hill international stars, and an ever-increasing trunk-full of mid-level South Americans, some of whom might be happy just to be moving to a country where they have reliable electricity.

Pay to Play, and Keep on Paying

So when you evaluate these two entities—US Soccer and MLS— and their symbiotic relationship, the troubling issues in American soccer become apparent. The sport of soccer in this country is built on the backs of young American players who have been shortchanged in their development by a Federation and its President that increasingly talk about change but don’t have the wherewithal or honest motivation to actually fix its problems. And now that MLS has come along to rule the roost, the league acts like it is more than happy making sure US Soccer NEVER fixes its problems. How else can you explain Don Garber simultaneously blowing smoke up the collective ass of all those American college players, telling them they are the best in America and selling them on the “dream” of MLS, while paying them a mere pittance?

A more well-prepared player would never settle for the peanuts that are tossed around in MLS. The REAL dream for an American player should be the same as it is for every other player in the world: to give everything you have to the game, and be rewarded appropriately, wherever that may be. Unfortunately, in our American pay-to-play system the player ends up paying twice: first for his low-quality youth “development”, and second for keeping a 3^rd-rate league profitable for its owners and commissioner. A player that dares to leave the system to seek better training and grander opportunities is seen by many as an in-grate. This is simply unfathomable.

Even a player like Landon Donovan, who has made quite an impression in his two short loan stints in the Barclay’s Premier League, is not allowed to stay there, because doing so would leave such a gap in the carefully crafted but pennywise/pound foolish MLS profit game. But I guess when you’re not producing 20 more Landon Donovans (like other countries do), you’ve got to milk him for all he’s worth. And when you don’t sell him, you don’t bring in the kind of real big international money that would help you fully fund your academies. Without real academies, those other 19 Landon Donovans never get produced and the self-fulfilling spiral of insanity continues.

The MLS PR Machine

And the insanity doesn’t end there. MLS falls all over itself these days to tout how well Robbie Keane and Thierry Henry are doing in their loan returns to the Premier League, claiming that this somehow reflects well on their own league. Seriously? Do they not understand the pedigree of these players? Each of them could have come to the US and played in a men’s open league for 6 months, then returned to England (where they had plenty of time to get back up to speed) and performed just as well. MLS had absolutely nothing to do with it. After scoring the winning goal in an FA Cup game shortly after his return to Arsenal, Henry let loose with a celebration that was nothing like, and had nothing to do with, his experiences in MLS. This was a fantastic moment, in a game that actually meant something, in front of a crowd that lives and breathes the sport. On scoring the injury-time winner in his final loan game for the Gunners, MLS dared to have a headline that read: “Red Bull Rescues Arsenal.” Unreal! Do they believe we’ve forgotten that Henry has stated repeatedly that he moved to NY precisely because he could continue to play the sport he loved, in a city he loved, without pressure, AND NOT BE NOTICED ON THE STREETS?! One of the best players in history, yet he knows he can go to the US and not be noticed. So much for MLS building one of the best leagues in the world.

The Real Big Picture

In the event that I haven’t sufficiently tied these things together enough for you, let me revisit the George Seurat analogy. Having decided in the opening not to trust our first “impressions” of the American soccer landscape, we instead approached more closely to scrutinize the seemingly random dots. With our newfound understanding of the details, we again stepped back to review the overall image, but to our amazement, we found that the image had changed, and not for the better. Where we first saw beauty and harmony, now we see ugliness and deceit.

It’s time the game of soccer in America was taken back from the know-nothings, the tin-pot youth club dictators and the restrictive and calculating domestic league, and given back to the players. Only then can we profess to fully appreciate and promote the art that is The Beautiful Game.

how appropriate

Happy mad-libbing!

_______________ (Possession/4-3-3/Passing out of the back) like __________________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) would never work for a __________________ (Mid-low table Premier League/Major League Soccer/NCAA Division I) team. The __________________ (British/American/American College) game is too ____________ (Fast/Physical/Aggressive) for a ________________ (British/MLS/College) team to play like that. The only reason ______________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) can play like that is because all of their players were ______________ (impoverished street kids/sons of former professionals/one-of-a kind phenoms) who spent thousands of hours playing ______________ (street football in Brazilian slums/at an inhumane brainwashing academy like La Masia/Ajax Academy). That’s how they all learn to ____________ (dive/cheat/properly control a 15 yard pass). And besides, in ____________ (British/American) culture, we value ________________ (hard work/impatience/violent mediocrity) way too much to ever teach our teams to play like that so that we could actually ____________________ (win a World Cup/win a European Championship/not struggle against third world Central American national teams).

This was an excerpt from an article at recently launched blog, Football Garden, by past 3four3 contributor Jacques Pelham. Head on over there to read the excellent context this is given.

Caleb Porter

First and foremost, if our praise for Caleb Porter hasn’t been evident, let me repeat, Caleb Porter is legit.

Previously, we’ve been judging him solely from watching his Akron team (on TV and in person). Meaning we’ve never seen him run a session – although it should be clear that to produce a possession-centered, attacking, attractive, and winning product, there must be a lot of proper work being done.

In any case, now we’ve seen his training. He’s the man!

Players

For my impressions, I simply placed them into four buckets.

Tier 1: Means you’re the best of the lot and should be in.
Tier 2: You’ve shown some interesting things, and I want to see more.
Tier 3: Grey zone. Very grey. One step away from getting the boot, or one step from Tier 2. What is certain here is these guys can not get to Tier 1. They don’t have it.
Tier 4: Leave my camp at once!

Pre-session chat. January 10, 2012

Tier 1
Amobi Okugo
Kelyn Rowe
Joe Corona

Tier 2
Isaac Acuna
Dilly Duka
Sebastien Lletget
Zarek Valentin

Tier 3
Kofi Sarkodie
Sheenan Williams
Andrew Wenger
Freddy Adu
Mike Stephens
Jared Jeffery
Mix Diskerud
Jack McInerney
Josh Gatt

Tier 4
Sebastien Ibeagha
Royal-Dominique Fennell
Jorge Villafana
Tony Taylor

For those who may be wondering how I’ve come to these conclusions, I want to say three things:

1. When you know, you know.
2. The details are everything – especially if you want to play quality soccer. This should get you started.
3. If you want some high level impressions on what I saw with some of these players, ask away.

Elite coaching is an art.

This is my response to reader John, who left an excellent set of comments. The last of which I’ll address here.

Specifically:

I’d love to see you talk about specific tactics, Gary. I have no doubt that you are very a bright guy, but I wish you’d share your knowledge with us. Tell us about your games or training sessions. Tell us about your problems and how you solved them. Maybe that could be a separate section in your blog? Just an idea. Either way, I’ll continue to be a dedicated reader.

What follows is my brain dump reaction.

I’d love to do this too! But to put it simply, it’s a monumental task. One I’m not sure is even possible (or at least I don’t know what kind of hack job I’ll do of it).

I’ll start by saying that no one – that I’m aware of – has captured truly elite coaching and/or player development in some type of recipe form.

That’s what I gather you mean when you ask me for specific tactics.

Coaching is an art – particularly if you’re any good at it. It is not a paint-by-numbers.

For instance, take the curriculum Claudio Reyna released for US Soccer last year. I think it’s a great piece of work. It provides guidelines and goes into some depth with particular tactical training exercises that support the big picture philosophy.

Those are ingredients.

But it takes an artist to use those ingredients to build the final team/individual product.

The coach must know (have a feel) for what the proper execution of each of those exercises looks like. That’s an art that comes from understanding many things:

1. How it should look and feel to begin with. Are the speed and rhythm correct? No? How do you fix it? Who’s messing up the spacing? What player(s) timing or positions are off? Is the weight of the pass proper? Etc …
   
   Whatever the case, the coach must be capable of not only recognizing the issue(s), but also decide when to interrupt the exercise, with what frequency, and in what tone to address the players.




2. The quality of your players and their true potential. If you don’t understand this, you may be expecting too much or too little from them and then you fail with point #1 above.




3. How to get to the final product you want to see come game day this weekend, come game day 6 months from now, or come game day 2 years from now. That’s a freaking art!
   
   Let’s say you have at your disposal 100 tactical training exercise diagrams with accompanying discussions (I think that’s what you’re asking for). Which ones are you going to run in todays sessions? In what sequence? Do you repeat the same ones in your next session(s) or do you do others?
   
   It all depends right? It depends on your judgement of what the players need individually and the team collectively. How can I help with that?

There are no recipes! Is there some compact way to capture this sort of stuff? I don’t know.

Your philosophy.

That is, how do you want your final team product to play. How do you want your individual players to play.

Your experience.

Let’s say you want your team to play like Barcelona. Well, how long have you been studying Barcelona? I mean really studying! How many games of theirs have you not only watched, but recorded and dissected the tapes into oblivion? How many years have you been doing this for? How many press conferences of their coaches and players have you heard? How many interviews? How in touch are you with the philosophy? How many other possession-based teams have you watched and studied like this?

Have you gone to see live games? Have you gone to see live training sessions? Have you had one on ones with these coaches?

Has your team ever mimicked Barca-like sequences? How did it happen? Was it a fluke or maybe due to your training? If your teams have had lots of spells where they play a la Barca, then you’re doing something right. If not, then you don’t have the experience within that philosophy yet. But don’t give up, it’s time to keep studying and trying different implementations.

Your passion.

Pretty simple: no passion, no chance! If you don’t eat, breathe, and shit this stuff … no chance! You’ll be a hack.

There are no cradle-to-grave recipes to replicate the end product. Only ingredients. This is an art!

The Good News

The good news is that the ingredients are not secret or hidden. Nobody is keeping them from you. They’re all available in the following forms:

1. Technical exercise diagrams/videos/descriptions.
2. Tactical exercise diagrams/videos/descriptions.
3. Games on TV and DVRs.
4. Press conferences and interviews involving the world’s greats.
5. Media from all kinds of people with varying degrees of expertise.
6. Games of all levels (youth to pro) you can attend and learn from.
7. Training sessions at all levels (youth to pro) you can attend and learn from.
8. Etc

How many of these ingredients have you played with? And for how long and how deep?

Since the publication of Outliers, people have been talking a lot about the 10,000 hour rule. You’d best believe it has validity here too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to just throw my hands in the air and say: “sorry, your gonna have to put a decade or two into this”.

What I do want to get across is that I’m not so sure how to go about hyper-accelerating a willing coaches path.

I have thought long and hard about how I can possibly stitch together a program that can capture our experience. The goal being that a coach can take the program and replicate our end product to some degree.

After years, I came to the conclusion that step #1, is for a coach to adopt a soccer philosophy. Without it, you have no compass, no skeletal structure upon which you can build! You have nothing! And this philosophy can’t be summed up in a sentence, or a post, or a series of posts. It’s something that you must feel in the core of your being – like a religion.

So I embarked with this blogging effort which thus far fails miserably in the silver bullet department, but should help in the philosophy department. It is a philosophy that models itself after the best in the world [1]. And a philosophy that is not only possible, but has given us success [2].

That’s what I’ve been trying to share, and in the process hopefully lay the foundation upon which the details you may be looking for stand a chance of being built and adopted.

As an example, I have pondered filming all our training sessions and – more crucial – microphoning both myself and my brother during the session so that the way we go about practicing our art is better captured.

I know I’m not being exhaustive in my response here, so let’s continue in the comments! I’m an open book, so fire away.

Notes:
[1] This is the biggest failure of American coaches (and parents, and fans, and everybody else involved with soccer here). If you pass this, you’re already way ahead of the game.
[2] I am yet to define at length what coaching success/failure even means. Yes, it can be viewed as a function of philosophy. But I believe there is a clear right and wrong. Here’s a primer to some success criteria.

3four3 camp pic (12/28/11)

During the holidays we held a 4 day camp for them.

It was a pilot program really, as we have never done such a thing, but I was pleased with the turnout.

Here’s the list of attendees and some status:

1. Jose Gomez (Creighton’s #10 and currently training with Espanyol de Barcelona, Spain)
2. Jonathan Prieto (reporting Jan 18 to Seattle Sounders for preseason)
3. Bryan de la Fuente (Chivas USA)
4. Carlos Alvarez (UCONN)
5. Orr Barouch (Chicago Fire)
6. Jacob Barron (Penn State)
7. Victor Sanchez (Racing Club de Montevideo)
8. Carlos Hernandez (Santa Ana JC)
9. Ernesto Hinojosa (Cal State Bakersfield)
10. Everett Pitts (UC Irvine)
11. Cesar Zamora (Chivas USA – waived)
12. Jose Altamirano (San Diego State, former U20 NT)
13. Abraham Villon (San Diego State)
14. Richard Menjivar (Cal State Bakersfield, Seattle Sounder combine invite)
15. Andy Contreras (Rio Hondo College)
16. Danny Rogers (Barcelona Academy youth coach)
17. Tomislav Colic (La Blues, Anaheim Bolts)
18. Miguel Sanchez (Anaheim Bolts)
19. Shion Jahangiri ()
20. Marco Franco (UC Irvine)
21. Oscar Aguero (Cal State Fullerton)
22. Christian Ramirez (Concordia University)
23. Tarek Morad (UC Irvine)
24. Alex Fitchen ()
25. Ruben Gonzalez (German 4th division, former U20 NT)
26. Nick Shackelford (Saint Louis University)
27. William Lopez ()

Now that we’ve validated there are players at this level that are both interested and committed, it’s going to be full steam ahead with this effort.

Should they be playing up?

Oh how everyone talks as if they know what “development” is, and how to do it. Sigh …

Let’s talk a little bit about “playing up” and whether it helps or not.

This weekend our U11′s are going to play in a U12 tournament. This isn’t the first time competing up either. The last was during the summer (we were U10′s then). We won that competition and I attended the final match against one of the best U11 teams around. That game ended in a 1-0 victory, but it just felt wrong from a development perspective. You see giving up one year of physical maturity makes a huge difference at this age. The result is simple, the boys can’t execute what they’re being taught.

Now before you start trying to apply all kinds of logic as to how this is a good thing, do you really know?  Have you done this with youth soccer and seen it through all the way to the professional level? Have you done studies? Do you have a set of metrics you’ve tracked?

I sure don’t.

My current line of thinking is that playing up is fine for an individual, but not necessarily a team.

The idea pretty much goes that playing up helps kids with speed-of-play. It forces them out of their comfort zones, thereby pushing them to exceed their current limits. Their decision-making must be quicker, their defending sharper, and their technique tighter.

Yes. All true. So I green light top-shelf individuals playing up on age appropriate teams. If you’re a U10, go ahead and play with a U11 team.

But when an entire team plays up, we’re not talking about the same thing anymore. Here you are not just taxing the individual, you are taxing the entire organism that is the team. The challenge gets compounded!

You are taxing the tactical – the style of play. The very things your kids are in the beginning stages of learning (at the collective team level) are being compromised. At this point, I’m thinking it’s far more useful/developmental for teams to be competing age appropriate. That is a better environment for them to learn the tactical. Because they actually have a chance to execute it, hence understand it and begin to master it. Once there’s mastery, then it’s time to raise the bar.

U11? I don’t know man, that’s pretty early. These kids have a looooooooong way to go. It’s fine to test your metal, and I think in some way you at least get to see where you stand. But from a tactical learning perspective, I’m not convinced. I think entire teams playing up is an experiment.

No stats? Good luck.

For those not aware, the Hermann Trophy is soccer’s equivalent to the Heismann.

So I’m scanning the blogs out there, and I came across the following comments on this post concerning the 15 semifinalists for the award.

Mark said:

12 forwards and 2 mids in that list. Seems like the trophy is skewed towards goal scorers.

To which Adam replied:

It has to be – there is no way that there are 5 people in this country who can honestly say they’ve seen each of these kids play numerous times this season to really get an idea of who is the best player, therefore they have to go off of stats.  They even make an attempt to incorporate D1 coaches as if that’s a “fair” way to do it.  In reality, D1 coaches only know where their players fit in with other teams in their conference. Have any of these semifinalists been on the same field in a game together this year? If so, how many times has that happened?

It’s an inexact poll – take it for what it is. It’s not like the Heisman where every game is televised and every person with a vote at least has the opportunity to see every single player in every game.

Well, they’ve both got it right of course. Stats rule here. And if or when there’s a player with less than stellar numbers, pedigree and hype are what work. It’s just the way it is. Even ‘extra-soccer’ factors sometimes come into play. Ever notice, had experience with, or suspected how seniors get sympathy votes or awards?

It may not seem like much, but all these things serve to undermine who makes it to the professional ranks and who doesn’t.

Take Creighton striker Ethan Finlay. This year I’ve watched 14 of their games and I can tell you with zero doubt that he isn’t even the 3rd best player on that team! My opinion of course. But it is glaringly obvious that the boy can’t finish. Yep, with 14 goals to his name I’m saying that. You don’t have to be an elite striker to put up that stat on this Creighton team.  He also struggles tremendously to take a player 1v1, can’t hold possession when receiving as a target, and is generally a poor decision-maker.

I’m sure he’s a fantastic human being and he definitely works hard on the field, but one of the best 15 players in the country is ridiculous.

That’s the state of affairs.

With 203 D1 teams, little televised coverage, and little college soccer analysts, what can we expect?

The box score rules!

Craque! Kelyn Rowe in full gallop with head up. The Bruin #10 looking to lead UCLA back to College Cup.

Westwood, CA –  Made another trip to Westwood to catch the NCAA 3rd round matchup between UCLA and Rutgers. Gary decided to tag along since watching UCLA meant seeing Kelyn Rowe parade his quality all over the field.  He didn’t need much convincing when I extended the invite.  Again, it was $10 dollars well spent as Rowe combined with Hoffman to an easy 3-0 victory.

UCLA: 4-4-2

Gk:  Brian Rowe

Def:  #29 Patrick Matchett, #27 Joe Sofia, #6 Matt Wiet, #2 Shawn Singh

Mf:  #12 Ryan Hollingshead, #9 Fernando Monge, #5 Andy Rose, #7 Eder Arreola

Fw:  #24 Reed Williams, #17 Chandler Hoffman



Rutgers: 4-1-4-1

Gk:  #28 Kevin McMullen

Def:  #25 Dragan Naumoski, #2 Joe Satchell, #5 Andrew Cuevas, #16 Paulie Calafiore

Holding Mid:  #8 Nathan Bruccoleri

Mf:  #4 Nate Bourdeau, #18 Bryant Knibbs, #43 Juan Pablo Correa, #11 Sam Archer

Fw:  #9 Ibrahim Kamara

UCLA Breakdown

The Bruins are playing their best soccer of the season at the right time.  They are possessing the ball and patiently building up attacks out of the back and through their midfield.  UCLA has a lethal duo in Kelyn Rowe and Chandler Hoffman that produce them quality goal scoring opportunities.  A deep bench – likely the deepest in the tournament – doesn’t hurt either.

Keeper
Once again Brian Rowe looks to be in a zone, and is focused on the few occasions he’s tested.  The Bruins are riding a 7 game shut out streak and some of this has to do with security in the back.  UCLA will need a monster game out of him to knock off Louisville on the road this Saturday.

Defense
The Bruin back line has plenty to do with the current shut out streak as well.  Center backs Wiet and Sofia have been solid.  I’m worried about Patrick Matchett on the right.  He gave a ball away in the 83rd minute under very little pressure in his defensive third that was not taken advantage of by Rutgers.  That type of mishap will lead to goals when playing the top level opposition left in the tournament.  Singh is also a high level player getting forward but his defending leaves a lot to be desired.  At this stage I’m concerned the Bruin back row will get exposed.

Midfield
Kelyn Rowe is different!  Don’t think I can stress it enough.  The guy is at a different level.  Mind-boggling to me how he hasn’t been starting the games as of late.  Regardless, he has sure been finishing them!  Rowe received a 40 yard diagonal ball from Andy Rose on the top left corner of the 18 yard box and crushed a one time volley with his left! It was too much for the keeper to handle and led to an easy tap in goal for Victor Chavez to go up 2-0 in the 43rd minute.  Rowe wasted no time at the beginning of the 2nd half and decided it was time to put this game on ice.  He  combined on the left side of the Rutgers box, and again served up a perfectly placed ball with his left to the far post for Hoffman to bury in the 48th minute to make it 3-0.  The other play that defined the type of player he is, took place in the 77th minute.  UCLA was on a counter attack and Rowe made a 50 yard run but didn’t receive the ball which was turned over by a teammate.  He turned around and transitioned back to his own half full sprint; while the rest of the midfielders that participated in that play lightly jogged back.  Yes, he has complete class and is a cut above everyone, but the kid has incredible work rate to match!  It was a shame to see him sitting the first 29 minutes of the game.  I was about to hit the ticket booth to ask for my refund.

Andy Rose is coming along and moving the ball faster.  That bodes well for this team in an attempt to win the College Cup.  The wingers Eder Arreola and Ryan Hollingshead are working hard defensively and that is crucial for their team to triumph against Louisville.  Fernando Monge is doing his thing in the middle of the park and keeping it simple.  Evan Raynr comes off the bench to give the team a needed spark offensively, but defensively he offers very little; and that can hurt the Bruins in their next game.

Forwards
Chandler Hoffman, Chandler Hoffman, and Chandler Hoffman!  A heavy and consistent dosage of the Alabama native has carried the Bruins offensively all season.  He continues to impress and I have been won over.  I am a fan!  The kid has work rate!  That’s the first item I look for when scouting attacking players.  I don’t want lazy sacks (of sh**) on any team of mine, and in modern day football, strikers need to work defensively as well.  Chandler makes great runs off the ball to get himself in perfect scoring position – and the boy finishes!  He bagged his 17th and 18th goals on Sunday night off clean finishes in the box.  A man on a mission?  You bet. His hometown is 10 miles from where the Final Four will be hosted.  You can pretty much bet the farm that this will be one of the Generation Adidas signings.

Goal scoring machine Chandler Hoffman looks possessed. He's on a mission to get to Alabama.

The other forward that has been starting alongside Hoffman is Reed Williams.  He’s got some pace to take people on 1 v 1, but usually has blinders on and doesn’t see the field or read the game well. Finishing?  Forget about it.  He has 0 goals on the year.  Victor Chavez needs to be the guy playing next to Hoffman if the Bruins want to get to Alabama.  He has work rate, can take players on, combine, and finishes on his fair share of occasions.  His playing time has been limited all year but increasing as of late.  I want to see him on the field at Louisville this weekend!

Rutgers Breakdown:

The Scarlet Knights season came crashing down 40 seconds into their 3rd round game on Sunday.  Their game plan was to sit tight in the back, close down all gaps, and break on the counter with Correa and Kamara.  It appeared there was no “plan B” so when your original scheme goes down the toilet in 40 seconds, there wasn’t much they could do to alter the run of play during the next 89 minutes.

Keeper
McMullen didn’t have that bad of a game.  He had very little to do in the 3 goals conceded.  He actually somehow was alert enough to detain Rowe’s bomb in the 43rd minute.  Unfortunately, his back line left Chavez alone for the tap in on off the rebound.  Hoffman’s second came off a nice finish when the ball was played to the far post and one timed in.

Defense
On paper, Rutgers boasts an experienced back 4.  It was unforgivable to give up a goal on the road in such an important match in the first minute of the match.  That set the tone and they were a nightmare the rest of the way.    Naumoski and Setchell are the two juniors that will be around next season and both of them have horrific technical ability and little tactical awareness. None of the back 4 has any professional aspirations after what I saw this weekend.

Midfield
Juan Pablo Correa showed some flashes of being a high level player.  Correa has good vision, technical ability, and decision making.  Too bad he was on his own and most of his teammates were not on the same page.  He is only a freshmen and was definitely the best player on the pitch for Rutgers.  He will be one to keep an eye on in years to come. Brucolleri is the other player that made an impact on me.  He tried to make the same impact on Kelyn Rowe in the 83rd minute.  After being outclassed all night, he lunged at Rowe with a reckless tackle and earned himself a straight red card.  Showed his frustration and personality in that play.  He is also a freshmen and will be one to keep an eye on.

Forward
Ibrahim Kamara had a couple of good runs at the Bruin defense that led to good crosses.  He took Sofia on 1 v 1 in the first half and left him for dead, but no teammates were in the box to finish off his work.  He was fighting an uphill battle and chasing the game all alone up top.

Game Recap

UCLA jumped out early and never looked back.  They looked great in possession, got their deep bench on the field, and had their top two players show their good form.  The scoreline could have been bigger had Raynr, Arreola, and other subs finished quality chances created in last 15 minutes.  I see this team hungry at the right time of year!

Conclusions

UCLA continues to get better with the run of games.  Earlier this season they just didn’t have it!  I did not like their sloppy approach and said they lacked a team identity.  Now they possess with a purpose and have the nation’s best player, Kelyn Rowe, coming off the bench and pulling the strings.  They have the hottest striker in college soccer in Chandler Hoffman.  With those two, anything is possible. A tough battle awaits them in the rematch of last years elite 8 game (@ Louisville that ended in 5-4 loss).  The weather shouldn’t be a problem this time around, so look for the Bruins to prevail and get to Alabama.

Rutgers made a nice run in getting to the final 16.  They compete in a tough conference and are always battle tested.  I wasn’t impressed with their soccer or many of their players.  They will need a ton of work if they are to get back to this stage of the postseason next year.

St Mary's celebration after game winning goal in overtime.

Irvine, CA – Made the quick journey south to catch the UCI Anteaters hosting the St Mary’s Gaels in 2nd round NCAA tournament action on a rainy night. Yep, packed the umbrella, towels, notebook, and camera and combatted the rain along with the other 656 people in attendance. The game had lots of promise. The Big West champs UC Irvine vs the West Coast Conference champs St Mary’s. The Gaels pulled off another upset in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 overtime win to clinch a spot in the sweet 16.

UC Irvine: 4-1-4-1

Gk: #1 Andrew Fontein

Def: #3 Marco Franco, #15 Everett Pitts, #12 Jake Marcon, #4 Bello Alhassan

Holding Mid: # 13 Tarek Morad

Mf: #7 Christopher Santana, #6 Jimmy Turner, #9 Christian Hernandez, #10 Miguel Ibarra

Fw: #21 Lester Hayes III

St Marys: 4-4-2

Gk: #1 Doug Herrick

Def: #20 Bobby Conner, #14 Tom Mohoric, #2 Trevor Newquist, #16 Nathan Arambula

Mf: #15 Justin Grider, #19 Malcolm Alugas, #7 Jose Cabeza, #9 Julian Godinez

Fw: #10 Emmanuel Sarabia, #11 Agustin Cazarez

UC Irvine Breakdown

To be fair, I was critical of UCI when covering their first game and predicted they would struggle. They shut me up to a certain extent posting 16 wins, staying high in the national polls, and winning the Big West double – taking both the regular season title and the conference tournament.  They haven’t exactly played the best soccer, but the results have been positive for several years now.  Unfortunately the wet conditions didn’t help their cause, and a gritty St Mary’s put an end to the Anteaters.

Keeper
Andrew Fontein’s stellar career (in Irvine) under the pipes has come to an end. He played his part in attempting to prolong it though. Fontein made 2 point blank saves to keep hopes alive. When I say saves, I mean game saving plays where the shots were certain goals and 90% of the time the net is shaking. This guy has provided the security a team needs at this level for a long time. I see Fontein getting a crack at the MLS draft in January.

Defense
Irvine’s right back Marco Franco is complete quality!!! He is arguably the best right back in the nation. His defending is superb. His calmness on the ball is remarkable. He may be the best professional prospect on this team. His offensive projections are reminiscent of Dani Alves. Everett Pitts is a physical specimen and difficult to beat. His clearances under pressure left a lot to be desired – out of bounds almost every time. The remaining two, Bello Alhassan and Jake Marcon should not be on the field; period. I don’t know how a top 10 team has such fragile players with little technical ability holding down the fort in the back. A couple suitable replacements, and the Anteaters would have been that much better.

Midfield
The midfield has a super player in Miguel Ibarra. The guy can play! He runs for days, has great technique, can dribble, and shoot. He’s pretty complete BUT there is one big question here. Will he be appreciated in MLS? Hopefully he can land in the right environment where he can survive, and not be a “one and done” – like Irving Garcia was a couple years back. Ibarra had to leave the game in the 12th minute barely able to walk on his own. Not a good sign. Fortunately he returned for the 2nd half and overtime. He finished a close range effort to tie the game and force overtime. Santana is another electric player on the wing. He combines very well with Franco on the right. That duo will be doing damage for two more years. Turner and Morad are both average midfielders. Turner has good work rate but offers very little as a central midfielder. Morad has quality on the ball, but lacks defensive bite to be a force as a holding midfielder. Christian Hernandez is hit or miss. He can have match winning quality one game, and be nonexistant the next. He was invisible this match.

Forward
The starting forward Lester Hayes was a complete zero on the night. Don’t know why he started or played as much as he did. He is a big boy, but doesn’t play like one. He cannot combine well with other talented attacking players in Ibarra, Santana, and Hernandez. Perhaps he is the best bet at matching the physicality of the opponent. Enrique Cardenas looked ok when he came on for Ibarra. He can certainly do the job better and is a force near the box. He also lacks match fitness after suffering numerous injuries during the season. Juan Gutierrez is another top talent who isn’t completely fit after being out a lengthy spell with an ACL tear. Cameron Iwasa is another freshmen that works his socks off up top or on the wing. UCI has a wealth of attacking talent but needs to have a player that will fit the system and the players around them. The Anteaters are young and will definitely be back in the picture next season.

Saint Mary’s Breakdown

The Gaels got to this point after putting together 3 consecutive 1-0 victories to win the West Coast Conference tournament and knock off Cal State Bakersfield in the first round of the NCAA. They’ve shown they can grind out wins this time of year against formidable opposition. They may not play the prettiest soccer, but they’ve converted the few opportunities created and locked down the opposition.

Keeper
Doug Herrick kept his cool and stopped everything UCI threw at him through 83 minutes. During the second half, balls mixed in with the rain and came from all angles into his box. He held firm until Ibarra got a sloppy goal off a rebound and scramble in the box. Herrick was good in the air and did well taking balls off the skip in the wet conditions. Three clean sheets coming into this game is impressive as well. He will have to be at the top of his game for Saint Mary’s to knock out their third NCAA tournament road win.

Defense
The back row didn’t have too many complications. I thought that Connor was going to suffer on the wing in his match up with Ibarra. Fortunately for him Ibarra limped off after 13 minutes, because he looks to be the weak link on this team. Mohoric and Arambula are big and strong defenders who win their tackles and win their battles in the air.

Midfield
Jose Cabeza and Julien Godinez have got a clue of how to knock the ball. They were composed, and at times slowed the frenetic pace of the game – something that helped the team catch its breath before defending for its life in the second half. Justin Grider is your typical D1 college player who just battles and hustles but doesn’t understand what change of pace means. He’s always at one speed like most players here; FAST and erratic.

Forwards
The two up top are both decent, but not match winning talent. Cabeza and Cazares didn’t create much offense on their own. I’m thinking the Gaels don’t produce much out of open play. They rely mostly on set pieces or long throw ins. Both goals came off poor clearances and second balls after a corner kick and long throw.

Game Recap

This was a strange game of soccer where no team showed clear superiority over the other. I expected more out of UC Irvine, but they were hit with injuries in the 1st half and poor weather conditions, which may have thrown them off the game plan. Neither team produced much offense during the run of play.

Saint Mary’s opened the scoring in the 57th minute after a corner kick clearance fell to the top of the box: Riley Hanley did the rest. He gathered it, made a quick move to his left and shot a low driven ball that flew through the crowd of players into the side net far post. This goal created some excitement in the game as UCI was forced to have more urgency and attack.

Coach Kuntz put out all his offensive talent and altered his formation to a 3-4-3 in the 68th minute. All his attacking talent was on the field and they put loads of pressure on the Gaels. Santana came close – rattling the cross bar with a clever left footed shot from the corner of the 18. It took another set piece in the 83rd minute (if you can call a long throw that), for a goal to be scored. Jimmy Turner launched a throw into the box; and after a mad scramble to clear it failed, the ball fell to Ibarra who calmly slipped it in from inside the 6. The Anteaters mysteriously took their foot off the gas with 7 minutes left and went back to their normal formation instead of pressing for the win.

They paid the price in double overtime as another set piece came into the box and Fontein saved the day with a point blank save. It was only a matter of time as seconds later another long throw in (surprise surprise) led to the golden goal scored by sophmore sub Justin Howard from close range.

Conclusions

The Anteaters are surely devastated with this result after getting the highest win output (16) and NCAA seeding in program history. They had the opportunity to host another match and potentially reach the elite 8. They lose their keeper Fontein and best offensive weapon in Ibarra, but have tons of young talent to survive and defend their Big West crown. Coach Kuntz is going to have to figure out how to get his boys over the postseason hurdle they’ve failed to clear in the last several years. Fortunately, he has plenty of weapons at his disposal and has been one of the best recruiters in Southern California over the years; so look for this team to come back hungry in 2012.

Saint Mary’s College might just be the cinderella story on this tournament. They figure out how to pound out W’s and are one win away from an Elite 8 appearance in their 2nd NCAA tournament in program history. Their next opponent, Brown University, is nothing special so its a winnable game. Whoever comes out of that one will have reached the end of the road, since looming in the quarterfinals is a date @ UNC.

Next up for me will be UCLA vs Rutgers tonight at 5pm PST.
For the game of the week, check out #2 Creighton vs #15 UCSB today at 11 am PST. There is live online streaming.