Creighton Bluejays vs Bradley Braves: 1-0

DSCN3190

Omaha, NE – I made the journey out to Nebraska to cover the Missouri Valley Conference tournament live at Morrison Stadium. What an incredible soccer facility!  The host Creighton Blue Jays aren’t too bad themselves.  They are ranked #2 in the country and #1 in the RPI.  Winning the Valley tournament clinches them a top [...]

On Leadership and What the Hell Is This Blog Anyways

The following was inspired by Lalo’s latest comment. He makes good points about leadership, and poses questions about the work on this blog. What follows is not intended as a full response, but I preferred to post here instead of in the comments. On the statement: “Leadership is doing the right thing”. I agree. But [...]

UCSB Gauchos vs Cal State Fullerton Titans: 4-3

Fullerton, CA – Saturday’s contest featured two underachieving teams that were looking to hold on for dear life in the Big West.  Both sides were in desperate need of 3 points.   Luis Silva came into the game and pretty much single-handedly carried the Gauchos to a 4-3 victory – putting on a show in [...]

THE LIST

What follows is an initial list of 25 things obstructing the US from becoming a soccer powerhouse. The “what’s wrong” topic is always around and maintains a certain level of attention. Then, when our national teams flounder, the topic spikes and dominates the discussion. And of course everyone and their mom has an opinion. Errrr [...]

UCLA Bruins vs San Diego State Aztecs: 2-0

Jose "guero" Altamirano needs to be playmaking for the Aztecs to have a shot at beating Bruins.

Westwood, CA – The clash to determine who will enter the second half of the league season with momentum and a clear path to the Pac 12 title took place Sunday evening at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.  It promised to be a good one with the top two teams, and arguably the top two players, in [...]

3four3 Launches Data Product!

Example Coaching Record Output

Youth soccer in Southern California continues to evolve, lead, pioneer, and at least in my opinion, host the largest density of talent in the country. It’s like a mecca for the youth game. Now we too hope to contribute to this landscape on a macro scale and push the envelope even further! So we’re opening [...]

UCSB Gauchos vs Akron Zips: 3-2

Luis Silva

Santa Barbara, CA – In a big time game for the famous RPI points, the Gauchos came from behind to hand the Akron Zips their first loss of the season on national television.  It was a huge game for UCSB who was coming off consecutive conference losses.  This morale booster needs to carry over to [...]

Cal State Northridge Matadors vs CSUF Titans: 3-0

Rafael Garcia's return has sparked CSUN to three straight convincing wins!

Northridge, CA –  The Matadors produced their best 90 minutes of soccer this season on Saturday night to take sole possession of 1st place in the Big West standings early in conference play.  They thoroughly dominated the Titans, playing some nice possession soccer for many spells en route to a convincing 3-0 victory. CSUN:  4-1-4-1 [...]

Referee Influence on Style of Play

Javier Castrili a.k.a. "El Sherrif"

There has been plenty of talk as to referees essentially dictating style of play. Not just of one game, but on entire leagues and at all levels. The implication is that this has direct influence on a coach’s player selections and the style of play he implements. So generally: Spain has more possession, skill-based play [...]

UCLA Bruins vs UCSB Gauchos: 3-2

Editor’s note: While this game occurred last week, we still find it worthwhile to publish. If anything to continue demonstrating what form a simple match breakdown/recap could take, what things to look for in a game, give praise or criticism to the coaches and players involved, and well … have a record of what went [...]