The story of Cal FC in the US Open Cup is not what people are making it to be.
Cal FC is simply a messenger.
They’re trying to tell the American soccer community something that only the badasses in this country have truly known for a VERY LONG TIME.
The Enemy
For those of you who live in the land opposite 3four3, these players want you to wake the fuck up. You are the enemy of futbol! You are the ones who have kept, and continue to keep, these young men down.
Please don’t “congratulate” these players.
When you do that, you continue to spit on them. It’s insulting!
When you do that, you [conveniently] take the focus away from what it should be. That is, your own ignorance and incompetence, and the ignorance and incompetence of those you support.
Truths are being exposed! And the light is too bright for our enemies.
They scatter like the cockroaches they are to whatever cracks they can find.
This story is about YOU!
The truth is Wynalda needs to get his hands on an MLS team so he can embarrass the league on a weekly basis. Portland had better players from top to bottom but CFC was better managed. As the game flowed you can watch CFC change their style from possession to counter-attack to a 5-man back line once they took the lead. In the same time Portland made no changes, keeping their formation rigid and predictable. Portland lost because CFC knew what was coming.
That’s the problem, and this is why I fear this still won’t get out to the masses. The Portland players are N-O-T, NOT better than Cal FC’s players were (that’s at least the case for about half or more of Cal FC’s players). Portland continuously resorted to hoping for crosses, hoping for set pieces, hoping for long throws, hoping on shots from distance, and hoping they’d eventually run Cal FC into the ground, not trying to actually play through them. Hoping, hoping, and hoping. Not once did they broke down Cal FC. Let me repeat: An MLS team broke down an adult league team 0 times!!!
Yes they had shots and chances but they were all straight to the keeper anyways, and again fitness was the only reason Cal FC didn’t take it to Portland all game long in my opinion. When Cal FC was pressing for the first 15-20 minutes they were straight working Portland (shouldn’t this be unacceptable!?!), then the legs on Cal FC went due to lack of regular training and they had to sit in, and then bring pause to the game through possession looking for that one chance to break. They executed this perfectly with a brilliant little clipped ball over the top by number 10 to number 9 who took up a good position, got in behind the back line and chipped the keeper with class. (Also notice the lack of coincidence with the jersey numbers there, these little things matter!)
The goal that Cal FC had and some of the spells in possession and combinations they put together were far better than anything Portland did all game long. Portland had possession but it was simple and they used their fitness to overrun Cal FC. THIS IS A BIG DEAL and people need to pay attention, I’m not convinced many will, the US Soccer puppets like Ives for example posts “Cal FC shocks Timbers, completes U.S. Open Cup fourth-round field”. People skim the headline and move on. People that even watched the game, and see the number of shots Portland had and think Oh they were just unlucky they should have won. That’s missing the point this needs to be a huge wake up call, for me it’s not even about the win, the bigger issue here is that a thrown together adult league team from one area of the country, players that nobody wanted played a significantly better game of soccer than an MLS team.
They had imagination, they were technically sound, and they were able to get out of tight spaces and create chances on something other than long shots, crosses, and set pieces. Seattle very likely could stomp Cal FC, unless they find a way to get fit in a really short amount of time, but the fact that an Adult league team resembles what the best teams around the world look like more so than a paid professional team in the top division in the country is a SERIOUS, MAJOR PROBLEM!!! And to end my long rant, don’t give me the excuse that these guys have professional experience, that only makes it worse that teams knew about some of these guys and decided they weren’t worth keeping. I think 6-7 of these Cal FC guys are absolutely MLS quality; a couple of them are even beyond that. This should be a major wake up call, but I think everyone will just continue on dismissing it as an upset unfortunately.
I believe the difference you saw in the players comes directly from the management style of each team. Wynalda assembled a team by fitting player together in a way that complimented every players strength while Portland has a lot of talent on the field that is being told to push the ball up the wings and cross it into the box. Portland never tried to break down CFC because Spencer doesn’t want them to, he wants the ball on the wings and crossed into the box every time. If you give Wynalda a week to manage the Timber’s we are talking about a 6-0 Portland win instead of a 0-1 loss with the exact same players. I agree that those CFC players deserve every bit of a look by the MLS. Numbers 9, 10, and 11 showed great creativity and passing ability. I don’t think any of them were better than Nagbe or Alhassan but they are definitely coached better.
The issue of player quality and who is ‘better’ than who is a function of one’s reference.
Meaning, do you look for players that resemble Iniesta, Neymar, Pirlo, Aguero, et al
OR
Do you look for players in the image of Carrick, Brek Shea, Walcot, Onyewu, et al?
If the former, Cal FC mostly has the ‘better’ players.
The latter … Portland.
That’s interesting, as an Arsenal fan I am well aware of Walcott’s shortcomings, but I’d think you would classify Wenger as a coach who gets it? He sees something in Walcott, right?
Absolutely!
Walcott is a player who can break equilibrium during a match. He’s like the wild card for a possession-based team.
But that’s not how ‘American’ coaches view it.
It is also interesting that you list Carrick. I don’t necessarily see him in that type of category. I see him more as a player that could fit into a more fluid system but is restricted by the system he is in.
I remember a few years ago Xavi and Xabi Alonso heaping praise on Carrick, stating he could fit right into the Spanish side and not look out of place and that he is good passer, complete player, and makes those around him better.
I hadn’t seen him in that light but those players know a thing or two about playing midfield at a high level.
Along those lines, what do you think of Michael Bradley. I wouldn’t of thought it a few years ago but given his progression over the past year at Chievo he has really progressed, particularly in expanding his range and accuracy of passing and off-the-ball movement, and even showing some improvisational flair (the off-the-bottom-of-the-foot volley against Slovenia comes to mind).
With both Carrick and Bradley I see a guy who have the ability to adapt to different systems including open, fluid styles but who have been maybe held back to some degree from playing the game “the right way” in some situations by the tactics and systems of their clubs.
With all due respect to Gary (I think what you and your brother are doing is brilliant) I think it is maybe unfair to list a group of players who are representative of a type we want to avoid, and this is especially the case when some of those players seem to be limited by the system and not their own skills/abilities/approach, etc.
I think it is better to put the blame on the system – the development approach, the tactics – and to describe our objectives in terms of positive attributes or traits you want to see in a complete player rather than saying you want to avoid naming a set of players by name who are the type to avoid.
Thanks for the feedback Eric.
So there’s a lot I could talk about here …
On Carrick: Wasn’t it Scholes that the Barca guys have always genuinely complimented?
On Bradley: I’ve regularly been cautiously complimentary to MB. He’s always showed moments of real awareness and quality.
On listing players ‘we should avoid’:
I disagree with your suggested approach for many reasons. I’ll list a few:
(a) Everyone talks about the ‘system’, the ‘development approach’, the ‘style’, the ‘culture’. It’s all platitudes.
It accomplishes nothing and everyone remains lost, misguided, misinformed, and sometimes even straight up lied to.
Why?
Because the very object of the problem is not being addressed: People!
‘Systems, ‘development’, ‘style’, ‘culture’ , etc … is faceless! They are nebulous concepts – even to the most ‘experienced’.
And that’s exactly how the status quo would like it to remain. If we pursue making things more concrete, more visual; if we provide faces, then ideas and learning are enhanced. And people could get exposed (those on the other side of the fence).
Unfortunately, I’m aware how negatively this can be viewed. People aren’t used to it. It’s not “safe”. It’s scary. It goes against everything we’ve been told is “right / wrong”. It’s yet another manifestation of the “culture problem”.
I do see the fact you have to confront the brutal truth – I’m not for political correctness or talking around it. And if you have to choose between the brutal truth plus improvement vs. political correctness plus same old I’ll take the brutal truth and everything that comes with it.
And I don’t deny that Onyewu is not an ideal player in the sense that he doesn’t have the desired technical quality or soccer IQ.
I guess in the end, I don’t have an objection. A little more nuanced way of saying the same thing is to say a higher level of technical and soccer IQ is desired than exhibited in the second set of players, just to be a little less personal and also a little more specific in where the issues lie.
By the way, here are the Carrick articles. I looked them up before I posted just to double check. You know, did they really say those things about Carrick … or was that just a weird dream or something?
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/05/25/1284990/barcelona-midfielder-xavi-hails-manchester-uniteds-michael
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/07/06/2012141/real-madrid-star-xabi-alonso-believes-michael-carrick-is-the
Thanks man.
I’ll check out the articles.
I think I need to make a podcast or something. There’s just so much that needs to be talked about and sometimes the writing just isn’t optimal. 🙂
On second thought, just keep shouting it out.
If some players or coaches need to be called out then so be it.
I read one of an old post on Bielsa where you called out Sir Alex. I couldn’t believe someone else said it out loud even though I had thought it to myself a dozen times.
I guess either I’m not crazy or we both are. 🙂
A podcast is a great idea!
The one clear advantage the Timbers had today was fitness. As Brian points out by the second half Cal had to adjust tactics because of a lack of fitness. Before Cal got tired they had plenty of possession and made some good attempts on goal. There were definitely some players on the Cal team who deserve a chance to develop the fitness and get paid to play soccer weekly.
The one CLEAR DISadvantage the Timber had tonight was on the coaching bench. Instead of a coach the Timbers have a passionate little Brownie cheerleader on the bench who keeps shouting “WHIP IT IN THE BOX, WHIP IT IN THE BOX, WHIP IT IN THE BOX” and complaining about needing better service into the box in the post game pressers. While Cal on the other hand had an actual coach who thought about what tactics would fit the players he had and how he could adjust tactics throughout the game based on the fitness of his team and the scoreline. Imagine what Wynalda could do if he actually had a payroll to pay players.
Sadly the Timbers owner is a soccer newbie who must rely on his Technical Director for soccer expertise. Gavin Wilkinson’s answers so far are to send more of Merritt Paulson’s money to Columbia (Gavin must really like vacationing there) and build a Timbers youth system that pays the same old coaches more money to continue to do the same old thing while charging the kids and parents involved even more for the privilege to have the word Timbers in the club name.
@Wolfgang – Spencer demands those crosses to justify the Boyd signing (that all Whitecaps fans laughed at, TBH). Screamed of a “comfort” signing on Spencer’s part. (ps-please don’t remark if Robson stinks it up this summer in Vancouver! haha).
Timbers “youth system” – they charge to play in it? Are you referring to that Alliance or whatever it is called where 3 youth clubs were re-branded to wear Timbers kit etc? I thought Timbers were joining USSDA next year – and I thought MLS USSDA teams had to be free-to-play?
I agree as a whole, ThiKu, but disagree as to the “direction” of the causality. John Spencer is an old-school Scot who would play this old-school football no matter who he put out there. Boyd was the perfect player for him to pursue to best make use of his love-affair with the mindless UK drive-and-cross style. If Boyd succeeds, then yes that, in Spencer’s mind, will justify the style, but it’s not like he’d change the style if Boyd wasn’t there. In my opinion, anyway. Not much more than a difference in semantics between your comments and mine, we agree on the end result.
And Gary, I think we here all know this isn’t about CalFC. But it is nice to have a face/figurehead to this movement that we can actively cheer for. Just as I’m sure you’d rather have 1000 clubs like yours around the country because you care about the sport first and foremost, not your individual success within it. But right now, you’re the standard bearer, and in a way, so is CalFC.
But Cooper and Boyd are almost the same players you trade one target player for another. I think the bottom line is the timbers are going thru an identity crisis. Some games they want to play on the ground other days they want to press teams. Most of the time they want to hit the ball long to Boyd! Soccer is changing and guys like Cooper and Boyd are becoming extinct like the dinosaur!!!!!! If you want to play the game you need fast intelligent players willing to move off of the ball all game long.
Too many times I have witnessed the Timbers play a ball into the corner for Boyd and Cooper and watch with absolute humor a 1v3 in a corner with no support and then they get the ball taken away from them and have the nerve to yell and scream at everyone else that they lost the ball?!@#$
How about have some composure and keep the ball and play possession in the opponents final 3rd instead of your own!!!!!
Yeah Ken, I know in many cases I’m preaching to the choir.
But I also know there’s a whole bunch of readers in the shadows who are ‘the enemy’.
For the choir … I’m hopeful that with time I can help them refine ideas. The more polished and plentiful their thoughts, the better equipped they will be to take on the enemies of quality futbol.
Plus a ‘home base of operations’ is nice. 🙂
Yes I am referring to the “Alliance” . I am sure the USSDA will be free to play. But only after the family of that player has been fleeced for all they have thru the Alliance and regional ODP training centers that are all run by the Timbers and cost a fortune to be a part of. And they are still only going to recuite and promote players that fit the system. Last night proved the system is a failure.
Gary, this is one of your best entries yet. But alas, as the contributor Oscar might say, most people will never want to leave “the Matrix”. Most players don’t think deep thoughts, reflect on decisions they made, or ask “why?” when watching other games. Parents and coaches demand aggression and long, manly ball launches into a thicket of defenders. It may all be ineffective, but hey, it looks valiant, and how can that be bad?!
And in the end, everyone wears a Barca jersey.
LOL!
* “And in the end, everyone wears a Barca jersey.”
Brilliant!
This Cal FC story is great even if the bigger story is not about this team. Wynalda actually sounds very humble in the ESPN article.
That 7 MLS teams lost is somewhat hilarious, and demonstrative of the author’s points, but – no excuses – when defending champs LA bring the “reserve team” to lose to the NASL’s Railhawks, it is a great anyone-can-win story that, from an entertainment and underdog pov, should ALWAYS exist in the Open Cup, England’s FA Cup, etc., but …
… aren’t these the same pool of players in MLS reserves and NASL, going back and forth? So shouldn’t the results reflect this reality? Don’t these games help this pool of players, regardless of how we insist the results should or should not be? If so, does a premise of the recent blog posts – that the recruiting is not separating wheat from chaff – really exist? Or is the line just very fine (and that’s ok … or maybe it shouldn’t be fine)?
All good questions.
And with time and a genuine desire to learn, the answers will become clear as day.
One thing is true. The ‘line’ (details) distinguishing players at those levels is indeed fine.
Two things:
1) There are few people who can see the line and on what side of it each players falls.
2) This is a big reason why there’s much randomness (parity) in the leagues.
Another huge reason for parity and randomness is that American coaches play 50/50 soccer, and wholly depend on their players to ‘figure it out’.
So here’s the deal. I am part of the problem. I growed up playing club and I am part of the problem. My club coaches focused on bigger, stronger, faster players taught us the long ball mentality. But I want to leave the matrix. I want to coach kids to play the right way.
What should I do? What should I read? Not platitudes – what are the real sources of information and examples for how to do this right?
I read the USSF curriculum and while interesting it is nearly uselss as a practical tool. A good coach could take that and maybe organize practices a littler more deliberately? A bad coach will take that and not really improve? The USSF curriculum only has utility as a positive signal of intent.
This site and Barcelona and Spain games would be a heck of a starting point.
Well, so far so good. This is my new favorite blog. I just discovered it last week but I’ve been reading through the posts and comments going back to 2009.
I also have been learning a good deal about tactics as I go over the past few years. I got interested in following a zonal marking article on Bielsa’s Chile system and since them I’ve been tracking and watching Barcelone, Athletic Bilbao (this year), and also other teams trying similar variants such as Robert Martinez at Wigan.
I would say so far this website (along with those other sources) have helped me build aI have a growing understanding and appreciation of Barca and related tactics, but that is a far cry from teaching and coaching it, which is where I really want to go.
Sorry I didn’t proofread this. I do actually know how to speak and write correct English.
I consider myself in the same fairly ignorant class. Besides zonal marking, I have found a few videos that help explain what Barca is doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGuaQ1khn2k&list=FLOyWZ6dV8V-jgkX2wgn361g&index=2&feature=plpp_video
and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AiyUfxId90&list=FLOyWZ6dV8V-jgkX2wgn361g&index=5&feature=plpp_video
this youtube author has a few more in this vein. if anybody has other videos that break down what good teams are doing, it would be welcome.
Eric,
Make sure you get on Twitter and start following the “Coaching Family” (@CoachingFamily). Totally serious. It is a goldmine of information, support, banter and everything that is good and progressive in youth soccer. All guys with no apparent ego, tweeting non-stop about how to change things, posting endliess lesson plans, SSG’s, individual experiences. It’s been invaluable to me. You can also follow me at @zone_14 and then start following the folks I interact with. It’s really remarkable. Good luck.
Welcome to the Red Pill Eric! 🙂
This blog (and a lot of the people who contribute to it) will help you shape a philosophy that is in line with the global gold standard. But you have to THINK about the posts long after reading them. And some should be revisited and re-read. Absorb as much as you can.
Worldviews and philosophies can’t be spoon-fed.
As intense as I may come across at times, I’m a really chill guy who wants to help. I’ll have to get some testimony on video … hehe
Anyways, beyond the philosophy (which is critical). I’m currently developing the practical implementation of it (scheduled for Fall 12).
I saw some old posts about a curriculum or handbook being in development. Awesome – I really look forward to it.
I have one read-ahead question now if that is okay. I have seen a couple places where you use the phrase ‘set tactical work’ – one place was the Bielsa thread on this blog, another was a comment posted on a Paul Gardiner article about the Sounders bombing out of CCL.
I think I can guess but I want to be precise where I can tell you seem to be using specific terminology. What is set tactical work? Can you give a couple of examples?
(1) Cal FC Starting Eleven total salary from last night = $0.00
(0) Portland Timbers Starting Eleven total salary from last night = $2,334,925.00
“Parity”?
Quality versus Quantity
The excuses did not take long to find their way out of disgruntled but ill informed mouths. Kevin in one of his comments above hit on and easy and comfortable one for many in the “Matrix” , Quantity versus Quality. Tweets and Blogs and bar room conversations are filling up with talk of how the Timbers were unlucky to not get a goal. Just look at the stats right? Timbers had 37 SHOTS with 15 SHOTS ON GOAL compared to Cal FCs 8 SHOTS with 3 SHOTS ON GOAL. I was at the game. NONE of those 37 shots had any real chance of beating the keeper. The only one that even tested the keeper to any degree did not come until the 110″ mark. The Timbers took the Quantity approach and ignored Quality. Thankfully the Cal keeper was wearing a yellow shirt which made it all the easier for the Timbers to find him and pass him the ball 15 times. Kevin in his comments above has already pointed out the one dimensional, wholly uncreative attaching style implemented by Spencer.
Cal FC on the other hand took the Quality approach and didn’t get worried about creating tons of chances. Cal FC actually CREATED 3 really dangerous chances that made Perkins work. The excuse makers will say that Cal FC got lucky. Luck was not involved. The Cal FC team spent the entire game looking for, identifying and attacking weaknesses in the Timbers tactics. Cal found a weakness. Got in position to exploit that weakness and created a quality goal. I have watched Perlaza (one of the Timbers strikers) enough to be pretty confident in saying he would have not done as well with that chance.
There is a reason the Cal FC players are not in MLS. They can’t and won’t give up quality soccer just to earn a paycheck. They got passed over or dropped because they would not conform and become a part of a bad product. Do they deserve a better opportunity, yes. But I would not wish the ABYSS of the MLS on any one of them.
Last paragraph says it all perfectly. There are plenty of guys that would play the game any which way for any amount of money. Then there are the guys who only want to play the game the right way, and would do so (and are doing so) for free. The latter are unfortunately the ones that don’t “fit in” with the MLS mindset, style, etc…They have pride, and are playing with it in spades right now.
Wolfgang,
There are no shortage of cracks for the cockroaches to run to!
I’ve been dealing with this pestilence in one way or another for decades.
And while there are cockroaches in every industry and topic, the difference is in the numbers.
But don’t despair, I foresee their influence dwindling with time. Trust me.
As a Sounders fan, I was extremely pleased that the Timbers were the ones to receive the object lesson. As a Sounders fan, I really hope the Sounders aren’t on the end of the next one. I’m not really sure about Sigi, though. Sometimes it looks like he has a glimmer of a clue; oftentimes he looks completely lost. I wonder who we’ll get when we face Cal FC.
Any coach that plays their “bench” against Cal FC from here on out is risking complete humiliation if they lose. Any coach that plays their “starters” risks the same, though.
Let’s see what approach Sigi takes……….
It’s much more about how they play than who they play. The Sounders have some good players and they can play the right way at times, but they often play in very boneheaded ways as well. Like you said, we’ll have to see what approach Sigi takes.
At any rate, the success he’s had so far proves a smart MLS GM should be knocking down Wynalda’s door demanding he sign a coaching deal. I doubt any will be, but that’s MLS for you.
It seems somewhat karmic that Sigi and Wynalda will be facing off. I saw a quote from Wynalda “Everyone said I was too brash, I was too all of these things, and Sigi [Schmid, in the late ’80s the U.S. national B team coach, whom Wynalda credits with igniting his career] said, ‘Isn’t that kind of what we’re looking for?’ ” Perhaps the student will become the master? In any case I am going to try and see it live-and not because I want to cheer on Eddie Johnson getting stuck in the corner 1v3 as Rosie described aptly above. I am hoping that seeing the game live will help me sort out some of the issues discussed so passionately here-the contribution of player selection, coaching quality, player culture-to bringing american soccer to the next level.
Carlos,
Sigi needs to stop delaying, be brave, and sign our boy already.
Gary, who’s that?
Jonathan Prieto
There is an unbroken chain in the American game
MLS == College == ODP==High School == Club == WTF
Everyone plays the same shitty style and looks for the same shitty players.
As a great example, I mentioned a team my son’s played earlier this year, and the long throw-in warm up. This team has gone on to win the State Cup again beating a team full of extremely talented (latino) kids who played beautiful soccer. The difference size and speed choking out quality. In the end it was a couple of weaker defenders that let the more talented team down albeit in extra time.
They scored one garbage goal off of their patented Stoke FC-like long throw and a “scrum” in the penalty area (no skill whatsoever).
The winning goal was scored by a kid my son goes to high school with. In the Fall he plays football, not soccer. During the week before the game my son has the occasion to play soccer tennis with him after school. It was no contest, my son just killed him, he has no ball skills to speak of he is just big and fast. Watching the game, it was clear that he had a poor touch and a lack of game intelligence. While on a yellow card, he was flagged offside and still took two touches and shot on goal after the whistle.
The end result simply left me flat and greatly saddened. Worse than that this team of talented athletes are not learning to play the game correctly. It is coaching malpractice. Since the coach is winning state cups, he is viewed as a success. All he has done is recruit the best athletes that fit the mold, and play college worthy soccer. I’m sure a good number of their starters will get scholarship and play NCAA soccer. This is what Soccer USA is really all about.
Well said BillR. I completely understand, as the parent of a smaller technical U15 player who is completely ignored and not understood, I feel your frustration. We all need to keep fighting the good fight and carrying the message of 3four3! Lord knows I have annoyed more than one parent by attempting to correct their ignorance. I won’t stop though!
The system is broken, and not just for the 1% of top players, but for 100% of the players. We aren’t teaching the best how to properly play the game, and we are driving too many players away.
Frankly, I don’t know how much longer my son will put up with the Club soccer bullshit. To quote him “I see why a lot of guys don’t play club anymore, it’s all about winning and not skill or anything else”. He loves to play, but watching shitty soccer win and be praised for it is getting old. We might want to seriously reconsider how the current system is deeply contributing to the loss of players in the teen years.
Maybe it isn’t just kids leaving to play high school football, girls, etc, but rather the horrible club soccer system that drives them out. This system operates wholly in the service of winning. US Soccer helps to feed the monster, and only pays lip service to the high-minded goals of educating and developing players. Winning isn’t bad on the face of it unless serving it crowds out even bigger goals (like winning at the highest level, and building the game).
We in the USA have accepted winning in the short term over winning in the long term. We are accepting an inferior product in order to win tomorrow’s game and sacrificing our capacity to win it all. Sadly, this is an all-American principle.
Bill: Bah! You haven’t lived until you’ve gotten yourself kicked out of your club for trying to educate the parents and hold the club’s coaches and DOC to the standards you expect. Until you’ve done that, don’t even talk to me….;)
We did sort of get booted out of the club where the malpracticing coach plies his “trade”. The process of forming the aforementioned “super” team was a masterful example of manipulation, and a truly disgusting example of what is wrong with youth sports.
My blood brother! Gotta be willing to fight for your principles if you want to produce change. There will be some carnage along the way, there has to be. Luckily we found a club where there is a technical focus, a tactical vision, and a shared training approach that is handed down and monitored closely by the DOC. There will always be individual issues and various blips, but the vision our guy has for the program is legit. Teach the game properly, and let the players create. Exactly what Wynalda’s players have described.
“But I want to leave the matrix. I want to coach kids to play the right way.”
Eric, do what Ken mentioned. You will never leave the Matrix until you rebel against local coaches, DOCs, controlling families, and board members. As a coach you can only be free if you unplug completely and become ostricized, alienated and severe the blood line to suburban, money, youth soccer.
Gasp for air and breathe…you are REBORN!
Bill R-
My brain is running 100mph after reading your post. “Coaching malpractice”! This is a concept that we should run with. We need to redefine the profession of coaching soccer so that there can be a level of accountability attached to it. There are only a few years where technique can be successfully engrained before strength and size make it too difficult to perfect. We should call people out when they are practicing without a license so to speak. Problem is, the licensing process contains a lot of useless bullshit. Maybe that needs to be torn down too….
Blow it up and start over!
BillR,
I’m sorry but your weak ass complaining about your coach is pathetic. If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem. Start your own team, and select players that fit your mold and coach them to play the right way. My co-coach and I did exactly that, and we are state cup champions playing a possession/passing game that consistently beats the big/athletic unskilled teams. You don’t get kids to play beautiful soccer for the sake of beautiful soccer, you get them to play it because it is the best model to get them to understand the game and take their technical and tactical levels to the level they will need at the highest level AND because it works at any age and any level, if you play it well enough.
Gary, when are you going to write another critique on the senior USMNT again? We have been missing those!
In my opinion they looked decent against Brasil even though the final score. A good step in the right direction…
Well they haven’t played in a while …
+ I’m yet to watch the Brazil match.
Says a lot about my priorities huh? 🙂
I only was able to watch the first half but I liked what I saw. JK had the team doing their best to play possession soccer. The goal we scored was a quality series that broke down the Brazil defense. Perhaps there is hope for JK. If so he is in desperate need of a new support system that will develop players that actually have the skills to do what he is asking them to do.
If you only watched the first half and were happy you will be pleasantly surprised. Personally I didn’t think we played bad in the 1st half but it definitely belonged to Brazil overall. Our goal was very nice though. The 2nd half on the other hand we really piled on the attacks. Brazil were saved by the post 2-3 times and their keeper had 2 fantastic saves. One of those was a kick save that would have been a goal 99% of the time.
Brazil though did put away their chances and Marcello was fantastic at left back. In the end though 4-1 was far from fair. I was more impressed by our performance in this loss than the victory over Scotland. Still a ways to go but Klinsman is definitely shaking some things up in a good way.
FSC has announced that it will broadcast CalFC v Seattle. It’s happening, people.
“for those of you who live in the land opposite 3four3”
Gary, would that be 4two4?
Gary,
So what’s with the 3Four3 moniker? A preferred formation? A meaningless soccer term?
Agree about “people”, but what people? Not the 3Four3 crowd. I think it’s those in leadership who can affect change. Minions like me can only blog. There is much talk in USA about what needs to change, but the only one who has affected it is Klinsmann. He has the bully pulpit. Folks lime me can only bark but little bite. We need more people with bite to make the patient scream and look at his arse to see what’s nipping at the butt.
Hi Kana,
I don’t even remember the names I considered, but I kinda liked 3four3 for several reasons:
It was short, relevant, symbolic of aggression and ‘going for it’, and my view that the state of the art is evolving in that direction.
It’s not like I agonized over it though. I just wanted to get this party started, so I ran with it.
As for who can effect change and with what magnitude, you could have far more influence than you realize!!!
Individuals with little more than a computer with network connectivity have disrupted entire industries. We’re still in the infant stages of the disruptive power of the internet. The days of the traditional “command and control economy” are rapidly coming to an end. Individuals now have the means of production.
Anyways, I will definitely be talking a lot more on this topic as it is precisely what will bring about market efficiency in soccer. And as a result take the game in this country to superpower levels.
Before we ride the Cal FC train, let’s see how far they get and what happens after Open Cup. Cinderella runs in a one off tournament is one thing, consistency over long haul something different. Each year we see many Cinderella’s in numerous tournaments around the world, but they fade to reality as quickly as they exploded onto scene. Cal FC may be running on adrenaline and high octane effort from thrill of Open Cup. Even at youth level, we get teams out of nowhere in National Cup and then they fade to mediocrity.
Notice there is no talk here of any other upsets that happened in the open cup? Again its much more than the win over an MLS team, it’s how they did it and the quality that they showed and Portland didn’t. Calling this just another Cinderella run is a huge mistake, your missing what’s really going on here. Players that ave either been dropped or not identified play better soccer than MLS players and that’s a serious problem!! Thats why this is being talked about and none of the other “upsets” are.
You could not be more wrong on this one Kana.
I plan on writing another Cal FC post before the Seattle match and touch on why this is totally different than what’s connoted by a ‘Cinderella run’.
One self-serving hint is that we gave Cal FC attention long before the country ever considered them. Know why? Because we know when there’s something special that people should pay attention to.
Kana,
I saw the game live nearly right on the field. Close up its clear that Individually Cal FC was far superior, not even in the same league really. Technically, when the Cal FC players have the ball it looks like a natural extension of their bodies, be it passing or dribbling the ball seemed glued to their foot. Their movements in general are much more economical. Timbers players seem to fight the game and cannot dribble (accelerate/decelerate) without the ball getting away from them. I was shocked that these Cal FC players don’t have steady contracts in MLS. I know that MLS coaches don’t understand how to use these players but even playing a simple direct style these guys must be better. I still can’t wrap my head around why they haven’t been picked up. Their creative CM (can’t remember is #) is probably better than almost anyone in the league in that role. Unfortunately he was subbed out after 70 mins. From a tactical standpoint Cal FC had half a dozen sequences that started in their own box and ended in the Timbers box. If these guys had the same fitness the shot tally’s would have been reversed.
^don’t worry Ken – twitterverse exploded/exposed all of the upsets! To be fair, and Wynalda said this himself, all the MLS teams that lost were using reserves. That is until Cal FC played Portland Timbers first team. 🙂 Timbers did use many/all their first XI.
I am somewhat bothered with ppl who say “MLS reserves should be better than NASL or USL first teams.” I look at it this way – are Wigan’s reserves better than Southampton’s first team? Are Liverpool’s reserves better than Brighton’s first team? (haha, they might be. I am not certain who Liverpool fielded in their FA Cup game) etc etc. So to say New England Rev reserves should be better than whoever it was they lost to…I don’t know. I have my doubts. Should NER have blown that game, reserves or not? Of course not. But you get my point overall.
Whitecaps reserves did beat FC Edmonton, but maybe you could call it a reserve team only at times. Plenty of first teamers featured over those two legs, including goals from Hassli. So … there are exceptions to my above statements.
Well, this hints at the market efficiency problems. That the cream doesn’t necessarily rise to the top.
But that is not what’s presumed in the soccer community. The presumption, particularly by unqualified American media opinions, is the opposite.
So this needs to be exposed as directly and as often as possible.
Just read a quote from Spencer.
“They’re a decent young team,” Spencer said. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to compete in Major League Soccer on a daily basis, on a weekly basis. They came, they worked hard as young players that have been rejected from this level are going to do – they’re going to come and try to put on a good performance.”
Clearly he missed the lesson from this game. Not that I expected anything different. I am still waiting for him to be fired.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/03/amateur-team-bringing-american-soccer-its-knees/?page=1#article
I was rooting for Cal FC, but they ran out of adrenaline as Cinderella’s typically do. I’m not sure they proved anything? But I hope some of the players get second chance with MLS. Kudos to Eric Wynalda for giving them a stage to challenge the established system.
Happened to come across this interview with Wynalda about the team.. Thought it was a pretty interesting read. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soundersfcblog/2018353237_highlights_of_tuesdays_telecon.html