The video below is a compilation of every 5-touch sequence (minimum) from both teams, along with the game’s goals.
This is what the leading possession soccer in the US looks like at U12.
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Fantastic Gary. Thanks for getting this done.
Thanks Raf!
Geeze… such great discipline. Really impressive. Always looking to distribute, aware of their team mates. The other team looked lost. It’s hard to score if you never have the ball… did you have 80% possession?
Thanks Steve!
Unfortunately we don’t have the tech to do track possession % with ease.
If I had the resources to do it, I would. Maybe one day. đ
Could just have a coach or parent run a stop watch. Run it while the team is in possession… stop it when you lose possession… subtract from total game time… gives you a rough estimate. Just an idea.
Gary–Referring to your earliest post about not being able to track possession. There’s an app for that. It’s free and it’s called Live Coder for an Ipad. It works great. two big fat keys are on it you press with your thumbs whenever a team has possession. When you press one the other stops. You can watch the entire game and never really have to look down to what your doing.
Possession % as is being discussed here is time possessed / game length. I’m pretty sure I’m right in saying pro level tracks volume of completed passes. Passes completed / passes attempted. In either case, Barcelona are tops. I prefer the latter because the ratio between passes completed and attempted tells a lot besides possession. If we simply tracked total time, a team could have minimal passes and we would falsely think they were Barcelona part two.
how come u never answer my emails
Really great play. There were the occasional errant passes, but the other team didn’t have the quality to make anything of them, and you were able to recover them almost instantly. You can definitely see room for improvement, but these kids definitely know how soccer should be played.
There’s massive room for improvement!
There was a lot of shit play over the weekend too.
They play really good Gary but overall there doing excellent..
So freaking sick! Watching these videos pisses me off. How the heck are they so freaking good!
I’m nitpicking here but feel giving the proper context is key. Context is king after all. This FC Dallas team is out of El Paso. Doesn’t take anything away from how the boys played of course (which is brilliant by the way) but playing FC Dallas’ top team would look different. In fact it would be a game I would pay to see
You’re right, context is king!
Perhaps FC Dallas will send a better team next time. Isn’t that what Surf Cup is for?
Gary,
Let me start off by saying I flat out, just donât coach kids that are at the level of your players. It makes me mad that I canât get my kids to this level. What the heck am I doing wrong. đ
The technical ability of some of your players amazes me! Some of the passes are so perfect and so difficult – it trips me out that they are like… 11!
I have to spend a ton of time in practice just fixing basic passing technique, because I canât stand watching a kid use bad technique.
My question is, do you even focus on this with your kids?
(What confuses me is that when I was a player – no one really had to teach me the correct technique. I just figured it out from watching/playing with my older brothers and other players.
Whatâs the story with your kids? Did YOU teach them or are they those kids that put in the hours at home to teach themselves?
I noticed that you have a few boys that are a little behind on their technique (#17 and #8). They donât have the same level of ability to âcaressâ the ball like #10, #7, #15 or even #12 or #9 just to throw out a few.
#17 and #8 are good player and they are affective (in the video), but they just look a little sloppy to me at times. There is something different about the way they touch the ball and how some of your other top players touch the ball.
What are you going to do with them, to get them up to the GOLD level?
Do you know what Iâm talking about or am I crazy.
I’ll let Gary answer for himself, but I’ll throw my two cents in. When you use pattern passing, which Barcelona’s academies do since they run the same system or at least have the same concepts throughout the age groups, you get a lot of technical practice with receiving and passing. In addition, it incorporates decision making and an emphasis on the details, because the kids have to pass when their teammate is ready for it, pass to their front, open body position to receive, looking before the ball gets to you, and what passing choice to make under what scenario. In case you are wondering, I read about this in Kevin McShane’s “Coaching Youth Soccer” where he spent time at Barcelona observing their training and methods.
Thanks R,
I do a lot of pattern passing and that is when I fix technique. So maybe I just need to be more patient and keeping hammering on it every practice. Thanks for the book suggestion.
I also think that the type and focus of your pattern play work needs to directly link to how you want the final product to look. That implies the need for a specific soccer philosophy and style of play. If you want kids to create and exploit 2v1s on the wings, you need to explicitly show them how its done without pressure and then with pressure in practice. In the past (and not too distant past), I would play small sided games like all coaches have been taught to do through coaching courses. However, I didn’t understand why the kids couldn’t relate that to the game. I’ve taken more of a balanced approach (show them when, where, and why to make certain decisions and use some guided discovery to help them come up with the answers themselves) to make my practices more game-like, even down to the set up of the practice field.
Having just spent time with an FCb Escola director and La Masia coach I can tell you they do not use pattern play. While they noted that it has been used in the past, they both said it is not a part of their current methodology.
Details… what’s their current methodology? Very curious.
I’d be very interested as well. In the past on this blog, there has been talk of pattern play and its usefulness. Also, Kevin McShane’s book was written in 2002 so I’m sure alot of the current Barcelona players (Iniesta, Xavi, etc.) got that type of training.
I will be posting on the subject on my blog soon. Soccerpurist.WordPress.com. hopefuly Gary won’t mind my shameless advertising
Hi Alec,
Technique can only be polished.
A coach can never take a kid from ‘zero to hero’ in technique. Nor from ‘zero to 50%’.
I posit that a coach can only influence around 5-10% of a player’s technique, particularly in a team setting. But that 5% is huge!
So as far as our player’s are concerned, they are no different than all players. Primary responsibility on technical ability falls squarely on them. We work on polishing.
For instance, do you notice how the players receive passes across their body? That’s part of the details, the nuances, that people don’t ever see. And it’s huge!!!
Gary,
I can totally see the details of how well your players receive the ball and open up the body! Love it! However, what if you have a 7 year old kid, who hasn’t played much. How is he going to learn if I don’t teach him. He starting at zero for sure.
It’s an excellent question Alec.
Unfortunately, I have no expertise with 7 year olds who’ve hardly played.
To me, at these ages it’s all about nurturing a love affair with the ball. They have to spend time experimenting and playing. Perhaps one can introduce them to experiments (hit the ball this way or that way).
I am obsessed (in a good way) with 3four3 and what you are doing – to say it’s a breath of fresh air is a huge understatement. My own coaching has benefitted from your guidance.
That said, I think issue of “technique”, which you have also addressed elsewhere, is a big one for lots of the people you are hoping to reach. It seems like you are essentially saying that you are only interested in kids from soccer-focussed households for whom soccer is their #1 sport, the boys learn skills from family and friends, and work on their game on their own, etc. Boys who come to your practices with a full set of tools already in place. In your neck of the woods, this would appear to be a group largely consisting of Latino boys. In other parts of the country it may be West African, Carribean or even, gasp, plain ol’ white kids. But that is only a sliver of our soccer-playing population.
Do you feel you can or have any interest in addressing coaches who coach kids who, like Alec says, don’t know how to pass the ball properly? Who mix in soccer with baseball, basketball, music or computer class? Or is that better left to for other blogs, teachers, programs, etc. I can tell you that’s where the money appears to be, but it may not be where your heart is or your interests lie. Quite curious in what you envision is the best path for those coaching without a full squad of little footy wunderkinds.
“Do you feel you can or have any interest in addressing coaches who coach kids who, like Alec says, donât know how to pass the ball properly? Who mix in soccer with baseball, basketball, music or computer class?”
Go to the About:
The target is to develop quality players for the professional game.
Personally as a coach, I would not waste my time with kids who are not as dedicated and devoted to the game. It is a conflict of philosophy.
I get that the ultimate goal is to raise the level of pro and international players. But I think it’s safe to say that most of the thousands of youth coaches who are watching this video and reading the blog will never have an elite player cross their paths and are more likely to have players who are not particularly skilled. Should those coaches stop watching/reading?
Go back through the archives, there’s an article titled “Advice to Soccer Parents”. If we aren’t going to produce elite players, we can at least produce players who love the game and appreciate skills beyond being able to kick far and run fast. Building the culture required for the US to become a serious player in the world. I got here in April 2010, my rec/travel-rec coaching has improved greatly. Show them clips/videos, ask them to watch games or find some cool skill to show you, have viewing parties etc.
We started at Bronze and progressed all the way through to the premier level. We’ve also had girls.
At every point, certainly at the lowest levels, we’ve had players with ‘poor’ skill. But our players/teams were still trained under the same philosophy, and game day execution was also there – only breaking down when pound for pound we’re ridiculously outclassed. Emphasis on ‘ridiculously’.
Brian is also coaching a lower level team. I’ll go film one of their next matches and show everyone what that looks like. Hopefully that will begin to show our work is not exclusive to the highest levels.
That sounds like an excellent idea.
Hi Gary,
Obviously, I’m a little late in this conversation… but, did you ever post the film of Brian’s lower level team? Where can I find it, I’m very curious.
thanks,
Cameron
Hi AS,
I’ll have to write more about ‘who 3four3 is for’.
It really isn’t black and white, as your contribution seems to suggest.
The short answer, is that it is for every coach who has a true commitment to excellence – not just of their players, but to themselves. Excellence being defined as a genuine pursuit of fulfillment of potential. Whatever level your players/team happen to be at.
That being said, the focus here is on competitive play, and not recreational. Even the lowest levels of the competitive circuit (that’s where we started).
But to me, when someone describes a kid that can barely pass a ball 5 yards, you’re definitely in the recreational world and outside the scope of our work here.
p.s. We absolutely positively do not have a team full of ‘wonderkids’. I wish!
Hi Gary,
I’m reassured to hear you say you have “no expertise with 7 yr olds who have hardly played”. I am working with this age in an large academy program in Dallas and I’m still trying to put my finger on what is most important in developing these kids toward long term success in the game. The academy system is still very new in the U.S. and I’m curious to know if we are too much in the habit of playing politics, and putting too much pressure on our little ones to make ourselves look good, or are we only beginning to discover what our youngsters are capable of? I don’t know yet? We have yet to see the product of very many 18yr olds who began playing for “said club” at age 5. Are they: top quality players? Still motivated to play? Burnt out? I’m curious how europe and south america teach their 5-8yr olds?
Thanks,
Cameron
Alec,
I think your problem is that you are clueless about soccer, your assestment about the players are totally incorrect, #8 has guest , playing up, with our team and by far one the best players you can find, his vision and soccer IQ are far ahead of the curve, when Barcelona USA Academy plays up against our team, no one in our team was able to keep up with him, on the tournament he had most assist and goals scored.. I wish he plays up.. of course with our team.
Mr. Coach,
Thanks for calling me out. Makes the blog more interesting! It’s totally fine if you disagree with me – it’s great to hear lots of different opinions.
To quote you, “his vision and soccer IQ are far ahead of the curve”. I agree, but my comment was on his TECHNIQUE.
Watch #8 at 4:57 – 5:04 (If you can’t find 3 or 4 things he did wrong, you might not have an eye for good technique.) Now, is this kid a bad player? No, he is a great little player and maybe the camera just caught him in a few bad moments. He is probably grown a lot recently and looks a little off at times. But if we are trying to develop elite level players that are going to play like Xavi, then we probably have to be pretty picky and have high expectations. I’m pretty sure that’s Gary and Brian’s goal, so this kid looks like he needs a little more polishing.
Every single one of the players on this team has tremendous deficiencies that drive me insane! Some more than others. They all have a loooooooong way to go, and a tremendous amount of things to learn.
15-0?
Usually when I’m playing FIFA (soft comparison, I realize) and finish a game with a scoreline like that, I up the difficulty level or find new online opponents.
Not that I can blame you or your methods (which are superb for the age group you’re coaching) but is there really no other challenge out there for your club?
Wasn’t the scoreline… that was the number of 5 pass sequences.
Gary when will you be hired at USSF? I’m just wondering, you could shake things up
USSF or ODP won’t hire anyone like Gary or his brother. They aren’t disciples if big, strong kids who mature physically quick. In fact, USF and ODP probaly despise Barcelona USA because they are proving the old guard wrong. It was one thing for Spain, Argentina, Mexico to prove them wrong — but on your own soil! Blasphemy!
I wouldn’t be surprised if an MLS Academy hired them in some capacity.
Gary / Brian – I have been following your progress online from San Diego and wanted to see your teams live at Surf Cup. I paid the $9 parking to get a close up view and was very impressed with the quality of play. I was there for the finals that were taking place simultaneously for the BU11 and BU12 teams. For what it is worth, the quality of play was an A+ for the U12s and slightly lower for the U11s. The shocking thing to me purely as an observer was that the sideline for the U11s was a mess. I witnessed 10 – 20 dads , relatives, etc. coaching their individual kids out of earshot of the head coach. I know this happens throughout the club world but was expecting that your methods would create a siingle voice from the sideline to keep things flowing well. When watching the U12s, I noticed an older gentleman like a soccer version of “Tony Robbins” barking at the boys during halftime when Brian was done with them. Again, just an observation but this seemed very odd given that the boys seemed to play with such natural instincts. I hope you guys can continue to raise the bar for Soccer across the US as it is obvious that the status quo will not get it done.
I noticed in the video that there was some adult doing a lot of yelling instructing the kids to make this or that pass or movement. Was tha a coach? A parent? I found it annoying and wonder if older kids wouldn’t balk at such joystick coaching.
I think that the mic was picking up coaches and parents of other teams and games that were going on… you could distinctly hear cheering and adult that weren’t even watching the match,
I need to write a lot about this term ‘joystick coaching’.
There’s a lot that needs to be said.
Thanks for paying the $9 and the kind words! Interestingly, I’ve always thought if we were college or USL coaches, we would pretty quickly fill stadiums!! No fucking joke!
Anyways, I’ll write about the sideline behaviors at some point. For now let me address the gentleman who gave our U12s a half time talk. His name is John Eshom, an exceptional friend and fitness specialist, who’s been with us in a coaching capacity since the very beginning in 2003. He’s like family! He is a tremendous component to the success of our work, but has never been talked about here. We’ll have to start changing that!
Thanks for the quick response. My brothers and I were raised by Argentine and Italian parents that demanded the most from us in everything we did / do. Unfortunately, my fear is that many of the “soft” parents in the USA will be turned off by too much chaos and harshness on the sidelines to appreciate the efforts you and Brian are making to truly change US soccer. I think there is a healthy balance of feedback vs. puppeteering from the sidelines. I wish you guys the best of luck and will do whatever possible to shine your guys light in San Diego. I think that San Diego is another ripe market for what you guys are doing. Keep up the great work!
I would love to know what kind of pattern passing drills you use,
Hi Steve,
Our online coaching education is being developed and will launch in a couple months.
Gary, nice work. Total domination. Why don’t you play U13 or U14? Is playing up better for your kids’ development?
http://blog.3four3.com/2011/12/16/playing-up-in-youth-soccer/
Right, thanks! Just think if you are totally dominating your opponent the team is not getting challenged to get better.
International youth teams typically play up and down depending on the quality of opposition and what the training program is trying to achieve.
Here are the things all people should consider:
Brian is OBVIOUSLY doing something right. I’m sure I speak for everyone to say that we have NEVER seen a boys u12 team move the ball like this, EVER in the United States. Most coaches/clubs preach about development, with nothing to show or prove. They don’t just preach, but they show you proof with the videos. I also think winning u10, u11, and u12 age groups is remarkable, and almost unheard of at a prestigious tournament like Surf Cup. Proof!
Bringing things into perspective a bit…I have been following this thread for about 6 months now and I constantly see coaches saying things like “why can’t my teams play like this?” or “Ugh, my teams look NOTHING like this.”
What people MUST understand is Barcelona USA is a unique situation and set up. My questions for Gary or Brian would be, How much money per year does every individual player pay?? Specifically Brian’s u12 team. My guess: Next to nothing. So how does Brian get paid to coach this team? My guess: a HUGE donor. Who pays for these teams to travel to Spain every year? Where is the money coming from? My guess: a HUGE donor.
Any team at u12 could have the CHANCE to be successful if they were given the opportunity to select the best players and have them pay next to nothing because without actual fee’s it’s so simple for Brian to go out and simply pick the best of the best players. The difference between Brian’s teams and an average club team in Southern Ca is simple. 1) Money- Most teams average fee’s per season range from $900 – $2100. Why would a Hispanic family pay $1400 dollars a year for club when they could have their kid play in the Sunday league for $60 dollars? NO. I am sure EVERY single coach on this thread has had difficulties signing players because of financial issues.
If Brian Kleiban coached in another club, let’s say SD Surf or Arsenal or Real So Cal, would he be AS successful? I think not. Not because I don’t think he’s good enough, he’s obviously proven he’s one of the brightest young coaches in US Soccer, but simply because coaches in Southern Ca are limited by the business side of club soccer. Some u12 teams even at bigger clubs are only given a limited number of scholarships. I think there are some very good coaches in So Cal and given the right environment, could be very successful in terms of development.
I want to be very clear, this isn’t a post to discredit Brian Kleiban for the work he’s done, it’s just to make people think outside the box a bit. He has a much better chance to be successful because he has a financial backing within the club. Does that mean if another coach was given Brian’s EXACT same u12 team back when they were u10 boys, and developed those players and that team they would be just as good? HELL NO!
Barcelona USA is changing the face of US Soccer at this age group by PROVING their training techniques are successful. By proving that if there a key financial donor than teams have a higher opportunity to be successful. And by proving that it takes a damn good coach to teach these concepts/philosophies. The fact that this team has been successful in European tournaments is impressive. I’m excited to watch this team grow. Thank you 3four3 for providing us with a glimpse of hope for our future in this country.
I have a lot of respect for Brian and Gary. I wish I had some of their opportunities. The clear difference is this.
Brian was trained in Barcelona not the US. US coaching courses do not teach how to create elite players. The Barcelona brand attracts many players from the surrounding areas. LA/Riverside/Orange counties (so Cal) are full of raw talent with the correct cultural makeup. Without the coaching knowledge, brand recognition, and raw talent creating the best team in the nation is not possible.
I think I offer the best coaching in my area at no cost (players pay the bare minimum) but lack brand recognition so can’t attract the raw talent necessary. Also, lack the families that want their kids to be professionals.
Just a quick clarification, this philosophy and methodology of ours has been in development since we started playing and coaching. These trips to Barcelona, are but another ingredient in what is the core of our work.
Yes. This is exactly what I was thinking. They are clearly able to recruit very good players and the fact that the costs are so low would explain some of that. No doubt this is a very good team, but I find it unlikely that Brian Kleiban is THAT far ahead of the curve compared to every other coach in the country. Not only did the u12 win but the u10. Being that the amount of time these kids have been coached at u10 is so short it usually comes down to the team with best natural talent. Again, indicating great recruiting.
Also, just curious… These kids are clearly great at passing and maintaining possession etc. but is their 1v1 skill getting compromised? I didn’t see any kid take on a defender 1v1 in that video.
Player development philosophy seems to be a very complicated subject. It will be interesting to see how far these kids go.
“I find it unlikely that Brian Kleiban is THAT far ahead of the curve compared to every other coach in the country”
No, really he is! I’ve studied dozens of so called “top” professional youth coaches. I have also seen them at conferences and coaching courses. Talked to college coaches. They are all pitiful. They understand isolated technical/tactical situations but not the real game. Not the way the Kleibans understand the game. The proof is all in the teams they manage and train. The results are robotic teams with no sense of understanding from youth, high school, college, MLS to national team level.
I’m sure it’s been mentioned before.
US soccer players have outgrown US coaches. The coaches are the limiting bottleneck to player development in this country.
Jurgen Klinsmann: ‘There is a gap’ but it’s not the players. It’s the coaches!
If you can pass and score, then 1v1 not as important. But agree with the observation. As most things, time will tell.
Fred, recruitment helps, and plenty of clubs are good at recruitment, but I dare you to post a video of a U12 team that puts together 15 5-pass sequences in a game against a youth team run by an MLS club. Plenty of coaches talk about the value of maintaining possession, but what separates Brian and Gary is that put out a product that proves that they know what they are talking about. You raise an interesting point that 1-on-1 skills may be compromised, if a youth team plays a tiki-taka style. Tiki-taka and 1-on-1 skills are not mutually exclusive. Take another look at the video, and you are likely to see that your observation that these kids did not take anyone 1-on-1 is inaccurate. At 1:12 the right winger beats his defender and when two more defenders arrive to help, he makes a pass. He just took 3 players out of play, which means that at least two of his teammates are wide open. At 1:17 a player takes on several players in the opponent’s box and takes a shot. At 2:16, No. 15 takes a player 1-on-1 and is fouled by the defender. At 3:36, No. 7 does a sweet move against a defender, which opens up an easy pass. There’s more one-on-ones at 4:52 and 4:56. This is 6 times in the first 5 minutes of the video, when Barcelona USA’s players took on a defender.
Winning is NOT indicative of development.
How one plays is indicative of development, or lack thereof.
If both are happening in the affirmative, then it’s possible to think something special could be at work. Emphasis on ‘possible’.
I know there was a dad at LA Samba who was the HUGE DONOR. My info is dated and he may not be paying the bills at Barcelona USA or turned off the spiket.
All of this stuff is a crutch for those looking for an escape valve as to why they haven’t been able to do it.
Sorry. But it needs to be said. And I will explain in time.
This product/team you see here, is NOT the most remarkable work Brian has done (not even close). This is only the latest, which happens to be benefiting because we have video and a media outlet.
For now, I’ll offer just one thing everyone should consider:
* There are fully funded teams across the land. Yet their product is total shit!
In this very age group, U12, at this very same Surf Cup, we played against two fully-funded programs. One was in the semi-final against Pateadores, and the other was in the final vs Golden State Academy. It was total annihilation.
Funniest thing is everyone thought it was going to be a coin flip. Everyone talks about ‘the gap is closing’. Dick! I’ll put those videos up too.
Appreciate the thoughts Jason, but you are drawing convenient conclusions without really knowing.
I will expand much much further … but the gap in coaching quality is astronomical.
Gary,
Only fully-funded I know of for all ages is LA Galaxy. Not sure about Chivas? But am surprised to hear Pats and FCGS are fully funded. I don’t know, but not what I’d expect at U10 – U12. I know parents on U14 and U15 in both Pats and FCGS and they are not funded. Pay full dues like everyone else. They are fully funded at USDA U16 and U18.
That Pats team is funded by the Samba donor you mentioned above.
The ‘academy’ teams of FCGS are fully funded.
“All of this stuff is a crutch for those looking for an escape valve as to why they havenât been able to do it. Sorry. But it needs to be said. And I will explain in time.”
I was first to admit that I believe you and Brian are doing something different, and special. I have already told my wife that when we have a son (hope the damn kid likes soccer) that I would travel hours upon hours to have him be trained by you both. However, I will be looking forward to seeing that explanation, in time, because as I saw it you further proved my point. You are absolutely right, in which I am drawing conclusions without really knowing.
“For now, Iâll offer just one thing everyone should consider:
* There are fully funded teams across the land. Yet their product is total shit!
In this very age group, U12, at this very same Surf Cup, we played against two fully-funded programs. One was in the semi-final against Pateadores, and the other was in the final vs Golden State Academy. It was total annihilation.”
Again, further proves my point of what I said earlier. There’s a reason 3 fully funded programs (drawing conclusions again on Barca u12) made the Semi’s, final’s, and Champions of one of the most competitive youth tournaments in the country. So 3 of the 4 teams that made the semi’s are fully funded? Which further proves the point coaches within a fully funded program have a higher chance to succeed. Will they be at the same level in which Brian’s teams are, HELL NO. I said before, he is head and shoulders above the rest.
Also shows that Pats Samba u13 boys, a fully funded team, is most successful of that age group.
So that’s why my sons team lost in the Quarterfinals, the team they played against was fully funded. đ small consolation…
Seriously I think the fact that these teams have found a way to full funding is fantastic. That’s the only way this country will ever compete internationally. I think that kids from a lower economic status have an edge and heart that middle class kids will never have.
Jason,
Unfortunately, pay to play has the disadvantages you point out. Teams lose kids because they can’t afford (especially USDA clubs who have higher fees). And there is always problems when players don’t pay or come to practice but start or get lots of playing time. A problem unique to pay to pay model. And we also have situations when the 15th – 18th kid on the roster are only there to pay coach salary. AYSO level players. I see it myself and supposed elite teams at U12 on up. That doesn’t happen in European or SA model.
Gary,
I enjoyed the video. I appreciate that vast amount of time and passion you have dedicated to your teams. It shows.
I think of Gary as the Jaime Escalante of the US club soccer world. For the naive readers that think Gary is going to get swooped up by X town soccer, USSF, ODP, etc, time to wake up. The amount of inertia, protectiveness and brain-block in national, club and rec soccer in the US means that there is a fractionally small chance of that happening. And if he does/did get an full-time offer, say from some town’s soccer program, do you think he’d want to deal with the pain of all the coaches and parents in that existing structure U6-U19?? The politics is overwhelming. Wake up folks — he has parents of his own teams bitching at him. Yes parents of those kids in that video that are obviously so well coached. Imagine what would happen if he took a job as Director of Coaching for, just as an example, Carlsbad or Sunnyvale. (shudder).
I’m guessing he’s better of independent for now, build the club into a powerhouse with more ages, with relatively low interference and maybe he’ll have an opportunity for a big jump elsewhere if he wants it someday.
If I was a billionaire owner of a club overseas, I would create a youth program here because it is one of the few places you could start one greenfield relatively easily that doesn’t have any real existing competition from pro clubs with decades of culture and tradition. Actually I would make an offer to acquire B-USA and have the best day one, buy some land and create real soccer academy which would fly in the best kids around the USA and feed them into the club I owned. And none of those expenses would be impacted by FFP rules or salary caps.
Tom
Thank you Tom.
A bit surprised (dissapointed) that the real Barca hasn’t step up to Barca USA, with all the potential of US and the quality product Brian and Gary have put out
Remember when Laporta was in charge h sounded like he wanted to set up a full US operation including a MLS team
Of course there is already some level of support, maybe even more than it seems.
With Cruyff getting involved in Chivas youth set up in Mexico, curious
I heard Cruyff only likes getting involved with teams that have deep culture.
If you’ve seen the u12s #7 play, you know that the team has some 1v1 skill. My son & I watched the 12s play & it was impressive. I actually emailed Gary afterwards to express how impressive it was.
Ps
Sunil gullati will never hire these guys. They’re the anti us soccer.
Just Wondering, but when you guys started the team what formation did you play as? has it changed since? and it was tough for me to evaluate what formation you played in this game…… was it a 4-4-2, 4-3-3, etc? Thanks and great work!
This team was inherited at U10, when it was not 11v11. Brian will have to answer what the primary formation was then. You see, until that point, we had been training olders … so I’d rather have a root canal than be involved with 9 year olds. đ But that’s another story.
Anyways, since the team became U11 it’s all 4-3-3. Occasionally, a 3-4-3 has been tossed out there (it actually happened in the latter portion of this FC Dallas game).
Oh and one more thing, do you guys play in Coast Soccer League or in the new SCDSL?
Coast Soccer League.
I wonder if anyone has any comments on the US MNT beating Mexico last night. I’ll start by saying that I’m no expert. But in my opinion, Mexico completely dominated the game. There were no statistics posted, but I’m sure they possesed the ball 60-70% or more of the game. The final result does not represent the game at all. As I watched the game, I couldn’t help thinking about Gary/Brian’s teams and their possesion and their 5+ pass sequences and how similar it was to the Mexican team. Not sure if US MNT had ANY 5 pass sequences. It was the same thing every time they had the ball. One touch, two touch, dribble, battle a defender, lose the ball (occasionally a long pass). Their winning goal was a mish mosh of random kicks in front of the goalie that ended up at the back of the net. That goal reminded me of my 8 year old’s games. Glad we won. Love the US MNT, but we won’t win many more games palying like that.
You nailed it NYC Dad…….the US team LITERALLY cannot connect 5 passes together. They get possession…..maybe connect 1-2 passes and then they lose possession……EVERY time! My daughter and I were watching and she says, “Dad, the Men’s US team isn’t very good. Our team(her GU12 team) plays better soccer than they do.”
They were able to win the game, but if they continue to play the way they did, Mexico would beat them 99 out of 100 times. People need to understand that the “gap” between the US and Mexico did not get closer last night just because we won the game. If anything it should show how poor we play and how well Mexico plays comparitively, there is still a HUGE gap in my opinion. We just got lucky on a crazy play in front of the net, plain and simple. Oh, and Tim Howard made some incredible saves as well!
The US develops great goal keepers. Tim Howard and Hope Solo are a few. The main reason is because our country focuses on sports where hand-eye coordination is important like basketball, tennis, football, baseball, volleyball, etc.
Many of the soccer players do not look like soccer players. Look at Kyle Beckerman and Brek Shea. Both are just clumsy, movements awful to watch on the field, and lack coordination on the field.
Did you see this?
“Beckerman gave away a corner by hitting it back to no one. ”
Brian/Gary’s team does not make these infantile mistakes. It’s too bad the US won. It’s the same problem with winning in youth, high school, and college soccer. The game in our country never has a reason to improve.
“Beckerman gave away a corner by hitting it back to no one.”
That sequence was US soccer in a nutshell. It was embarassing for a player playing on a National team to do something like that. You would NEVER in a million years see a player from Spain do something like that.
If one of my 9 year olds kicks the ball to no one he gets taken off the field to THINK.
I wish they would stop calling him up. He’s slow and uncreative.
And the sad part is folks like Alexi Lalas rave on about there is no gap in US vs. Mexico. What a friggin moron! The game was lopsided as it can get. USA did shit! Winning was the worse thing. Dumb asses like Gulati will think “oh, it’s all good.”
If Shea is clumsy, the guy guarding him on the goal sequence must be downright uncoordinated, because he beat him like he wasn’t even there. It was a very nice backheel after that although the shot itself was kind of weak.
I’ll take issue with the great goalkeeper comment; the USA develops great shot-stoppers. They are far from being complete goalkeepers because of their generally poor distribution. We won’t go far as a soccer-playing nation until we demand that our keepers also be complete players too. The same applies to center- and full-backs who need to be much more than defenders, but complete players. Instead it is size, speed, aggression, and ability in the air that define a player. The same holds for attacking players who also need to defend. CR7’s is a remarkable attacking force, but he often does little or nothing for the team defensively. His incompleteness is why he isn’t quite the player Messi is.
The one-dimensional view of players is a systemic problem.
Funny… also a NYC Dad… Brooklyn to be exact. I feel the same way about the game. I was kind sickened by my twitter feed after the game… “WHAT GAP?!” “Maybe the naysayers will shut up now!’ “First Italy in Italy and now Mexico and Mexico!”
We’ll never get better if we think that bunkered, cynical play win us a World Cup. We just used the tactics that a lot of teams use against Spain/Barcelona to keep the scoreline as tight as possible. And that Mexico team isn’t that impressive. We’ll never get to the quarter finals like this.
But I don’t necessarily think Jurgen’s game plan is to play this way every time. He wanted to get these younger players a win or at least a draw. He did that.
JURGEN KLINSMANN…âWe know that Tim Howard kept us in the game. We know that Mexico created far more chances than we did. They had far more possession and they have wonderful players. We admire them. I think that if you ask the Mexican players, they feel that there is an American team there that is very tough to beat. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck, which we had, to win in a game like that. When youâre on the field, you sense certain things that even the Mexican side felt that those Americans are tough to beat today.â
There’s a big difference between a “team that is tough to beat” and a “team that can win.”
Well at least Jurgen isn’t delusional about the win.
Nonetheless, beating Mexico in Estadio Azteca, is priceless.
Gary …. quick question – Is this the same U11 team in the 12 minute video posted awhile ago … U11s now U12 ? Earlier video showed superior play IMO … but I could be wrong … just curious.
Not Gary, but yes…..same team.
Thanks so much for posting Gary. Any chance you could post an entire game? I have a son who is U12 and I like to have him watch your team and in particular his position as a learning experience. Alternatively, I would be glad to pay you for a DVD.
Funny, my son is playing in a tournament this weekend and I do not think I have seen a single team have a 5 touch sequence. It’s always the same, a straight vertical rush to the goal. Maybe, a pass or two out wide with a cross. But, I haven’t seen one team at U12 use pattern passing. I don’t get it, our team are small fast kids, about half are hispanic, and the coach is mexican. But, no pattern passing, no focus on possession, barely a pass back to the backs. So frustrating to watch after seeing your kids. Also some good video I’ve watched out of NJ from a guy on youtube BarcelonaNY.
Scotty,
5 touch or more passing sequence doesn’t happen because it’s all about winning. Being able to win and play good soccer is too difficult for coaches. And the kids who play this way don’t get it. But playing straight vertical rush to goal is infectious. One player starts the bum rush and soon the entire team is mad rush to goal. And it spreads to the opponent. Parents praise the kids and the vertical rush is in over-drive. The coach loses focus and gets caught up in the moment.
I see the same shit every week no matter what club or team. Coaches teach proper at practice and players do play good in practice. Then the game comes and the vertical rush to goal is on. Ready, set, go!
So true Kana…….kick ball is infectious! As a coach, you train the kids all week long on POSSESSION and controlling the ball, playing to feet….etc. But then when the game starts and the other team starts bashing it all over the place, the temptation is to follow suit. Especially if you are playing on real crappy fields where it’s difficult to keep possession due to funky bounces, it’s so easy for the kids to fall back to old habits and go back to launching it.
We had the greatest experience last week in a tournament. The tournament was on a turf field so there were no funky bounces and you could really play good possession soccer. What was so cool about the tournament was every team we played was trying to play possession soccer. None of the teams were playing kick and chase. Some were obviously more advanced at it than others, but at least they were TRYING to play good soccer. I could hear the oppossing coaches saying the right things like, “get control of the ball”, “play to feet”, “pass and move”, “keep possession”…..etc. It was such a fun experience to see other teams attempting to play the possession style that we play. If only it were that way at every tournament………
Many of the boys I coach struggle to play possession soccer because of fear and poor technical skills. When pressed even a little they either boot the ball or put their head down and dribble to the sideline. I’ve coached basketball and you see the same thing – you need ball handling skill pus discipline to handle pressure.
We practice pessession constantly and a number have improved but some will never get there. When you are limited in terms of the kids you have access to, and as Gary noted,you can only make a limited impact on their technical level, it’s easy to get frustrated.
New to this site.
My son plays for a U14 USDA club in SoCal. As I see it, soccer can be played quickly (EPL and MLS) or slow (La Liga). There are points of reference in between the two extremes. To play quickly, size and power are important. Looking for a defensive mistake to capitalize on. Don’t need smart players with high degree of tactical awareness or great foot and ball skills. Players they id and develop fit this mold.
Slower game requires skill, vision, patience, discipline. Players they id and develop fit this mold.
In SoCal, 99% of teams play EPL style. The 1% who play slower La Liga style is UFC Gold U14 (mentioned in other posts) fits this mold. I wish more coaches did this. I assume your team Gary / Bryan fit La Liga style.
I look at my son’s team, and maybe a few players are calm, patient, disciplined. Everyone else is either jack-rabbit or cant’ play one/two touch. And yes, jungle ball is contagious.
Welcome Diego,
Here’s two main issues with that view.
1) 99% of teams in SoCal, do NOT play EPL style. Yes, much of the EPL is quite vertical and direct. But it is done with deliberate tactical work. That is not happening at the youth level here. There is no real tactical work done at any level in American youth soccer. What you see on the weekends is essentially 11 kids just thrown on the pitch for a pickup game – except there’s an adult chaperone masquerading as a serious coach. This is not the EPL. The EPL is not ‘jungle ball’.
It is actually far more accurate to say we (as in our U12 team) play a more EPL style than 99% of the SoCal teams.
2) The EPL is comprised of highly technical and tactically rich players, a huge amount of which are international quality, and many of world class stature. 99% of SoCal teams are not helping players for the EPL game. That is, 99% of SoCal teams are not working on – or more accurately, capable of – developing technically and tactically rich players.
So again, any implication that we ‘develop’ for La Liga or something, while 99% of others develop for EPL, is not correct.
We develop in the fundamentals of the game. Meaning we develop for the absolute highest levels of the game – wherever that may be (EPL included). 99% of SoCal clubs develop nothing.
In this specific context, 99% of all parents are wasting their money.
Coach J, AS — This is why we should focus on ball mastery at U12 and below! Also why I think 7v7 makes sens up to about U11. It forces poor ball handlers to make touches. Can’t hideout. I think the best training is piggy in the middle.
My son often has fellow players at my house. They are new generation of footballers who only watch and know about one sport: soccer. Anyway, the #1 thing they talk about is how much they hate the coach. Constantly yelling, stopping the play every second, talking non stop. Same happens at a game. It makes them nervous and worried about making mistakes. This is not the case for my son’s current team and it’s funny because the players talk about how relaxed they are and not worried about mistakes.
Overcoaching and yelling on sideline may be influencing factor for vertical rush. Wanting to impress and avoid pattern passing and then do something wrong and get screamed at. I’m not sure why some coaches think a 12 or 14 year old won’t make mistakes? I guess yelling helps?
If telling them to Relax doesn’t work.. yell it after they’ve made an error. Because they don’t already know it.
/sarcasm
I”m talking about over the top yelling. Constant chatter at every single mistake, taking player’s attention away from the pitch and trying to focus on the game while being yelled with nothing technically or tactically helpful from the coach. This is not coaching in my opinion. Just a mad man on sideline who either has no patience and is in wrong profession or someone who wants gold plated proof of his coaching abilities for all to see and bow to.
Kana, your last three posts underscore the fact that the kids are far ahead of the coaching these days. And if two thirds of the coaches are dumb, then at least two thirds of the parents are dumber. (You coaches who are persistent readers of 3four3 are probably not included in that two thirds, by the way. You have self-selected yourselves into that small group that is not content living in blissful ignorance. Way to go.) Among the young players who actually watch a lot of football, there seems to be a pent-up demand for good coaching. The kids seem frustrated, but there are few options for them in any given locale in any given age group.
Kana, I especially like the way you describe how the the kickball virus incubates and spreads. I’m getting ready to go up to a tournament this weekend, where I know I will see this dynamic unfold before my eyes, once again, and the parents cheering it on, as if soccer were just a wimpier form of American Football for kids who aren’t quite as big or as tough. The only difference is that, today, as I watch this spectacle unfold I will have an ironic smile on my face, having read your post.
Alberto,
It is like when I started playing golf. I kept trying to hit the ball hard. Didnât have maturity and patience to understand more relaxed, rhythmical swing was the key. Or that laying up was better than going for it. Instead, I saw my opponent taking chances and I got the disease. It took me a long time to move away from that.
We need coaches who are patient and mature enough themselves to understand that. Be teachers, mentors, development guides. We donât need Army drill sergeants.
Good luck to you Alberto. West Coast Classic?
United Cup.
Finally got to see the team live in person. Let me tell you it’s a lot different than on video. Congratulations to the Kleibans on how they run the team.
My impressions were against lower pressure teams they play calm and collected. Under pressure they tend to break down. Mental awareness slows down and many errors occur. Players definitely look like young 11 year old kids and on the small side. Overall, I did not see any superstars but rather a well balanced team that tries to use their intelligence to circulate the ball. The goal keeper is excellent but the CB needs to improve. Most players have good 1v1 skills. Their passing and receiving sets them apart from the rest. Honestly it did not feel like the best team in the nation. It felt more like the opposition was very low quality even from the so called âbestâ. Kickball is just not the way to play from top teams.
Great work overall but I expect way fewer mistakes. Control the tempo, slow the game down, not so many long balls, and errant shots on goal.
Coach projects well with high confidence. He just lets them play for the most part. The boys know what they need to do but do not always execute the game plan. Parents a bit crazy but I guess itâs expected. It seems they are too used to winning. They shared lots of interesting info. Refs and opponents don’t seem to like Barca. I guess they have a reputation now.
Good luck on day 2!
Seriously you thought the entire game is a highlight reel like the twelve minute videos? You are Loco if you thought that to be the case!!! Of course they will make a lot of mistakes. That’s what 11 year olds do. The point of the video, as I see it, is that we do have potential and talent in the states and given the right coaching, we can compete with the rest of the world. That’s it, no more, no less.
Right, just curious how consistent is the play of international U12 teams? To me it seems that the mental game needs to be developed more. At what age does the play become consistent?
I don’t know how the players have been selected, but I suppose that they are mainly drawn from within a 20 mile radius, perhaps less. It’s not as if each and every player was handpicked for his technical prowess and tactical acumen. They picked good players in the area. Maybe if it were La Masia West, i.e., a residential operation with players coming from all over, would we see brilliance at every position.
What has to be stressed over and over is the responsibility of the players, from the time they begin playing, to constantly work with the ball to develop and refine their comfort on the ball. Playing in highly competitive training sessions no doubt helps refine the skills further. But much of the technical development rests with the individual players. Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hour-rule” is pretty close to the mark.
Wish you would have introduced yourself Dr Loco. I think staying anonymous is a mistake …
Anyways, my assessment of the weekend is the same assessment I’ve had since the beginning and of all our teams: “Not good enough. Garbage. Long way to go. Not happy. Etc.” I was not satisfied with Surf Cup, or this latest tournament.
That’s one big difference between us and the rest. Others think they’re special because they won this or that competition. Our mentality is elsewhere.
The main point of the video, and all the forthcoming ones, is to demonstrate what development looks like. To prove it is possible. To give everyone a standard. And to Change the Conversation in this country.
Hopefully more coaches will have their games filmed and then check all their 5-touch sequences along with their opponents. And place that in the appropriate competitive context.
Wish you would have attended yesterday’s final. đ
p.s. I’m going to start logging every game’s 5-touch sequence statistic. And demonstrate that aggregate ‘consistency’ over time.
Hey Gary, I was going to approach you guys after the game but the opportunity did not present itself. You guys were too busy with the team. Maybe next time.
I remember the opponentâs GK telling his defense âtheir just going around you like youâre not even thereââŚpriceless.
Does your Japanese kid speak Spanish?
Unfortunately missed Monday cuz had to take the family to the beach up Highway 1. Dana Point, Laguna, Newport, HB are just awesome.
Great work Gary on the video camera. Canât wait to see more clips. Now I can imagine the game and understand the coaching points. Your teams give us regular coaches HOPE. It truly feels like being part of an extended family.
Congrats on an impressive comeback win!!! 6 games in 3 days is crazy.
Gary, congratulations on the NHB Cup! Didn’t watch it but it seems you guys either step it up during the finals or the opposition is just exhausted. Give us a summary, thanks.
so impressive. you’re bound to change the landscape of American soccer
Sorry … I had to laugh after this comment. Yes, Yes, Yes, … I love all this on 3four3, and my depression subsided, depression from all the slop I witness called soccer. Then I saw the video . The video changed all for me. So I am a huge fan. But to think the rest will wake up and change … ain’t going to happen. To many English fucks entrenched in this country and the wake is wide.
As much as I love what Gary and Brian are doing over the pond, it is not unique, there are teams in the UK who play like this at grassroot level. I spoke to a guy recently who has a U11 team, who keep the ball, play with panache, all confident with the ball in small areas, he mentioned the video and said he wish he had filmed his squad.
Thanks Alberto. Players who easily fall prey to vertical rush soccer touches on tactical intelligence. This applies to coach as well. Selecting playes and coaches who arenât tactically intelligent is maybe the top reason why teams play vertical rush soccer. The other is separating playing a particular style from winning. That is, many coaches and players believe tiki-taca style of play is good but arenât good enough at it to implement during a competitive game. Instead of being âintelligentâ and forcing themselves to play beautiful football, they revert to natural impulse and adrenaline and testosterone takes over. This is mental, not physical. So again, Barca / La Masia has it right when they identify tactically intelligent players.
The only time most USA teams play intelligent soccer is when they are ahead by many goals and opponent is inferior. The coach tells team to pass and move. Why is that? Why do coaches teach (or attempt to teach) tiki-taka but revert to vertical rush in competitive games?
Part of reason may be practice isnât intense enough. And some teams have prima donnas who seldom come to practice. In this dynamic, how can anyone expect teams to play tiki-taka possession, thinking soccer? To play as one, they need to practice as one. And to play calm relaxed soccer during high intensity games requires discipline, identifying right players with that mentality, and coach EXPECTING that from his players / team during games.
Playing like Barcelona requires discipline and commitment. That dynamic is hard to instill in pay to play model focused on winning tournaments and aiming for the college benchmark when it should be aiming to develop world class players.
Most clubs list on their website that getting players to college is #1 goal. I think the #1 goal is to develop most technically skilled, tactically intelligent, quick thinking players. Everything else is an outcome (e.g., college).
Kana, this analysis seems so spot-on and familiar to me that I thought we were talking about the same team, but then I remembered that we are talking about an epidemic, and the symptoms are very common througout. I also like the article Nuno points to, below, that explains how the disciplined possession play in a 4-3-3, with the wingers wide and open and all players playing with lots of movement, creating space, keeping the ball circulating with long possessions, results in the opponent being cornered, so even when you lose the ball they are not usually in a position to counter quickly and catch you off guard before you can organize. That’s the problem with kickball– the players usually lose the ball quicker, and often in the middle of the field, the more dangerous zone, as the article points out and as well all know, which creates those dangerous quick counters. The low-soccer-IQ players seem to be always giving up the ball with their excessive dribbling and bad first touches, but since they are usually the the more physically imposing players, they are lauded for effort and valor nonetheless.
Which brings us back to Gary’s video, finally. How brilliant the play of these kids is. What Brian has done with them is impressive. I don’t see even U-15’s playing that well. Sure they are not perfect, but their play AS A TEAM (not necessarily always as individuals) is indeed precocious. As a collective they are superior to other collectives. I think the criticisms here are too harsh.To deconstruct their play by looking at individual characteristics misses the point completely. I’ll bet you can give Brian any team, at any level, who are at the bottom of their classification, and within a year he will have the same kids playing near the top of that same classification. I think that is more the relevant point.
Alberto,
I think it comes down to putting your money where your mouth is. That is, coaches don’t have the discipline to require their players “play good soccer”. It may be difficult at first, but it will come in time. We forget that greatness is filled with making many mistakes and learning. I think coaches are affraid to lose. Hence why we see good stuff at practice and something different in a game. We fail in making the step from practice to executing on the pitch.
It’s funny in that you point out when you saw Gary’s team play, they weren’t as well oiled under pressure. That’s expected. But I give Gary and Brian kudos for instilling a certain playing style. If they can enforce it, that discipline will result in wonders 3 – 5 years from now. This dedication to a playing philosophy is more than saying you want to play tiki-taka. It’s a way of life, a belief, something that goes to your core. Coaches who feel like that get pissed off when their team plays vertical rush soccer. They understand it’s harder to learn disciplined tiki-taka possession football. Takes more time. We need these true followers to take over USSF and ODP.
You are right Kana. Coaches pretending to be tiki-taka but carrying English long-ball passport. Vertical soccer is truly a disease. Tiki-taka is like the woman we always chase and desire when eyes closed, but open our eyes and the wife in curlers and 10 kilos overweight.
“Hence why we see good stuff at practice and something different in a game.”
I don’t see this. I see bad stuff in practice and worse stuff in the game.
Loco, I could agree with your version as well as Kana’s. Perhaps he is a bit more optimistic; you both seem to be saying the same thing.
“Iâll bet you can give Brian any team, at any level, who are at the bottom of their classification, and within a year he will have the same kids playing near the top of that same classification.”
This sounds true but going to a higher level might not be possible. Are there any coaches who have taken the same team from U8 to U16 or higher?
I would like to know if it’s possible to take the same bronze level team at U8 to an elite team at U16. We are U10 now and are only a high silver. I am really starting believe it is not possible to raise the level of players/team more than 1.5 levels on a consistent basis with the same group of players. It’s been a struggle to say the least. At first I thought I was the bottleneck but now I think it’s the parents/players. Please share your insights, thanks.
I think it is possible. In your situation, however, you seem to have geographical and population restrictions that may ultimately limit the pool you have to work with. On the other hand, if you are in the greater Los Angeles area, or greater Madrid, greater Marseilles, etc., you have a more dynamic environment to work in. The upside potential surely would be greater in those places than in, say, Moline, Indiana.
As for the parents, they will always be a problem. That bottleneck is not unique to your situation. On every team, at every level, regardless of whether the coach is named Kleiban or Klinsmann or Smith or whatever, there are always parents coaching their kid directly on the field, because, of course, they know better.
Let me be clearer. Has anyone trained the same group of kids from U8 to U16 without recruiting players to get better?
Given the same team can they raise their level of play every year bronze, silver, gold, premier, etc. Within the same playing league can a team keep elevating it’s level of play?
My team has reached a plateau and I do not believe it is the coaching. This question has nothing to do with geographic location or population, thanks.
This is the kind of insight / discussion that I feel missing for the most part from the US soccer media and coaching community / coaching education system:
F. C. Barcelona: la clave no es el fĂsico, sino el balĂłn
by FRANCISCO RUIZ BELTRAN on ago 20, 2012 ⢠12:33
Una sola jornada de fĂştbol elĂŠctrico con nuevo entrenador y empiezan los habituales juicios sobre el âsorprendente estado fĂsicoâ, âla velocidad de los jugadoresâ e incluso las mejoras en el juego del Barcelona. Entonces, cuando arrasan, como contra la Real Sociedad, se habla incluso de âla gran capacidad de presiĂłn del Barça cuando no tiene balĂłn (y eso con lo que cobran)â.
El juego del equipo de Vilanova, igual que cuando estaba Pep, se entiende Ăşnica y exclusivamente a travĂŠs del balĂłn, por lo que a algunos les cuesta entender la globalidad del modelo del conjunto culĂŠ. Con balĂłn, y jugando en una estructura de 1-4-3-3, el equipo da amplitud al juego con extremos y laterales muy abiertos y un juego posicional fantĂĄstico con la intenciĂłn de ofrecer constantes lĂneas de pase al poseedor del balĂłn y que por tanto la circulaciĂłn sea rĂĄpida. Esa velocidad, con calidad tĂŠcnica, buena visiĂłn de juego y apoyos en zonas adecuadas, funciona tanto en agosto como en marzo porque el balĂłn siempre corre a la misma velocidad. Si el rival, ademĂĄs, no cierra bien esos posibles pases ni atosiga al poseedor de balĂłn, la velocidad de juego aumenta porque no se necesitan conducciones para atraer jugadores y conseguir batir lĂneas mediante desborde.
Una vez esa posesiĂłn de balĂłn se traduce en progresiĂłn, con ello progresa todo el equipo, formando triĂĄngulos y cuadrados alrededor del espacio directo del balĂłn y su poseedor, creando superioridades que facilitan la circulaciĂłn, obligando a retroceder al equipo contrario, a que los rivales actĂşen en posiciones muy lejanas de la porterĂa contraria e incluso de sus demarcaciones naturales y ademĂĄs, gracias a la amplitud que otorgan extremos y laterales, es fĂĄcil atacar el otro lado con ventaja.
Evidentemente, durante 90 minutos no todas las jugadas se finalizan de manera adecuada ni la precisiĂłn se mantiene de forma lineal, por lo que se producen pĂŠrdidas de balĂłn. Pero estas pĂŠrdidas, cuando son de calidad y tras posesiones largas, no inciden demasiado en el posicionamiento del F. C. Barcelona. La razĂłn es sencilla: en la zona en la que se pierde el balĂłn el rival estĂĄ arrinconado, los jugadores desordenados, no hay lĂneas de pase y el Barcelona acumula muchos hombres en ese espacio directo por lo que manteniendo posiciĂłn y haciendo un âpiqueâ de uno-dos metros hacia el nuevo poseedor de balĂłn, la recuperaciĂłn es fĂĄcil y se vuelve a jugar. Y ademĂĄs, como el Barça no abusa del desborde sino del pase, rara vez el rival recupera un balĂłn limpio sino que hace una interceptaciĂłn de un pase y el balĂłn queda libre. âLibreâ, entre comillas, porque lo hace en una zona en la que hay mĂĄs jugadores blaugranas que del equipo rival y ademĂĄs estos estĂĄn de cara al marco contrario. Una vez mĂĄs, la recuperaciĂłn, al igual que la circulaciĂłn no tiene que ver con la velocidad âfĂsicaâ, la de âdesplazamientoâ, sino con la del balĂłn y con la de la organizaciĂłn colectiva.
El Ăşnico problema de ese âexcesoâ de amplitud es si la pĂŠrdida se produce en la salida y en el centro del campo. Entonces, con tantos jugadores por delante del balĂłn y tan lejos es difĂcil llegar a cerrar si el primer pase del equipo rival es bueno. Un riesgo que merece la pena correr cuando en esas zonas juegan Xavi, Busquets o Iniesta, y un riesgo que si no subsana Song le dificultarĂĄ tener minutos en el Barcelona. El Barça no recupera por un fĂsico portentoso ni una preparaciĂłn fĂsica diferencial, sino porque es uno de los equipos con mejor organizaciĂłn colectiva del mundo.
* Francisco Ruiz BeltrĂĄn es entrenador. Autor del libro âFilosofĂa y manual de un entrenador de fĂştbolâ (Wanceulen Editorial). En Twitter: @Futbeltran
http://www.martiperarnau.com/2012/08/f-c-barcelona-la-clave-no-es-el-fisico-sino-el-balon/
you gotta love Google translate, here you go boys!
A single day of electric football coach and start the usual judgments about the “amazing fitness”, “the speed of the players’ and even the improvements in the Barcelona game. Then when sweep, as against Real Sociedad, is even talk of “the great capacity of Barça pressure when no ball (and that with what they charge).”
The team play Vilanova, Pep was like when, it is understood solely through the balloon, so some find it hard to understand the totality of the whole model Barça. With ball and playing in a 1-4-3-3 structure, amplitude gives the team the game ends and sides with wide and great positional play with the intention of providing constant passing lanes to the holder of the ball and that circulation is much faster. This speed, technical quality and good vision in suitable supports, work in both August and in March because the ball always runs at the same speed. If the opponent also does not close properly or harasses those potential passes the ball holder, the game speed increases because pipes are not needed to attract players and get beat by overflow lines.
Once that ball possession results in progression, thereby progressing all equipment, forming triangles and squares around the direct space and the holder of the ball, creating superiorities that facilitate circulation, forcing the opposing team back at rivals acting very distant positions of the opposing goal and even their natural boundaries and also by the scope that grant ends and sides, it is easy to attack the other side with an advantage.
Evidently, for 90 minutes not all plays are completed properly or accuracy remains linearly, so turnovers occur. But these losses, when quality and after long possessions, no influence on the positioning too F. C. Barcelona. The reason is simple: in the area where the ball is lost the opponent is cornered, players disordered, no passing lanes and Barcelona accumulates many men live in that space so maintaining position and doing a ‘chop’ one-two meters to the new ball holder, easy recovery and return to play. And, like Barca but not abused Pass overflow rarely rival retrieves a clean ball but makes an interception of a pass and the ball is cleared. “Free”, in quotes because it is in a area where there are more players than the opposing team Blaugrana and these are also facing the opposite frame. Again, recovery, like the movement has nothing to do with the speed ‘physical’, that of ‘displacement’, but with the ball and the collective organization.
The only problem with this ‘excess’ amplitude is whether the loss occurs at the start and in the midfield. So, with so many players in front of the ball and so far it is difficult to close if the first pass of the opposing team is good. A risk worth taking when in these areas play Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta, and a risk that if not remedied Song will hinder take minutes for Barcelona. Barca not recover for physical fitness portentous nor differential, but because it is one of the best teams in the world’s collective organization.
Coaching through a functional role or patterns, that has intense and demanding environment, would provide the technical repetition needed (with purpose and directions). If you watch any passing team in the world, the 1v1 happens in pockets or spaces that was chosen and picked for that. Arsene Wenger allows only certain players to go 1v1 and at certain spots on the field. Identifying Roles, and patterns even at age U10, creates certainty in the kids and gives them a comfort on their decision. Gary correct me if I am wrong, but I am sure your boys work swinging the ball with the pattern you have many times during the week, that the players are so comfortable with the decision first, then technically they have done (100s of times). Of course these players have a great Passion for the game first. I attended all NSCAA and USSF courses for exception to the A, and I take what I want from courses not to the heart but to pick peaces from here and there. Even USSF and NSCAA disagree on stuff, but the main thing to pick what fits your philosophy.
“Even USSF and NSCAA disagree on stuff, but the main thing to pick what fits your philosophy.”
I disagree. I think that allowing the individual coach to “pick” or decide is the fundamental problem with coaching in the US. There is no consistency in training and development so it just leads to total confusion on the field all the way up to the national level.
i disagree as well in addition to the comment by BR Coach, “Identifying Roles, and patterns even at age U10, creates certainty in the kids and gives them a comfort on their decision.” There should not be any certainty in kids that age, they must learn to do all skills, 1v1, defend, etc…Why limit a young players development by placing him in a role at such a young age?. You should not be telling kids that young to not dribble because they are not as good at it. (or maybe we are not undersranding BR Coach intention) I do believe by U12 that players should be playing a position according to their characertistics and not rotating as much as they would from U5 to U10. One of the problems we have is that we dont develop “speciallists” of certain positions. We have several journeyman, or “jack of all positions” because we want to rotate players, so they develop 25% of the time as defender, 25% as midfield, and so on.
In terms of philosophy, you need ONE, here is an example. If a nations national team plays 4-3-3, but the coaches in the development leagues play their own style according to “their” philosphies, then how does that benefit the National team and creating a culture of identitly? Everyone should be playing similarly, so when a higher level coach conmes scouting, he is looking for players that fit the role of a certain position.
I see nothing wrong with limiting touches for certain players. I wish my sonâs coach would do this.
We already accept that some kids are faster than others, some bigger stronger, some with powerful shots, some good passing and vision, some defensive bulls, and some scoring machines. Each brings their own talents to the team. For example, why would I ask a 5â2â attacker to go in for headers on a corner when he is giving away several inches and 20-30 pounds to bigger players? That wonât mean heâs not being developed. Just using players according to strength. So why have heartache if certain players should limit dribble?
Not every Barca player can dribble. Same goes for almost all pro teams. Why would any coach want a Carragher, Busquets, Carroll, Gattuso, or Mikkel trying to take more than 2 touches? Thatâs not their game.
This gets back to vertical rush being contagious. A poor dribbler panics, over touches, tries to dribble in wrong situation, puts head down because he has poor technical skill. And the disease spreads as game becomes erratic, chaotic when the poor dribbler makes silly passes and teammates respond by having to fix someone elseâs problem. Domino effect kicks in. Speaking for my sonâs team, this is exactly what happens.
So yes, limit dribbling to players who are best suited for it. Other, less skillful players should see that as a challenge and try to improve. But like scoring, dribbling is an art and some just donât have it.
Ok, I have to chime in at this point for the Kleiban Klan. I define the Klan as Brian, Gary, Danny, John, and all the former players that keep coming back to training sessions to help. I was the team manager for my son’s bronze team at U12 when I met them and for the next four years I saw Brian and company work their magic not only with my son’s team but with an older team which they took from bronze at U14 to premier, a girl’s team from silver to premier, our bronze team to silver elite, and a high school team from last place one year to winning the league the next (El Modena high school in SoCal). I am a believer in their system because I have seen it over and over be successful with local teams that recruit from their own little towns. No one on our team traveled more than 20 minutes to get to practice. Of course, the high school team only has kids from a subset of a single city. All of this was accomplished BEFORE they took on any of the mini-Barca teams that we all are enjoying right now.
Since they have done this with all different ages, I am extremely optimistic that they will make these mini-Barca teams extremely successful. Their system takes a long time for the kids to adapt to. All the older teams aged out in three to four years. (Our team broke up for financial reasons) Going back to the very young will give them soooo much more time to ingrain their system that I just don’t see how it can fail if it stays together for longer than three or four years. The only fear I have is that they might get enough notoriety that they will need to go to bigger things that will enable them to impact more people for the same amount of time spent doing what they do best. Only time will tell.
Lastly, even though they do recruit as much as any other team, what sets them apart is that they make most of the boys feel good about themselves, improve their games, and feel part of a family. The boys or girls who played for them at some point would do anything for these guys. The one thing I always tell people about the Klan is that they take kids with varying abilities and squeeze out of them more than the kids think they have, unlike most coaches that do the opposite. When you see their teams play, you see all the kids always give 100%. It is amazing to watch the level of respect the kids have for the staff. It’s kind of like the mafia, once you’re in with the Klan, you’re in for life. Or, is it like a virus, once you’re exposed, you’re infected for life? It is with pride that I call them all my friends. Go Klan!!!!!
Right, the Klan and parents does resemble the Mafia. Gary and Brian seem too young to have coached so many teams starting from low to high levels.
I saw the team play and the kids gave 100%. It was amazing to watch when they won, tied, lost and the level of respect they showed. This is something I have not been able to achieve. I think I am trying to do too much with the wrong players but I could be wrong myself.
Dr Loco is not so Loco. Spain has one of the highest top level coaches to youth player ratios at 17:1 and those coaches share the same philosophy- tiki taka. Barcelona Academy starts teaching this same system at their youngest ages and it continues all the way to the first team.
OTOH, US youth soccer seems so random and dis-organized. There is an interview with one of the top US Youth Soccer club DOCs on the surfcup website, and the DOC states he has no curriculum — he thinks he has good coaches and just lets them adopt their own philosophy.
“the DOC states he has no curriculum â he thinks he has good coaches and just lets them adopt their own philosophy.”
Got same response at NSCAA National course when asked random coaches. Some young foolish coaches said their DOC just wants them to win. “Win, baby, win” was the quote.
Gary,
I went and watched you guys play on Sat afternoon and the Monday final. All I can say is that it was a PLEASURE to watch your boys play! It is so fun to watch GOOD soccer, the way it was meant to be played. Their calmness on the ball, their first touch, their communication, their TOTAL understanding of what your system is and how it works was again just a pleasure to watch. You guys have done just a remarkable job with these boys and can’t wait to see future footage of your games. Well done!
Can’t resit…gotta share this one
Just found out that Kuyt from LFC scored 3 times higher on the “first touch” section than Silva from Man City on last EPL season:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2012/aug/22/premier-league-2011-12-player-attributes-calculated
(go to player comparison and match the two, Kuyt: 15, Silva: 5 out of 20)
And this comes out of Man City own stats department…beautifull
I just wanted to post this because there has been a lot of discussion on this post and others about whether the Kleibensâ program can be duplicated under ânormalâ American soccer conditions- i.e. suburban America, pay to play. While I wouldnât claim that our team is necessarily the quality of the Kleibenâs, I think there is real quality there. I donât post this to brag, but only to demonstrate that it is possible to strive for the gold standard regardless of circumstances.
Our U-14 team just finished playing a tournament an age level up (U-15) against 4 premier level teams. In the four matches, the inspiration coming this blog, statistics were kept on number of 5 or more pass sequences by each team. Against these older bigger, faster premier level teams our team out passed the opposition in 5 pass or more sequences by 16-3, 19-0, 12-1, and 23-6.
5 years ago we formed the team as a U-9 team. The demographics of the player pool are almost totally white middle class suburbia with a population of about 150,000 though in reality most came from an area of about 100,000 people. Almost all the boys initially came from within 5 miles of the practice location. The team currently is ž white, Ÿ Hispanic.
We have never ârecruitedâ. Until this year never taken a player who played for another premier team. We originally selected players based on their skill and comfort on the ball (size was not considered and we were usually the smallest team) and soccer intelligence. We did this because we felt the best measure of a boys soccer potential was how much commitment and passion a boy has for the game and his ability/willingness to adapt/learn. And the greatest indicator of this is ball skills that a boy has taken the time and effort to acquire.
We have always concentrated on individual confidence with the ball at their feet. All practice work by the boys was with a ball at their feet. We employed a lot of small sided games 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v3. The one thing we have always absolutely disapproved of during games was for the boys to just kick the ball aimlessly without a specific target in mind. As the boys progressed we did a lot of different keep-away games for awareness, passing, receiving, moving. Futsal has also been a major part of the boys development and the team enjoys it a lot.
We concentrate on playing good soccer (maintaining possession, passing, receiving, movement off the ball), feeling that results will take care of themselves, not on results themselves. That being said, in the first 3 years of competition, all at the premier level in the state, the team has the second best record ever recorded in the state by a premier team over its first 3 years. Because of economics (and not wanting to burn the boys out) the team only played in its first out of state soccer tournament this summer (U-13) at USYSA regionals and made the quarter finals. Our team had the better of the run of play, possession, 5 pass or more sequences in their games. And we are not satisfied. We can and need to play much better.
One of our greatest compliments came when a team mother overheard an opposing coach of from one of the top ranked teams in the nation (almost exclusively Hispanic players) telling a fellow coach in Spanish after the match that he had never seen a bunch of white boys be able to play that type of skillful soccer. (Our mother took exception as her son is one of our Hispanic players ;-))
I believe that claims and excuses about location/ethnicity/player pool etc. making striving for the gold standard impossible are not valid, especially if you start when the players are young, select correctly and train correctly. I look forward to meeting the Kleibens at some point and learning from them.
TDSoccer, thank you for sharing.
I feel striving for the gold standard is possible for any player and team. However achieving it is something different. If players are young, selected and trained correctly and immersed in the proper culture by a dedicated coaching staff such as the Kleiban Klan it is possible. However dealing with different cultural issues, conflict in parent/player beliefs, player pool limitations, family economics, player lack of transportation make it very difficult to achieve the gold standard in many communities.
With the proper culture in place from the beginning the entire process is so much easier.
TD Soccer – could you contact me sometime
Mark
julmark@cinci.rr.com
Gary,
How much time to you and Brian spend on movement: A lot of players donât move or move for the sake of movement but are useless where theyâre going or why. Donâtâ understand movement to keep shape, support, create combination play, cut off or create angles, create unbalanced situations, and so on.
My experience is coaches spend lots of time on passing and other technical learning but precious little on tactical game understanding. I try to do this with my son with âchalk talksâ and watching games on TV or clips on YouTube and breaking them down. Do you do this with your teams? You must also do considerable amount of repetition in passing and enforce it in scrimmages and during games. True? I do see coaches doing this in practiced but nowhere to be found in a scrimmage and especially competitive game. Do you slow down your players, take breath and restart in games to get rhythm back? Do you pull out players who are disrupting flow or do you stick with them and let them learn from mistakes?
Mario and Dr. Loco, I think you guys miss understood me.
I am not saying that every coach can coach whatever he wants, but I am trying to identify a problem in the US where soccer is not following a style or philosophy. The US is made up from so many cultures and it makes soccer diverse. good or bad ?
Mario, Defining the role, is not defining a position .. 2 different things. At young age we define principals. Attacking principals or defending principals. i.e. a player thrives in wide spaces can play Left Mid, Left Back, Right Mid, Righ Back, or outside forward ..etc. From there a player can learn to see the principals. I still need my LB to attack, my LM to defend ..etc.
When I define a player’s roles, I show him or her a picture .. for example the role of the LB in switching the point of attack: option behind he ball, the option to swing using Center Backs, or option to drop to keeper or to switch all the way …etc. So I am showing my outside backs their roles in a functional training at age U10 as well. I am not telling Player Y to play left back the whole time, but I am telling the players (Y, Z, X, ..etc) who ever plays left back, this is your role in switching the point or when building out of the back. …
“I attended all NSCAA and USSF courses for exception to the A, and I take what I want from courses not to the heart but to pick peaces from here and there.”
Picking pieces here and there is a fundamental flaw in coaching. I wish the Kleiban Klan would offer a legit training program for coaches to adopt from U8-U18.
The fake the kid through on the sideline that created the goal was incredible (3:40 mark). The fact that he through his upper body and his head into the fake made me sit back and smile. He did it in the right spot, at the right time, and then he even moved into space after. Please keep these videos coming – they are great proof/evidence of what you are doing. This team reminds me of the L.A. Salsa under 19 team that used to whoop up on my team when I was a young kid.
I have seen this kid trying the same move with our team, He started crying after a while, after He failed as He was not able to pass our defense… Being a soccer player takes more than a Circus move, speacially if the move can only be done with inferior soccer teams…. Once against our team He had a very easy goal to score, just kick in, instead He tried to do a circus move, our goalie, already defeated from previous play, had time to recover and make the save…. at the end we won the game, His move is good for Vegas or a Circus show… maybe a Globbetroter type of show… Focus should be on, Smarts Moves, Complete Passes, Assists, Ball recovery,…………….. then circus moves.
Oh snap. Trash talking a u12 player. Maybe they encourage a little flair and risk taking. Having a little fun.
@ “Expert” – no diplomatic way to say this – your comments literally made me a little sick to my stomach. Congratulations on your big win, but the goal here is to develop top professionals, and attitudes like yours are definitely not part of the solution, which make you — part of the problem.
The move by the player I think they call “Little Neymar” is vintage Ronaldinho (aka “Little Ronaldo”): seen here at 0:50, sandwiched between a bunch of other “circus” moves he used on the way to becoming 2-time world player of the year. Thank God he didn’t have someone like you as a coach when he was growing up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=4K5KS4BmKeI&NR=1
In defense of “Expert”, what he is describing sounds alot like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYps2vozIqI
There are moments for creativity and moves to get by defenders but it has to be a right time and part of the field. What “Expert” described did not sounds like a moment of intelligence but he is young. Hopefully, he’ll learn from that mistake.
Thanks BR coach, I would agree with your approach. Sometimes it’s hard to decipher where a guy is coming from, including me.
Cheers!
Gary,
Can you film a typical training session for any of your teams and share it on this website?
I am really interested to analyze the approach, the methodology, the stoppages, coaching points approach, the players in training …etc. Maybe some of us can start modifying their training sessions.
It’s a great idea. I think that through the website and, more importanly, the popularity of the U12 team videos, the Kleibans have convinced a significant amount of us that their approach is the way to go. What’s missing is more practical guidance re: how to do it. I can’t believe they’ve gone through all this effort for the net takeaway to be that they should coach every team in America. It’s a great time time for the distribution of knowledge, not just inspiration.
I pulled this from independend.co.uk:
We came from Canada to the UK for training for my 12-year-old, who is a very good technical player. After 6 months of being strung along by various Premier League scouts and development coordinators (you have to play for my son’s club team/my friend’s son’s club team/you’ll have a trial “soon”), we gave up and came to Portugal. After three weeks he has signed for a professional club and will get the best training in the world. Probably be sold back to England one day. We wanted to stay in England even though he spent half his time face down in the mud. The young 20-something coaches get it completely, but it’s the older “gate-keepers” who are the problem. They seem to know in their heads that England needs to develop skill but they don’t have that type of play in their hearts. A boy who can carry the ball and weave through the defense is just annoying. Trying to play with skill and finesse definitely won’t win games until the skill is very developed – like at age 15 or more. The teams that win just kick the ball forward and chase it, knocking everyone over in the process. It’s completely self-fulfilling. There’s so much anger – on the pitch, on the sidelines of community games, in the stands at the Premiership. I think the loss of beautiful football reflects the loss of joyfulness all throughout English society. It’s all about money and power – too much at one end, none at the other. Kids are driven in Range Rovers to organized practise under thousand watt lights on artificial turf…and football is just one item on a list of purchased activities. Here in Portugal, they still only play 7-a-side at age 12, and my kid doesn’t even need shin guards. There are games and they are passionate but there isn’t the same ugliness. When the boys arrive for practise they greet each other by shaking hands. No one tells them to do this. There are flashes of beauty in every game. After the game, the teams jog over to the audience of parents and clap them, and the parents in turn clap both teams. This would never happen in England. The most risible “compliment” made by English football commentators is that someone is “a good old-fashioned English centre forward/centre-half” – basically big/burly beasts who can hoof it or whack it. Money and therefore non-English players keep the English game afloat, not skills.
Above sounds a lot like what is happening in USA. Money, spoiled rich parents who know nothing about soccer, and English coaches ruining it.
Armando,
The Hoffman’s at ODP and old guard English DoCs at the many clubs (USSF included) across SoCal are gate keepers who keep self fulling prophecy going. They need to retire or forced out for new blood and new ideas. I’m sure they hate tiki-taka possession soccer. They like man-child who can smash over opponents like a good ole fashioned footballer.
I have only ever told my son to play not to win, but to develop individual skills, impact the game, and be consummate teammate. I tell him to be true to self discipline and not get caught in moment to win. To stay calm, focused, concentrate and think and move quickly with skill. He does a good job of this and is known for versatility (plays multiple positions well) and good attitude. Spends a lot of time practicing on his own and honing tactical skills. But he is 5â9â and U17 and overlooked. College coaches have told us size âis a factorâ (I can name names if you want).
We have been to Spain, Portugal and Mexico for camps and tryouts in last few years. Scouts there are interested and he may get a chance soon. But itâs sad we have to go to Europe to get a chance. My son is living evidence USA doesnât have Xavi or Messi because they donât look for that player. My son is not a Xavi or Messi, but Iâm simply highlighting fact that smaller, technically good and tactically smart player has odds against him in USA and better chances in Spain or Portugal. We realized that a few years ago. Glad we have dual citizenship and opportunity that USA only residents donât have. My son sees college as a waste since he wants to turn pro. He will take his chances in Europe. Chase his dream since he lives once. Better to try than lifetime of regret. If he cannot make it by early 20s, go to college as I did when I was in mid 20s. His love is soccer and plans on a career in the sport if his playing ambitions fail. That makes him happy. College isnât for him since his passion is on the pitch or being in and around the game he loves.
My son has friends who are several inches taller and many pounds heavier yet have not as good technical and tactical skills and are not as dedicated as my son. Yet those kids are in ODP and some national team. I know some of the parents and they admit ODP is a joke. Just looking for size and power.
The English old-school gate keepers are a big problem. We have many of them here in east coast. They have English long-ball in their DNA. Donât get anything else. See tiki-taka as something âforeignersâ from Spain and Argentina do. But not big strong English blokes. Same mentality exists in American coaches who grew up on diet of gridiron football rife with set plays and long stoppages. They donât get tiki-taka, total football and that tactical intelligence is differentiator. Lots of skilled players, and a large portion of Americans who are big and strong, but almost non existent few who are tactically intelligent and true students of the game. Many USA coaches and scouts would know a U14 Messi if he stood in front of him. He would see Messi as a scrawny midget. Same true for Neymar and Iniesta.
Javier, hope your son the best. It’s tough wanting to develop and play in the US.
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/47905/tri-has-strong-us-connection.html
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/47799/usas-azteca-hero-got-his-start-in-mexico.html
In the New York metropolitan area, the Red Bulls academy is apparently the best program available for boys. Very difficult to gain entrance into the program and very rigorous once you are in. However, after watching the Red Bulls “first team” play Sporting KC “first team” last night, I ‘d rather have my boys play table tennis.
This is a nice video. However, I would be careful in how information is relayed to the kids at this age ie.yelling every second a command telling them what to do. The patterns of play are very nice but the technique is not as great as it would appear because they are playing on such an oversized field with so much time and space. In Europe you will never see kids this age playing 11 aside on such a massive field. And when they do start playing 11 aside at U13 the field is still quite small. This makes the tempo of the game faster and requires greater technical acumen with quicker decision making in tight spaces. Best of luck to these kids as they have a bright future.
I’m not so sure I agree with you 433. Some points are valid. I actually watch this video and the other 12 minute u11’s …the same kids I believe … quite often because it lifts my spirit. In my Midwest area, I have not seen any group at any level play in a similar fashion. Even one 5 pass sequence, with the ball rolling low, on its mark and controlled by the receiver …never happens. That they are doing well at this age on a larger field, and yes things will change as they age …. but to do so well while so young would increase the odds they can do it more successfully later. Maybe I’m wrong … but I am used to seeing kids go from 6v6 to larger sized games and they haven’t even grasped how to play well with a smaller group. How can they improve if there are more players – everything will be more complicated and they will never develop a high soccer IQ. I just see this problem everywhere in this area. Sure, in Europe things are different … but to see this on American soil from our kids is such a treat.
I am comparing these kids to kids in Europe not to the average player in the USA. They have nice technical ability and style of play is very attractive to watch. But at this age they should be playing 9v9 ,at the most, on a much smaller field they are playing on currently. Typically you will see 7v7 at ages U9/10, and 9v9 at ages U11/12 on small fields. Playing on fields that full grown adults play on is not doing these kids any favors in their development.
Agreed since in Europe and South America they play 7 v 7 for the most part at these ages. These are the rules dictated by the governing bodies of youth soccer here in the US. What can we do? Make our own rules? We have to go with what the US Youth and Cal South governing bodies decide.
However, in training, everything is small sided. Everything is done in tight spaces. The players development is on par with their Euro and South American rivals. On game day things blow up to a full pitch and it looks so easy since the players are used to doing everything in tiny 7 by 7 grids. When you have 7 players in a 7 by 7 grid, their technique, first touch, awareness, soccer IQ are all being worked like you wouldn’t believe. Now multiple that 7 by 7 grid 15 fold and you have massive space to work with on game day. You only multiply the players 3 fold to get the 22 on the full size pitch. Look at the difference. Make sense?
That is why it looks so easy to this group of special players in the videos.
I understand that it is not of your making the fields they play on and the size. It is only unfortunate that the viewers may not see their true technical ability with the video as the space is so much. With no pressure at all these players are getting multiple seconds on the ball which makes the game unrealistic to judge fairly. I would like to see them on a smaller field against good competition and see how the players react under pressure with a higher tempo match. These are some nice players and am only making some suggestions to help them in their development. They have a bright future.
433, I understand what you’re saying but one thing no one seems to touch on yet is that as these kids get older, they WILL get quicker, they WILL run faster, they WILL think quicker. In a nutshell, the space will get smaller as the boys get bigger and they will adjust to it accordingly. I think the sooner kids play the real game, the sooner they will get accustomed to it and the transition will be easier without a shock to the system. This is kind of like boiling a frog. If you boil the water and then put the frog in, it will jump out. If you put it in and then heat up the water to a boil, they will never know what happened until they’re cooked!!!
This is partially what I was trying to say … if they can do this at a young age, better than their peers, then they should continue as they age … they are ahead of the curve.
It’s true, the smaller the space, the more pressure … so the more likely a player’s true technical ability gets exposed.
It’s also true that the vast majority of spectators would not be able to assess technical ability anyways.
Technical ability is not what’s being demonstrated here. It’s not the purpose in any way.
Far more important, however, is the mother of all truths (which only a few understand):
Technical ability is not the main failure mode of our country’s soccer.
Actually, to their credit USYSA is pretty firm on the SSGs. The map here is pretty outdated ( http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/coaches/SmallSidedGames/) as for example it still shows Virginia in blue but our state body has mandated SSGs for at least the last 8 years.
Maybe it’s time for California to get with the times, huh? I thought you were supposed to be all progressive and stuff. đ
Thanks for another insight onto your training methods. For the rest of us who are still focusing mainly on tight spaces in training, it’s nice to know that we aren’t on the wrong path. Perhaps there is something to be said though for training small and playing big?
http://www.soccernation.com/youth-soccer-player-development-vs-winning-at-all-costs-cms-3331
Our system is wrong.
We need more 4v4, 6v6 8v8 9v9 small sided games. Why do we go from a nail biting 5-4 u 10 game to a boring 0-0 u 11 game 4 months later, where the young kids can’t get up and down the field. Surely it is time to introduce 9v9 games at the U11 level. Small sided games will produce better MLS and college players down the road.
There’s not much you can do to change the State Competition rules for when 11 v 11 is instituted except continue to lobby (11 v 11 is started too early in the U.S.). However, by working with small sided games and confined spaces in practice you can at least gain the benefits. In a competitive setting I have found nothing that comes close to equalling futsal. It is maybe the most important tool I use for development. And the boys love the game, maybe even more than outdoor soccer. 3 v 3 tournaments are also another fun and effective alternative.
TDsoccer –
I posted a request re your last post –
could you contact me … enjoyed your post … had a few questions.
Mark – julmark@cinci.rr.com
In Soccer Nation, Colin Chesters (DoC of Surf) said we start 11 v 11 to early and US Soccer needs to change things. I’m not sure why US Soccer doesn’t see this as an issue? Play less meaningless tournaments instead of 7 v 7 where no one can hide and MUST touch ball and get pressure and learn what to do with it in a game where score doesn’t matter. Sounds like an ideal way to learn. I guess it makes too much sense, so bureaucracy won’t do it. That said, why can’t big clubs like all the USDA ones band together and do just that? Do they need USSF to sanction? If not, then act. If yes, then go get new / different league sanctioned. All they can say is “no”.
I don’t know that it is an issue.
In Holland they start playing 11v11 at age U-11. They turn out many fine players. It seems kids learning the proper tactics with the correct number of players on the field can only be helpful.
Not the Academy teams in Holland…this is not true
Why do we keep talking about Holland and Ajax?
They are no longer the center of player development. Holland does not produce the “best” players and have not won major events at any age group in decades.
I do not keep speaking about Holland at all and was merely replying back to what the previous poster said about Holland. When have I ever mentioned anything about Dutch football apart from reply to the previous poster. But you are wrong by the way in your assessment of Holland not producing players. You are showing your lack of knowledge with such a naive and misinformed comment. Sure, they haven’t won a major trophy but also let us not forget the players they have produced over the years and how small (pop. 16 mil.) the country is.
The Holland reply was not directed at anyone. Of course Holland does produce good and even great players. The problem is they need to reinvent themselves because they are not producing the “best” players.
Holland has many problems at all the national levels. Population size has little to do with it. You just need about 24 players. I think their problems are cultural/societal.
I agree with alot of your philosophies and love what you are doing with your teams, but I do not agree with this statement. In the US we go to the 11v11 too early in these kids ages. I would like to see them go from 8v8 to 9v9, for a couple years, and then 11v11. To develop properly all players should be touching the ball many times per game. I feel that the more the player touches the ball the more confident that player becomes with the ball. It’s pretty simple. At 10 years old and to play on a full field gets to be frustrating. How do I know? We are experiencing it this year.
My daughter and I just watched her last game on DVD. The first 18 minutes that she was in she touched the ball 4 times. Last year when playing 8v8 she would touch the ball 4 times every 2 minutes. She was out for a couple minutes in the first half then came back in for the last 5 minutes and touched the ball a couple more times. When the halftime whistle blew I looked at her and asked what she thought. Her response was “boring”. I had to agree with her.
Things are rarely ‘simple’.
* Back in the day people would observe the stars, and conclude they revolved around the earth: Simple.
Thank you for sharing your anecdote.
* How many times do our U11s touch the ball during a match?
* Are our U11s ‘frustrated’?
* Do our U11’s think ‘boring’?
There’s a wealth of things I could write about with respect to this topic.
Ideally, I believe that U-11 should start around 13 years old. The argument is well explained by USYSA:
http://www.slideshare.net/timhortonbst/why-small-sided-games-usysa1-presentation
However, I believe this is a much smaller concern than other issues when it comes to youth development. Organized games should actually be a relatively minor part of a player’s total time spent playing soccer. Practices (which should be utilizing small sided games) and free play (also usually small sided games) should make up a majority of the time spent playing soccer. For example, If a player has 2 games a week (totalling about 2 hours/week), 3 practices a week (4.5 hours/week) and does free play for another 3 hours/week roughly only about 20% of his time will be playing 11 v 11.
As I said, there are other issues that have a more important effect in the development of a player (good practices, adequate free play time).
I couldn’t agree more. with the above. Think about the kid that makes it to the NBA. The hours spent alone, the hours spent playing 21 and 1v1, 2v2 … all this outside of practice and games. I would say maybe 80% of his time is free play 20% is organized. With soccer it is probably reversed with respect to kids in the states – 80% organized – 20% free play.
In the CJSL in NYC they play 8v8 at u9 and 9v9 at u10 both on half fields. We’re playing in a state tournament next weekend, not sure what the field size or number of field players will be.
CJSL plays 8 v 8 until U12. At the U12 level, teams can choose between 8 v 8 OR 11 v 11. My son’s team played at the 8 v 8 level last year at U12 which was great for development, but puts them at a disadvantage at the start of the U13 season. CJSL is exclusively 11 v 11 after U12.
I would offer , with my limited experience, a few thoughts not mentioned. It would seem that most relevant is the soccer IQ of the team. Some groups with a high IQ may be ready for 11v11, and the earlier they start the more experience they will have dealing with the real animal – because they started earlier. Obviously there are teams that should do this later – and maybe some will never be ready.
As for the touches …sure, game situations offer unique opportunities, but either way the amount in the game should be a small % compared to total touches that week. So some may be ready for 11v11 and some may not.
Oddly, when you think of the 10,000 hour rule … and start doing the math, you will see how much time is needed per week as they age, and size of the game becomes even less relevant.
10,000 hours, 11 v 11, tiki-taka, 4-3-3, attacking or possession soccer — whatever! We all have opinions and as of now, not of them seem to work for USA and any level. Like how Gary thinks 23 goals and 14 assists DOES NOT identify a legit player, we equate winning with developing great players. Couldn’t be more wrong! Really talented teams can and do lose to far lesser competition. This can be very common in youth soccer due to lack of discipline, not playing as a team, too much pressure, and so on. And we also confuse great teams from individual talent. There are great teams with average talent (tactically intelligent team) adn there are great individually talented teams (technical team). There are also knowledgeable coaches but can’t teach and coaches who may not have played D1 or pro soccer but are great at motivating and teaching.
So how do we define “legit”? In eye of beholder is simple and only answer. Like referees, coaches act like dictators and always think they are right and get upset when questioned. But as coach, they have that authority, but doesn’t mean they are right.
Until some USDA club can produce a world class player, we ARE NOT legit! I do’t consider Clint Dempsey or Donovan world class. They are All American, but not world class. And speaking of All American player, who the &^% is out there besides them? We don’t have anyone in the pipeline. We are far from legit . . . maybe illigitamate! I’ll bet a year’s wages we do in fact have supremely talented kids out there but are too small for the American system. Either that or coaches and scouts not sophisticated enouth to see them. Only look for outward talent such as size. The nuianced stuff too hard as Gary said above.
Speaking of legit . . . what does everyone think about U13 /14 Academy? Great stuff! A watershed moment in US soccer if done right. If they just funnel the man-child to Academy, we are doing nothing. Maybe even hurting youth soccer more. I think the U16 and U18 Academy is doing good stuff, so looks promising for U14. And practicing 4x a week and less meaningless tournaments is a very good thing! 10,000 hours starts to become more a reality by late teens or early 20s. Now we’re talking! USDA clubs / US Soccer should also push for more international tournaments by Acaedemy teams.
I’m curious how US Soccer judges success in the DA program, beyond simple scoreboard checks.
What US Soccer does is attend all the games and write reports on many aspects of the game praising and criticizing as they see necessary on about 7 or 8 categories that include things like, style of play, conditioning, defense, offense, facilities, etc. They also attend some training sessions and grade the teams and the coaching staff there. In addition, they keep track of playing times because the referees post all those details within 24 hours of each game.
At the end of the year, they write a massive report on each team and give them grades from 1 to 5 on about a dozen categories with explanations and recommendations. The whole process is actually pretty comprehensive but I can’t speak for what criteria they use to grade every team/club.
My take is that they are trying to do a good job mechanically through these measures that are set in place. The question remains, are they focusing on the details and missing the big picture? Claudio Reyna and his group talk a pretty good game but it remains to be seen if they can impose their agenda on the masses. It’s a tall task but I give them good marks for trying and progressing as much as they have in a very short period of time, since 2007.
That actually sounds much better than I was assuming. Good thing I didn’t verbalize my assumption on a blog…
Are these Club DA grades published anywhere? Thanks
Go to: http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/Development-Academy/Academy-Overview.aspx Scroll down to Academy Club Evaluations. At the end of that section there’s a link for “evaluation document,” which is a PDF file. The grades for the 2011-’12 season are not out yet.
This is great. But what do they do when they discover a club isn’t meeting their standards? Where are the teeth in those grades? Where is the enforcement (“improve on X Y and Z to a sufficient degree by 6 months from now or else…”)??
This is a good article on development, check it out http://www.vysa.com/coaches/99579.html
(forgive me if you have seen already). It speaks well about how coaches do not allow their players to make mistakes so they dont get scored on. Rather than take the mistake as a teaching opportunity, too many coaches want the mistake not to happen and instruct the player what to do during sessions and games. Heaven forbid that a 10 year old makes a mistake and you lose the game!!! This is the mentality that needs to change. When i am coaching my team, i too often hear other coaches’ voice telling his players what to do, where to play it, all game….Let them play and correct them later, they will realize it more and learn quicker from it.
not sure how old this article is.
Another great myth in American soccer.
The coaching in this country is incredibly liberal!
Players pretty much do whatever the hell they want on the field.
This is the reason why matches at every level youth to pro are 50/50 jungle ball. There is no team! What you see in MLS, NASL, USL, college, high school, and youth club is pretty much a pickup game.
“The coaching in this country is incredibly liberal!”
Perhaps conservative after Romney’s speech.
“It’s that good feeling when you have more time to volunteer to coach your kid’s soccer team”
Atletico Madrid teaches Chelsea how to play.
Couldn’t agree more Gary! I remember the first I went out to watch a Silver Elite GU14 match and I was expecting to see these great teams. Oh was I in for a surprise! These “teams” were not teams at all! There was absolutely ZERO team work and combination plays. It was just individuals doing their own thing and when they cou,dn’t advance anything further they’d just blast the ball up the field. Sure, the players INDIVIDUALLY were better than bronze level players, but as a TEAM, neither team was any different than a freikin REC team! Sure they could do a scissor or step-over, but there was absolutely no team work. I went away SOOOO disappointed.
When you watch Gary’s team play, you see a TEAM at work. They are like an organism moving together as a unit. EVERY player on their team understands how they are suppose to move the ball up and around the field. Every player understands his role and what he is suppse to do. It is VERY organized. It is the antithesis of a pick up game. It’s how a TEAM is suppose to play the game.
The great part is, all the players on Gary’s team still have their own individual skills and can beat a player in a 1v1 situation. But they don’t rely on it as their form of attacking. Most youth teams’ “style of play” is to try and beat your man 1v1 and if that doesn’t work, just blast the ball down the field!
just realized it was already posted by Gary………..sorry……..still new to the site!
The article does not suggest individuallism is the way to go, i do not agree with that either. It is trying to relay the message that the system creates too many robots at a very young age, and they are right. Name one US player with the flare of a Ronaldo, Kaka etc…NONE. No one is suggesting that all your players have to play that way, but we do not allow our players to think on their own. Young players are treated like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Yes Gary’s team has a good blend of individualism and team play, because they are well coached. I dont think Gary tells the players what to do in every situation, he allows them make decisions and provide guidance when things need to be corrected. Even Iniesta, Xavi have their own individualism but they were trained to “think” on how to outsmart the opposition rather than just dribble and do step overs.There is not enough of this in our clubs. That is the essence of the article.
In my opinion, Mario, the most important points of the artice were these: The two things to remember when trying to develop high level soccer players. 1) Coaching through guided discovery rather than autocratic method is preferable. 2) Too much formal competition too young is counterproductive because winning is so important to coaches, parents, clubs and kids that the players are afraid to make a mistake so fall back and rely on their strengths and don’t work on their weaknesses so they are not exposed.
A coach must be willing to prioritize long term development over immediate results if push comes to shove. Of course, both are possible (and probable) to achieve at the same time if coached correctly. But even in the best coached programs there will be times involving either an individual player or the team that demands a coach decide between the two . Any coach who denies this is lying. It is in these difficult instances where the true mettle of a coach shows. It takes a coach with very strong backbone and principles to not succumb to the pressure of parents, the club, the players and his own ego. Partly because it is so easy to rationalize in an environment where winning largely is more valued than longterm development.
For heaven’s sake, to be a good coach you have to be an autocrat. Why are there people in competitive soccer that think touchy-feely is the way to coach? Do you really want to wait a thousand years for the rabble to figure it out by themselves? If your kids are that sensitive or that uncoachable— that is what rec is for!
And if you are a coach that knows what his is doing, you must impose your will, and be willing to live by your decisions. Who care what $60,000 SUV-driving, McMansion-dwelling, soccer-know-nothing, type-A parents think? Get some balls. Do the right thing. Tell people to shut up. If your club won’t support you, go elsewhere. Don’t overthink it. Make the kids play right. Or else (or else you will be chasing progress in this country, instead of leading it).
Do you coach youth soccer Alberto?
No, I am a parent and a fan who wants desperately to see a certain class of coach rise.
I thought not đ .
Not being autocratic does not equal touchy-feely. What it means is teaching players to be able to make their own decisions. In order for them to be able to learn to make their own decisions they can’t be afraid of making occasional mistakes. They learn from making mistakes. If, as a coach, you make kids afraid to make mistakes- they resort to “playing it safe” and their development stagnates.
Soccer is unlike just about any other sport, in that it is a player centric sport and not a coach centric sport. This is due to the very limited stoppages, substitutions and the big field that make coaching on the fly during a game almost impossible. Therefore, players have to be able to thing for themselves so it is vitally important that a coach allow a young player to learn how to analyze, recognize, adapt, and adjust quickly to ever different and changing situations. If a young soccer player is told everything to do and is not given a chance to figure out and understand the underlying concepts, they will never be able learn to read the game. As is written in “Senda de Campeones”,
” The distinguishing fact is this: there are a thousand ways to play soccer, but Barca must continue to choose one way and remain loyal to it despite storms and teach it and have the players understand it from when they were very small, so that the peculiar style of play can be engraved in the computer chips of their minds: to control the ball above all else, so that they can understand the âwhyâ of the style. Itâs not good enough that they practice and play and win, but they understand, comprehend and know how to explain how they play, because by doing this, they know the basis of each movement and decision. Itâs not about playing to play, nor winning for the sake of winning, but for the purpose of knowing how and why you traveled the chosen road. ”
“Laureano Ruiz, the pioneer, evokes an image that helps us to best understand the Barcaâs differential factor in learning: âWhat one has to do is train hard with the ball in the first years of formation. Learning soccer is very much like learning a language. When learning a language you work at phonetic coordination, which is how we learn to speak. In soccer, you work on motor coordination. In learning language there are no doubts that young children learn any language in a few months without knowing its grammar. In contrast, the childâs father would not learn the same language nearly as well. Itâs the same in soccer. You have to teach kids when they are very young the language of play. Teach them to understand how to play, that is the most important. In order to control the ball one has to understand how to play, you have to learn the language. Thatâs what itâs all about.”
It is important to establish your philosophy and vision, as well as responsibilities and expectations of players and their parents and that all parties understand these and buy into them up front. However, having players who play robotically and unthinkingly, blindly following the orders that their coach demands of them may win when they are young, but their development will be limited as the game gets more complex.
Absolutely, agree with all that. Lots of coaches say they are about development but then you go watch their team play and see everything else except for development. The real coaches don’t have a decision to make, it is about development and that is it.
Alberto i think you posted on the wrong site… The Oakland raiders site should be accessible for the autocrats.
Alberto, respectfully I’ll offer an example to illustrate above mentioned points. My sons U9 team just had a preseason tourney. Were on a club team … largest and most successful in the Cincinnati area. We won the first 3 games, in the final, seeing that all were out of gas, were down 2 – we had zero – and realizing that the player that was a foot taller on the other team was probably not going to be stopped I talked with the coach at the half. We have a relation – I mentioned that our goalie was the only one with legs because he has been in the box for all the games, can actually play up front and put the two with most energy with him. Then put our two largest in the back . Simple strategy for U9. Still can’t figure out why our goalie was pulled and standing on the sidelines for 1/2 of the second half. I now know our coach knows nothing about youth development and really does not have much general intelligence.
Were part of the most successful club … successful because there are so many teams that sure …. there will be a few that survive, and they will have a strong team as they age …. but so many will be underdeveloped through this process. And the upper level team really has no competition locally …. which says it all about our area … and coaching. BUT WE WERE RUNNER UP !
So Alberto, here’s the test – which part of the above shows that the coach is more worried about winning vs. overall youth development ?
Not trying to pick on you … but most parents have no clue …. they sure love it when the goalie kicks that ball to the middle … ” Great kick Charlie …do it again .”
You completely misunderstand my point. Kids learn to make good decisions form working in a structured environment. All good coaches are autocrats. All good teachers are autocrats. Facts are facts. There is no room or time to debate the principles at play in these learning environments. They kids need to come to learn, and the coach needs to come to teach.
TD Soccer, your point is moot. FC Barcelona is not a democratic organization where kids get to do what they want to explore their creativity, and coaches get to draw up their own curricula. And Mark, your use of an example of a coach who has no system and takes input from a parent on how to get a result in a manner that in no way reflects a discernible philosophy or organized style of play, and has nothing to do with possession, kinda proves the point I am supporting, if anything. You were chasing the win, but what were your kids learning about playing the game properly?
Alberto, maybe the reason why everyone is piling on is due to your choice of the word “autocrat” Perhaps disciplinarian, or firm and committed would have been a better choice. No one in this forum is suggesting that kids and parent get to run the asylum. I tell my parents at the beginning of the season that they are not allowed to say or do anything other than drop their kid off and pick him up at the end of the session. That does not make me an autocrat.
We are talking more about coaching methodology where train players to solve their with problems rather than tell them every move.
Mario your point is well taken. Still, an autocrat is not necessary a micromanager. An autocrat can even accept input or criticism, but he is not obliged to put anything up for a vote. Autocrat is an honest word. Why are people afraid of it in this context? Is it because the all want to have influence on the coach? Express an opinion? These are unhelpful things to a decent coach who is trying to impose a style of play and to teach kids how to THINK on the field.
I like your instructions to your parents.
I felt Brian was an autocrat that commanded a lot of respect from players. Parents are a different beast, especially when they pay or think they pay. Teams should be coach-driven but many times they are club-driven, parent-driven, manager-driven, player-driven and the results are evident. The team must go to war for the coach who is the general and ultimate leader of the troops.
I could not have stated it better.
Read the last paragraph of my post again please:
“It is important to establish your philosophy and vision, as well as responsibilities and expectations of players and their parents and that all parties understand these and buy into them up front.”
If you mean by autocratic, a coach has to be the one to clearly establish his vision, his leadership, his authority, of course I would agree. But that is not what I was referring to by “autocratic” coaching. I was referring to the actually teaching of young players. In football and baseball players are coached to execute specific plays drawn up by a coach depending on the situation. Adaptation and initiative is frowned on and usually damaging. This leads to a particular coaching method in most American sports: the autocratic method where “solutions” (the plays and specific responses to each situation) to a problem are laid out by the coach and expected to be followed lockstep by the players. The team that most closely “executes” their coach’s solutions (“gameplan”) usually wins. Most American soccer coaches come from this coaching tradition.
The problem is that soccer is not like football and baseball. Soccer demands that players be able to think for themselves, adapt, improvise and take initiative on their own much more than the popular American sports. This requires (good) soccer coaches to train their players very differently than for football or baseball, to above to be THINKING for themselves at all times during the game. This, of course, does not mean they do whatever they want. It means that under the rapidly changing conditions that a soccer match represents, out of a myriad of possibilities they are able to identify and execute the correct one KEEPING WITHIN THE TEAM’S SYSTEM OF PLAY with very little coaching input in the moment.
Dr. Loco says, “The team must go to war for the coach who is the general and ultimate leader of the troops”. This is correct, in that players must understand and operate within the system of play laid out by the coach. But it is incorrect if he means that they have no latitude to make decisions for themselves within this system. It’s funny because people who have never been in the military think that military discipline demands that its soldiers unthinkingly react to an order. This could not be further from the truth. . As Cmdr. Martin Lindahl so elequently put it , “Every renown commentator of the American fighting soldier, from Abmrose.. to Churchill to Eisenhower to Rommel hismelf has stated the American soldier’s ability to take the initiative, to improvise and adapt to battle conditions is what distinguishes him for the enemy soldier and ultimately leads to victory. The ability to think for himself and make combat decisions to accomplish the vision is a fundamental core of the American soldier…”
As a combat veteran of the U.S. military’s special operations, I can tell you that the training that special operations forces receive is largely about the ability to recognize the best solution out of many, take the initiative and adapt to accomplish the mission and this training is anything but “touchy-feely”, as Alberto put it. Certain specific responses to common problems are learned- conditioned so they happen automatically. But this is not good enough. Learning and understanding the underlying concepts and also learning to adapt and improvise (these are learned traits) are also crucial so the operator can adapt and improvise when a situation never encountered before arises (which happens on every mission. These requirements are the same in soccer (or jazz). The ability to improvise and adapt within an established framework determines the best players.
Alberto, my example was meant to highlight the problems we have with youth soccer development when winning is more important than player development. From the example, one might deduce that – goalie was in same position all 4 games … or 3 1/2 games pegged into a hole even though he could play up front … first problem. Preseason tournament – new team, U9’s all barley in shape , new coach ( this fact not evident in example) so no system … but nothing was mentioned about whether they followed the a system or style … all you knew is that they could switch positions … which does not mean system imploded.
You do reiterate exactly my concerns …. the coach was chasing a win …. that was what I was complaining about. “Preseason” tourney with newly formed U9s … probably no one in shape – why play 4 games in one weekend. New coach with two practices to date … whats the point. Luckily we did win the first 3 games … and with a common sense strategy (which was not followed) … maybe they could have won the last game.
The kids learned absolutely nothing that weekend …. but being runner up sure makes the coach seem successful already. One feather in his cap …. zero in the kids.
P.S. My kids are in a Montessori school … not sure if I would call teachers autocratic.
TDSoccer, mostly agree with everything. Tell me this why donât you instruct US coaching courses? Believe me, we would learn a whole lot more.
To me, every player must be able to show off their individual character and personality within a team in order to be successful.
This is the part I disagree with âvery little coaching input in the moment.â
I believe âjoystickingâ can be good and required for some players. Out of a myriad of possibilities a child cannot identify and execute the correct options. From an educational standpoint why would a teacher reinforce the wrong decisions? A coach must guide the player to make the right decisions until they are experienced enough to make them on their own. Repeating the same mistakes over and over only makes them worse players.
Gary, please write a post on joysticking.
I was web surfing and happened to notice this article: http://www.soccernation.com/fc-barcelona-academy-is-southern-californias-best-bu12-team-cms-3351
I’m sorry if it’s been posted already. It’s nice to see recognition gained from other coaches. This quote sums it up for me (re: the U12s, though it could apply to all the Barca teams):
“Southern California, with its numerous talented BU12 club teams, has probably some of our nationâs finest young players, but ALL are still trying to catch the best: FC Barcelona Academy.”
What brand of soccer does SDSCU12B try to play?
Just curious
“Imitation is the best form of flattery”
Let me preface this comment by saying I’m not “pimping my son’s youtube channel on this blog for just a few more hits. My first time posting but have been an avid reader for the last few months, enjoyed the content, and find the honesty refreshing. Not sure what side of the fence I sit concerning the tactical/technical age debate but will save that for another day. Just wanted to share something I observed this week, found personally meaningful, and would appreciate Brian or Gary relay the story to one of their players it involved.
My 10 yr old son lives soccer- always either watching or playing. Loves the La Liga style, creativity of Brazilian players, and follows German leagues as well. However, he would rather watch cartoons or Pawnshop than MLS league play but will watch Mancity and some english play if the bigger names are on the field. He wants to play like messi, neymar, and the biggest playmakers of the game. Unfortunately he hasn’t yet found an American player to follow or “imitate” . I showed him the surf cup video last week and will point to a moment and a move at the 3.38 mark by #7. My son played on Monday night pulling off exactly the same move just 2 days after watching the video, watch the 3:48 mark of his video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cidj7fwvu60&list=UUlmM2LiAcrL3v1-AxntbIyg&index=1&feature=plcp . I asked where the move came from – expecting and believing from a Neymar youtube video. I was surprised to hear him say- Dad, it was from the California Barca video you showed to me last night. Sad to report the first American player he grabbed a move from was only 11 yrs old- but i guess its a start!
So a compliment to both player and coach- the young player for not being afraid to experiment in a game and to the coach for allowing young kids to be creative while teaching disciplined and organized soccer.
Agree, imitation can be the best form of flattery. Just make sure he continues watching quality soccer. So comfortable on the ball for a 10 year old and passes well too. He obviously likes the ball. Good job Dad.
Regarding this post –
English Fuck says:
September 22, 2012 at 1:42 pm
As much as I love what Gary and Brian are doing over the pond, it is not unique, there are teams in the UK who play like this at grassroot level. I spoke to a guy recently who has a U11 team, who keep the ball, play with panache, all confident with the ball in small areas, he mentioned the video and said he wish he had filmed his squad.
***********************************************************************
Well, this may be true – but all the “English Fucks” that came over here trying to help us, for decades, have not supported this style. Maybe the smart ones stayed and the idiots came to America. Haven’t met an English coach yet that didn’t know it all !!!!
with respect Mr. English, if that is how the grassroots play in England, it obviously hasn’t worked for decades nor translated to your older age groups or senior team….why? are all your best coaches at grassroots? would love to hear a european theory on this since everyone on this blog uses Europe as a standard in many arguments that are made on this blog.
Amen brother … sorry to rag on so much about the English,it’s just that they are everywhere around here – and it’s all shit !
We deserve what we got – looked like us, talked like us – being racist without knowing it – and now US soccer is what it is.
I never said this is the norm here, I said what Gary and Brian have done is not unique, we have teams who play this type of football, but as soon as you have a quality player a pro club comes in for him, then usually ruins him.
English football suffers with the same problems that you and many many other countries do. The following is from one of the few brilliant coaches in the UK who is trying to change things here.
By John Cartwright
We have watched our national team disappoint once again at another major football competition. The regularity of inferior performances has become an almost expected occurrence amongst all followers of the game here. âPre-hypedâ frenzy is dissipated by poor performances from both individuals and teams decade after decade, yet we continue to fall into the trap of believing that âall will be well this timeâ.
Letâs be brutally honest, our game is woefully short of quality in individual and team standards. We have become addicted to the acceptance of mediocrity to such an extent that true quality is not recognized and our game falls further behind more enterprising football nations. Donât try to convince me that the performances of England recently were good enough. Reaching the knock-out stage and being beaten on penalties is seen as success by those who need to âcamouflageâ poor quality for the sake of greed and a selfish disregard for the future of our game. Similarly, donât be too critical of Roy Hodgson; his late appointment to the job plus the fact that he has very mediocre players to work with made it extremely difficult to do much better than he did, although his pragmatism, although useful in the qualifying stage, became a hindrance in the game against Italy. My concern for Roy, is that he has been âhoisted high into footballâs Crowsâ Nestâ but has been given little or no control over the âcrew running the shipâ below him. He is a man of vast experience and his position as England Manager should also involve him in overseeing the whole of the development chain from junior to senior levels.
For once and for all, let us pin-point the true reason for our football demise; itâs down to extremely bad development methods! The teaching and playing infrastructure that is supposed to develop the gameâs raw material and prepare it for senior football is woefully inadequate â not suitable for purpose would be a more defined comment. I have criticised development methods here for many years and have been consistently ignored by our football hierarchy â but I am not wrong in what I have said! Development methods here have produced nothing more than basic performance standards; to accommodate poor individualism, simplistic playing styles and tactics have been embraced. Our so-called âstarsâ find playing with tactical variations an almost impossible task and rely on outdated systems that are exposed when set against better prepared nations.
We are NOT Spanish; Dutch; German; Brazilian; Italian etc; we are English and need to find a game-style that retains the best ingredients of our game whilst introducing the skills and tactics from abroad that we deem lacking here. Would âTicki-Tackaâ football be appreciated here even though the Spanish have displayed its qualities? I donât think so. Therefore, what we must do is âfind an appropriate playing style that is both ATRACTIVE to watch and highly EFFECTIVE in terms of results that suits the culture of people in this countryâŚâŚâŚFans must enjoy watching it; coaches must be taught to deliver it; players must be skilful to play it. OUR GAME MUST CONSIST OF BOTH PASSION AND PANACHE TO SATISFY CULTURAL DEMANDS AS WELL AS THE PLAYING STANDARDS FOR SUCCESS.
The point I have been trying to emphasize in numerous âblogsâ on this website regarding the importance of establishing a playing âvisionâ with progressive programmes of work to achieve it, is now becoming obvious to all. The âbits and piecesâ approach to teaching and playing that has marred the quality of our game for generations must be discarded and a properly designed development and playing experience must replace it.
Our game at senior levels is full of âcracksâ in skills and tactics, these faults are âpapered overâ to hide them but the âpaperâ covering these game deficiencies becomes detached under pressure from better prepared opponents. We must accept that what we are watching in our domestic game is far from the quality it is reported to be. We must begin to question all areas of the media who voice their opinions onto vast numbers of the ordinary football public. Unless we establish a solid playing standard for our game and stop relying on âhypedâ levels to glorify poor quality we will continue to live in hope when it comes to success at major football events.
Spain, have just won the UEFA 2012 Cup competition; they have shown style in both play and attitude and fully deserve the title of âWorldâs greatest football teamâ in my opinion. What we must do is work hard to improve on the standards they have set; it wonât be easy, but nothing really worth doing is easy. However, this is England and I must remind everyone that the disappointment of UEFA 2012 will soon be forgotten as our domestic season begins in about 5weeks from now. All the vile and criticism of our performances along with any good intentions for resolving the mess our game has become will find their way under the same â up-lifted carpetâ used so often in the past after previous disappointing results. This time the âsweepingsâ will contain the hopes of those who desire to watch and play a style of football that is passionately English but with a touch of âcontinental panacheâ. But, as the new season draws near, the âhyped callâ to action will once again âstir the bloodâ and our domestic version of the âbeautiful gameâ âŚ. âfightballâ will continue to deliver the same old ârubbishâ!âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ..WILL WE EVER LEARN?
A food for thought comment by John Cartwright, “Therefore, what we must do is âfind an appropriate playing style that is both ATRACTIVE to watch and highly EFFECTIVE in terms of results that suits the culture of people in this country”
Do we really have to “copy” Barcelona, is it even achievable in “our culture” ? Finding an identity is not just simply copying another, but finding the best attributes and learning from others and making it your own in the context of your own culture…..this is what we have not figured out and continue to chase others looking for a solution….
I think it is less about imitating a certain style rather than developing our own style based on our strengths. In the US (like England) we embrace the warrior mentality. (Hence the popularity of gridiron football.) The game needs fighters and ballwinners. But they also need to be able to keep possession using 1 and 2 touch passing sequences.
In the states, I see even the technically gifted players dribbling too damn much. As soon as they get the ball, they are looking to dribble…often into pressure which results in loss of possession. The mentality seems to be ‘I’ve got the ball…let me show you what I can do with it”….
The only time you see top teams dribbling is where it is warranted. Out on the flanks, primarily in the attacking third. At the younger ages, let them dribble…it gives them their personality. But as they get older it becomes key to teach quick, 1 and 2 touch combination play.
That seems to be the toughest thing for players to learn.
“What is American Soccer?”
http://whatahowler.tumblr.com/post/31313126129/what-is-american-soccer
What is English football?
“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Die geheime Geschichte des englischen FuĂballs”
in German by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2006
Englischer Fussball: A German View of Our Beautiful Game
English version by Yellow Jersey Press, 2008
Raphael Honigstein
——
Local cultures are there to be shaped
History of the game is full of giant culture qualitative leaps:
Michels/Cruyff: Ajax, Holland, Barca
Sacchi: AC Milan, Italy
Wenger: Arsenal, EPL
Bielsa: NOB, Chile, Ath Bilbao
Mourinho: FC Porto
Van Gaal: Bayern Munich
Hiddink: South Korea
Lobanovsky: Dinamo Kiev
Guttmann: Sao Paulo (Brazil), Benfica
Rodgers: Swansea, LFC (TBD…)
What is common about this leaps?
Precise, dominant, controlling, possession soccer…each one adapting to local conditions, qualities and manager’s own personality/philosophy
It will happen in US too, likely at MLS level, hopefully sooner than later…maybe we get to get the Kleibans in place đ
The below link is a great article on our own battles in Canada, much like the US. Jason is an ex National team player and played in Scotland, article hits the nail on the head. The US is fighting the “American Football” mentality, and Canada is fighting the “hockey” mentality.
http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=405972
“And if you don’t understand that by now, I don’t think you ever will.”
What happens when you combine the âJoystick Coach’, the âNearly Made It Coach’, and the âDynasty Coach’?
klinsmann?
The American coach like you and me.
Gary – is there any way you can post a whole game here so we can watch one? I would love to see how your boys manage a whole game. Thanks!
Last time I tried uploading a full-length match … after 7 hours youtube told me the process failed. I’m sure I’ll revisit that at some point.
Gary: The kids look great and this is what I am trying to doing with my U12 girls rec team. It is taking some time as most of the girls have been taught jungle ball. How many training sessions a week do your teams have.
yall niggas suck u tied busc bitches