Here’s the video of our first match against FC Barcelona at MIC Cup.
Watch carefully – this offers just a flavor of what gold standard football can look like for 11 year olds.
Also, we did a report on this match.
Context is king!
Something we’ll be providing as we continue this path of soccer education.
Holy shit
No doubt the futbol on display is beautiful. However as a coach of teams at this age in several different levels of play what amazes me the most is the commitment and passion of the runs both to close down attackers and off the ball when in possession. Truly impressive and something to be proud of. It’s so hard to get a team full of these types in the fractured(too many clubs in some areas), pampered and “suburbananized” culture that is US youth soccer. Both teams are incredibly well coached but what these 11 and 12 year olds do with that coaching and the passion they do it with is great to see.
Well put CoachDave.
Couldn’t agree more Dave. This website has been a real eye-opener for me. The chemistry, movement, and maturity on both teams is enjoyable to observe.
Awesome. Thank you for posting. This is the kind of thing that needs to be seen.
Thanks Taqee. The boys are a truly special group and had an outstanding showing in Spain against some of the top academy’s in the world. More to come!
What blows me away, and it’s immediately noticeable, is how the players off the ball react. They stay engaged, the whole unit stays together—at age 11.
So Gary/Brian, please share how we can teach our players to know what to do without the ball. How much of your practice time is spent on “off the ball” topics.
Great observation Rob. The little details make the difference at every level.
Everything is worked on in phases. You have to crawl before you walk. We have dedicated the last 6 months on the offensive portion of playing without the ball. We call it, “losing your man.”
Defensively, we have worked on our team identity of pressure in unison from day 1, our bread and butter on all teams we have coached. It’s something that is rehearsed frequently and bled into the players. They take pride in pressing together to recover the ball the same way they do in scoring a goal or giving an assist.
Going back to the post following the game… and the fact that TFA denied Barca the opportunity to play short…
Uly, Imanol, and Owen did a superb job of becoming engaged defensively immediately after the keeper recovered the ball or it went out for a GK. There is a time when Uly is just chillin on top of the 18 bouncing back and forth like a dog waiting for you to throw a steak on the ground. BEAUTIFUL!
Absolutely!!!!!! I laughed my ass off watching the same play you are speaking of.
Incredible how tactically engaged our players were to that little detail. If you let Barca get comfortable building out of the back, you’re in for a long day!!! You saw what they did after putting the ball down in the offensive third. JESUS!!!
It’s those little details that people take for granted. Most don’t know how extremely hard it is to switch your mind from offense to defense in an instant. Whether it be after a shot wide straight into a goal kick or after a bad pass and having to recover immediately. It’s the milliseconds during that transition that make all of the difference. And those milliseconds are reduced even more with hours and hours of rehearsal. Again, beautiful. There were plenty of good examples… FROM 11 YEAR OLDS!!!! 😉
“Losing your man” training activity; very much interested in hearing how this is run, what you do and how you develop this quality in your players.
Thank you to give us a chance to see top level U11-U12 soccer. There are few observations:
1. Under pressure, both teams could not keep possession consistently, especially in 1st half, when players have more energy to press high.
2. Barça clearly dominated the 2nd half, with more possessions, penetrations and clear cut chances. Why not use more 2-3 players 10-15 yards combination plays to counter attack? Instead too many long passes to try your luck? Just curious about your coaching thoughts on this, as your previous videos demonstrate your players have the capability.
Thanks again for this awesome video.
ManOwar,
1. You are absolutely right. Context is key though, 10 and 11 year olds…with a couple of 12 years olds with early 01 birthdays.
2. Clearly Barca was superior in the 2nd half looking for the W. Good ideas about counter attacking with longer combination plays. Problem was that once you’re under that kind of pressure and you can’t get out of your half, as a player, you are super accelerated (meaning your timing is off both defensively and offensively). So when you do recover the ball, you immediately piss it away and it leads to more pressure. Not an easy thing to overcome. More work needs to be done to address this problem.
Again, context is key…..as this same problem happens to world class professionals as well.
Thanks for your observations
Thank you Brian for your quick reply. Context is the key. I started to change the style of play about a year ago, and your U11 video really opened my eyes. My recreational U10 team consists of many minority kids, who could not afford the pay to play. Our speed of play, pressure/space level is way below yours, but after a year’s hard work, we dominated the league while playing possession style soccer. When facing tough/rough opponents, this combination play counter attacks served us well. Our humble experience proved that even at recreational level, change is achievable.
Unfortunately I have not seen many high level competitive teams in our region to play possession style soccer, jungle ball is the norm here. Looking forward to more progress on your team and hopefully change the US youth soccer culture someday.
I woke up in the middle of the night, took a piss, and then thought “I bet Gary posted it already!” Sure enough. Watched it again before leaving for work this morning.
When I first started watching I thought my brain was playing tricks on me! The speed of the players while pressing and recovering… beautiful. Absolutely fucking beautiful. You can tell it has been rehearsed many times.
I hope that people can grasp the concept of 11 year olds being taught (and actually executing) how to play soccer the right way. The mindsets of ‘too young for tactics’ or ‘development over winning’ and the long list of other buzzwords and phrases are just excuses being made by hacks who can’t teach this shit.
Good stuff Gary, Brian, and all the boys! Proud of everything you’ve done. And I’m extremely excited for the next steps.
lmao at the middle of the night play by play!
Thanks John. We have to keep working with our elite youth players to prepare them for the big stage. We are slowly making progress at opening peoples eyes to the potential world class talent we have in this country. Now if only we had the resources and the entire country at our disposal instead of a shoe string budget, geographical limitations of just So Cal (but highly populated and super talented), and only 2-3 days of training per week. Like a good friend of mine says, SKY IS THE LIMIT.
Guys,
My thought comes back to what was your halftime speech? I was just wondering as it will help in the context, as we see adjustments, knowing I am sure that Barca made adjustments, looks to me, probably does not need to be stated, they pressed more going for the W. they took on the personality of your team. Wow how many teams can say that, you did not give them room to breathe, so they played in your half the second half, trying to tighten the noose for sure. Their combinations became more compact. Btw, such an amazing display, most coaches would be so excited, and turn that into contentment…. Not you guys, push forward, more hours, more hardcore, I love it!!!!! I take you guys won’t be at the Danone Cup this year? Let me know if that is correct, if you are there I want to stop by and say Hi and watch…..
Blessings,
Kg
Barca goal at ~15:30 should hae been called offside
Yeah what happened there?
Great level of play! Congratulations for this success. However one thing I wanted to ask you Brian is that, don’t you think individually and in terms of technique, Barcelona players were superior? Or do they look better because they are more tactically coherent?
They are both technically and tactically superior.
But that doesn’t mean our country doesn’t have the capacity to do what they do.
We can! Right now!
We have the players to form a complete roster of their quality, and we could be as tactically astute with more training sessions and residency.
The pressure from both sides is so intense and well organized. Both sides know each others styles very well obviously. As a result of that Its clear that neither side wanted to give the other time or space to operate their regular possession game. That set tactical drill on moving the ball through the back and building the attack that you guys posted not too long ago.. Both sides would have like to establish that kind of attack but neither side would budge an inch because they knew what was coming…such an in your face kind of pressure! Two VERY quality extremely well coached sides going at it. The passion, commitment, skill and work rates are on full display here. Great job out there guys keep it up!
Thank you Noah.
I didn’t count, but I think there may have been a few times when the field was switched through the back four? Maybe I’m wrong. But I’m certain both sides were always looking for it.
Yes there were a few times I haven’t gotten around to counting them myself either. But there were also times when both teams would try to switch the field through the back four and an opposing player would be in perfect position for the interception or standing tackle. What stands out to me is that many of these turnovers were not unforced clumsy mistakes (like we see consistently on the youth levels as well as pro levels here so much so that it looks like ping pong across the field with bodies everywhere) but players with high soccer intelligence reading the game. Gary, how often is this intelligent pressure rehearsed? I realize that you cant just have your players go after the ball like a bunch of animals..There is an art to it. And how much would you say is just pure instinct on the part of your players? I believe that some players just have this ability in their system..much like your definition of a player with elite IQ as youve mentioned in previous articles? Thanks!
Hi Brian,
I checked my email before going to work this morning & saw the 1st 5-10 minutes of the video. Freak’n WOW! Surprisingly, I did not see one boy picking daisies! haha 🙂
I know I will be watching re-watching over and over for the next few months.
I love to know what the scouting report told you about FC Barcelona & what were your tactical adjustments. For example, in the 1st half, the FC Barcelona’s RMF seemed to be the key player in their attack. What was the scouting report on this boy? How did you instruct your LFB and CD players to defend against him?
You guys use the word “rehearsed” a lot when describing your training. In fact, every time I’ve asked about your training, I believe, it’s come up. Are the actions done at a walk through pace to start? Is it shadow played? Can I assume actions are rehearsed against no pressure to start and building pressure all the way up to game conditions?
Your assumptions are good.
But in training, it’s usually not done up to game conditions. That’s what the game is for.
You see, for us, we view the weekend game as another training session.
I could watch this level of play all day. Thanks for posting.
This is excellent and I really like the term “super accelerated” . The speed of play and the timing is incredible. You guys are an inspiration.
How often do you sit down with your players and watch video with them?
Hi Simeon,
We’ve only had film sessions on a couple occasions.
It’s something we plan on doing a lot more of.
Coach Brian,
I am very impressed with your boys. I thought they would be completely dominated by Barca but it wasn’t the case at all. It was a pretty even game with Barca dominated a bit more in the second half. Congratulations on a very fine job.
It is just my opinion that the major difference is in the defenders (as well as holding mid, that little blonde boy is so pleasant to watch). Barca defenders have better touch on the ball and can get out of pressure more easily. Their skill level and decision making reminds me of a good center mid rather than a defender. I have never seen defenders with this kind of quality (relative speaking and relative to their age) in US on any level. Your defenders make good decision when there is not too much pressure. Barca’s combination play especially in the middle third is a little better.
I do have a pessimistic view on American soccer though. Using this game as an example, your boys pressured Barca really well and got many turnovers. Your defenders were aggressive and stepped forward to intercept many balls which I absolutely love. I think it is why Barca forwards couldn’t do much. However, as they get older, the difference in qualify will become bigger and bigger (simply because American players don’t spend enough time on soccer, even assuming Americans have good coaching which is not always the case at all). Then the pressure alone won’t be enough, and the opponent will be able to do a lot more in the final third than at this age. And team USA (starting from U17) will likely be an underdog and play catch-up against soccer powers as always.
Many thanks for your education. I read every article and many comments on your website. My son is playing U13 academy right now and will play U14 academy later this year. I show him your articles all the time. We both learn a lot from you. Big thanks again.
Your pessimism is not unfounded, but times are changing in American soccer. Brian Kleiban is now the coach for Chivas USA and soon more and more of the so called “establishment” will take notice.
American soccer is looking bright indeed.
*Chivas USA Development Academy for the same age group* to be more clear.
Brian/Gary will you be taking Chivas USA to international tournaments?
Thanks for posting video. I enjoyed the intensity from such young players. However game was a bit too erratic, high paced, and too many long balls for my tastes. Nonetheless, it does give everyone an opportunity to see the possibilities with US born players.
Keep up the good work!
International tournaments?
There’s talk of that.
As for “erratic, high pace, and too many long balls” … context my man, context.
As a spectator, no problem with liking/disliking X, Y, or Z. However, if one wishes to understand, we must put our student hats on.
Thank you for sharing your observations.
You are mistaken about the “American player” though, and why the gap between us and the world powers exists. Big time!
To quote you:
“simply because American players don’t spend enough time on soccer”
That is generally applicable to the “white”, suburban, ‘school first’, ‘soccer mom’, demographic. That is not the same with the massive latino population we have in our country. Those kids live, breath, and shit soccer. ALL DAY LONG!
You’re right about the white, suburban stuff but have to say school does come first. Haven’t we all met terrific athletes that are dumber than a box of rocks. School and soccer are not mutually exclusive. I’m probably taking you too literally though
My son is playing U13 Pre-Academy, I mean. Most players will go on to play in the new U14 academy. Every team has players who are so big, fast and tall (over 6 feet for ’99 birth year, my son is 5 feet and nothing at all as Ian Darke would like to say). But there aren’t many quality midfielders as I see from this video. I am sure U14 Chivas USA will be different now that you guys are there.
Yeah, those large athletic kids suck, especially my own. I think 4 foot 5 is the optimal size.
Lebron ERES GRANDE !!!! hats off to the Kleibans !!! To gets this kids to play this way is fenomenal !!! Congrats guys !!!!
STAND HIM UP!!!!!!
Brian I wanted to ask you what you thought about the talent level you had. Are these kids the elite in that area? Or will you now be able to attract the elite since you’re part of Chivas USA now?
Hoping all of the MLS youth clubs will soon be taking notice if you continue your success there. I also wanted to get your opinion on how to prevent teams from poaching American players because this is the only country in the world that doesn’t sign their top youths to a contract. Most recent incident was Paul Arriola where the Galaxy got no compensation for his development at all. How do we do this without pissing off the NCAA? Of course college soccer has a lot left to be desired, but 99% of the kids won’t be getting Home Grown contracts so we have to make sure these youths don’t have to relinquish their eligibility,
This is huge.. and a topic that needs to be addressed soon.
I got a good laugh last weekend when opposing team parents were verbally contesting an offside call by the referee even though the other team had 4 players standing in front of net offside in a similar situation. That doesn’t even compare to the FC Barcelona goal on this video! The ref was standing right there too. RIDICULOUS! What possibly could have been his excuse?
Great effort by the kids. Have you tried to de-interlace the video? Much easier to see full screen, but horrible horizontal, interlaced lines. …and this is the good quality video? If you have not yet tried I would be happy to try and fix it during my free time as well as see if anything can be recovered from the other videos. I’m sure you have tried already, but if not I’m happy to give it a shot. Great stuff!
Hi Gottschee Charlie,
I appears that they played with a single center ref with no assistant refs (e.g., linesman). Maybe, the offside trap is rarely done since the center ref lets it go just like what was witnessed. Makes his job easier when all contestants know beforehand.
Larry
The high pressure was fantastic. It’s interesting to see two teams that are normally great in possession struggling to keep the ball. All those kids on the field are probably used to having a lot more time on the ball and better, easier rhythmic passing. It was good to see them getting in each others face and making it hard to play. It should be noted that the high pressure defense is just as important as the ability to keep the ball. I think that gets overlooked sometimes. If great possession teams like Barcelona sat back in there own half on defense they would not be the same.
Hi All,
Love the blog and been following it for quite a while. The Barca video was exciting to watch and cant wait to show my u/11’s here in Australia. Look forward to joining the blog and giving a perspective from the land down under which is heavily influenced by the dutch and german systems. One A -League club has just employed Josep Gombau formely of Barca so would be interesting to see what influences he can install to Adelaide Utd and local coaches
Hey there Ikon. Since I’m obsessed with all things football I’ve ended up viewing the A-League a bit over the last year or two. It was actually match analysis and statistics that ended up leading me to the league. I was surprised to find loads of stats and analysis on the A-League. The Central Coast Mariners were a pretty impressive counter attacking side to watch this season. They possessed at times as well, probably about 50%, but the efficiency and quickness of their counters was great to see. I agree it will be very interesting to see what kind of impact a Barca influence will have in the A-League.
Hey Coach Dave,
Have a look at Brisbane Roar and the past 2-3 years- changed the way football is played in Australia. The A-league is only now starting to show the fruits of the changes made 7-8 years ago to australian football. We are lucky we are in Asia the fastest growing football region.
In reference to the video attatched its obvious these kids haven’t just come together and are the closest i have seen to elite. The speed of the passing and the decision making is what i am impressed with. …great work Brian wish i could come over and watch some sessions…This forum is a great way to coach the coaches..this is where it starts the more us coaches can network the better..
Holy crap!!! Their 1st goal really was soooo far offsides.
I don’t know who posted this but here’s the Ajax game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJ5OO-jsfA
Congratulations kids play spectacular football. This shows that is done very good work in the academy. Grats to the coach.
(First post) So first off, love the site and please continue to do what you do.
Now, I have a few questions regarding the video:
1) Is this a regulation sized field? Just asking to better assess speed of play, strength, size, etc.
2) How was Barca goal NOT offsides? (someone asked previously, but no reply) Did I miss something?
3) The pace of the game was incredibly high from both sides. You mentioned that your team trains 2-3 times a week. So I am really curious as to how you implement your conditioning into the session. Or is this implemented on “off” days? Do your boys train on off days on their own or with other coaches?
-Thank you
I live in USA, I wish the parents who have kids playing soccer see this video, here in America the English coaches domination put more emphasis in athleticism than talent and their coaching style : long balls all the time is killing the beautiful game in America.