After I published the US needs a high level coach, a great discussion ensued in the comments. Today I want to focus on a particular topic that arose. Specifically, is it difficult to identify an elite player? And if so, why? The answer is quite involved, but I will offer a good starting point. At […]
Soccer Education
A Huge Thank You to Our Readers!
A couple days ago was 3four3’s first birthday! We averaged roughly one post per week – this is post #62. Thank you so much to all our readers who give us an audience. Believe it or not, you guys are helping to raise the level of US Soccer, which is the very reason for this […]
How A High Level National Team Coach Could Influence US Soccer
While the system and philosophy of soccer in the US as a whole must change, if we had a top-shelf coach we would take a huge stride. If someone like Marcelo Bielsa (I know he’s off the table) took over … The Current National Team Pools Would be Decimated Maybe 2 or 3 guys from the […]
Developing Soccer Technique: The Best Tool
When you’re not training with your coach, learning the game from TV, or playing with others … Go Find a Wall It is the single greatest tool for developing your technique. Nothing else comes close. Claudio Reyna, one of the few quality players to survive the US Soccer landfill, shares a brief story with us. […]
Do Soccer Predictions Make You An Authority?
I was accused on a forum the other day of not sticking my neck out by making predictions. Even though I had, and shared their location (more on that later), this person’s statement disturbed me. Was this an attempt to discredit me? Or is this something people use to assign authority? I’d like to think […]
Who Says The US Doesn’t Have Quality Soccer Players? [Video]
Here’s our U-19s doing a one-touch warmup before last Monday’s National Cup game. It is 7 v 7 with 2 neutrals (in blue). The dimensions of the grid are roughly 32 x 20 yards (about 1/10 a soccer field). If you can’t see the video, click here. Things To Keep in Mind This was only […]
More on Possession Soccer: A Reader’s Comment
This is a response to a comment left on a previous article about soccer possession. We value every single one of our readers whether they agree or disagree with us – without you guys, we don’t exist! So Wayne took issue with my statement: “[with] a synchronized high pressure defense, it will be extremely difficult […]
To Specialize or Not to Specialize?
Someone from a soccer forum I frequent asked for my thoughts on whether a potential keeper should begin specializing (become “full time”) at the U-9 level. There had been an ongoing discussion in a thread with parents falling on both sides of the fence. So here it goes … From a developmental perspective only, at […]
Possession Soccer: What does it take?
This post is my response to an observation made by one of our readers, CarlosT from the Sounder At Heart blog. In his comment to our possession article, he shared the video below and stated: “It seems to me that while this style of play is associated with hugely talented teams like Argentina and Brazil, the […]
Fundamental Guide to Soccer IQ
I think we can all agree that Soccer IQ is about decision making. – When to dribble. – When to pass. – When to shoot. – When to send a cross. – When to go forward or backward. – etc. Disagreements arise on what is the correct thing to do – the reason for the […]