ok...that was stupid about henry (i went overboard)..he is sick with the ball...but ...drogba is pretty straight forward..fast running not to many antics or moves..alot of speed.
Hey charlie....take it up on another thread, quit hijacking this one...seeeeee ya! Anyway, does anyone have confirmation of what Sockers teams will be at Dallas Cup?
Back to the Sockers - Magic thing. How come no one has any comments on the recently completed Disney Showcase that had both Magic and Sockers teams in it?
That's because Magic-Sockers is no longer a wothwhile rivalry...and hasn't been for quite a few years ..... ...That should get things going.
Right. Especially when you hire mediocre coaches, like your u14 for example, it won't be anything but a slaughter. This should get things going.
I don't know who you are talking about...but if you were talking about the guy Magic just hired...didn't he coach the Wind team at that age that upset Sockers last year in state cup before losing to a very good Naperville team?
Boards are just not the same without Soccerlad. He has gone into hiding. Anyway, as soon as Soccer America releases its standings, that should also get things going again. I think that Magic will be number 1 again, which will make them the top club in the nation for the third year running. I wonder what number the Sockers will be? Will they move up or down?
Yes. and the U14 being average is not down to the coaching. The best players are simply playing everywhere else.
A mediocre team got a mediocre coach. Number 1 club in the nation two years running should get better coaches. And this is the problem we have in youth development. A guy comes to a team with already good players and he becomes a good coach when in fact he is not good at all. He, then, moves around in the elite circle of teams and now becomes a legend. He may not have improved or developed a single player in his career.
The coach in question also picked up 2 key starters over the winter as new recruits, while his opponent in the State Cup lost 3 starters due to injury during the spring. Thus, the first coach was able to field a lineup that featured his best 8 field players from autumn + 2 new strong players, while the opposing coach had to field a lineup that featured the squad's #11, #12, and #13 field players, with only players #14 and #15 available as subs for what turned out to be a 90 minute match. Not commenting on either coach's performance. Just pointing out that there is a lot more to winning matches than either training or tactical preparation.
no Way!!! You mean to tell me that PLAYERS actually make a difference to the outcome of matches??!!!!??!?!
Excuses are like.... well I'm sure you know the rest of the quote...you can try to cloud up the story however you want, the bottom line is that his team won the game. I wonder if he will get some similar additions to his team this winter for his new group?!!?
No excuse. You offered one explanation -- that the losing team had the better players and the weaker coach, and that the winning team had weaker players and the better coach. I offered another explanation, which was that the talent level was about equal. (As was the match.) In truth, if any coach is to be credited for last year's State Cup results, it would have to be the coach of the actual State Cup champs. Unlike the teams that we are discussing, that team had zero Regional Pool ODP players, never mind Regional squad or National Pool players. So if we are to believe ODP, he did it primarily with mirrors.
Fantastic Comment So1mio - bravo. Here we are back to thinking about winning at U14 and yet the kids still need to be developed. This coach in the elite circle or that coach in the elite circle may in fact have done nothing to develop the players. In fact, he may have set the players back, by playing to win - NO SPECIFIC COACH IN MIND HERE FOLKS - commentary on any coach. Go back to the website for the French National team and see how their DOC says if before U16 he finds a coach trying to win games over develop his players that coached is fired immediately. Who screw cares what the U14s and U15s do, none of those kids have reached physiological manhood yet. We all know stories of great athletes who were late bloomers. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Currently the top clubs around the world who are famous for developing youth players document that only a handful of hundreds of young players that are identified ever make it all the way to the full professional team. These are players that are exposed to the very best coaching and world-class facilities. The important thing to note is that we really can’t begin to guess at a young player’s potential until they hit puberty and develop the complete muscular system. It has been stated by some of the top international coaches that the younger the player being identified the higher the probability of error occurs when judging ability. The top clubs all around the world for example, AJAX, Barcelona, AC Milan, Manchester United, Liverpool all sponsor youth development teams! These clubs aren’t keeping win/loss records or league standings until the players reach the U16 level. Look at the French Men’s National Team, eleven years ago they began similar programs throughout France, and in 1998 we witnessed first hand the benefits of these efforts. All in all, these programs share a common theme, prior to the U16 and some U17age, the coaches main responsibility is the development of the youth players; Non-Result Orientated Competition, a focus on Technical Refinement through small-sided play is the key to that process. Let's see which of those U14s and U15s make it to the Region II pool or the national team pool, then we'll know that somewhere along the line they had a steady stream of coaches who helped them develop.
Fortunately or unfortunately, this is one of the important idiosyncrasies people talk about when talking about American soccer. Americans believe in "the Law of the Scoreboard" - to quote John Maxwell. EVERYBODY already knows who's winning and who's losing. Tables and such don't matter. The kids know. Kids know their wrestling record backwards and forwards including their state and national ranking - on their own. So now they just don't care whether they are winning or losing in soccer? Maybe it has proven successful in other countries but I tried it for over 10 years. In the US of A, the "Law of the Scoreboard" prevails. And it will have to be incorporated into whatever development model we end up with.
That's the problem I have with soccer folks these days, especially with youth soccer folks. "Bottom line is that they won. End of the story." attitude that so many people have. This is one of the big reasons why US soccer is where it is in the world and why it is so boring to watch home-grown soccer.
Nah, that is just because you are a weak fan. You will watch a player playing in a Spanish youth side and decide he's a genius - so exciting. But when he plays for FC Delco or Dalls Texans, suddenly he's part of the problem with US Soccer.
Nah, never been impressed with Spainsh youth side that much. They have their own "advantages and disadvantages". Only genius kid I have seen plays for a SoCal team and he's white.
Ah Man!!! Damn you and your level headed well conceived posting! I was trying to inject some controversy in this thing.
First point. I'm sorry but they do keep win loss records. Maybe they don't publicize them, but they do keep them. Second point. This is exactly why the Magic should be ranked number one in the nation again. From the Region 2 webpage "Now in its fourth year of doing so, Soccer America will select the top 20 boys and girls clubs, based on success of their teams in national youth championships over the last three years and national recognition for players (including U.S. national youth team selections and US Youth Soccer ODP Interregional All-Stars) from these clubs in 2006." The Magic have done a fine job consistantly placing players into these pools. Again, I am a Magic parent so I bleed blue.
Slight change. Looked up Midwest Regional League and didn't find Sockers or Magic for Spring 2007 at U14-U16 (at least). Where are they playing this Spring and what is the website? Thanks.
??? Maybe I'm not reading this correctly. Both Sockers and Magic have teams in each of those age brackets in the Midwest Regional League. All are in the Premier League...maybe you were looking in the lower divisions. http://www.region2.com/MRL/news/Photos/Boys Premier Schedules 12-15-06.pdf
See the previous response. MRL is a must for the Illinois/Michigan teams at this age, because it offers 2 slots into Regionals, and the Illinois/Michigan State Cups are brutal. Last year, the #1 ranked U13 team in Region 2 and the #1 ranked U14 team in Region 2 each were knocked out in the Illinois State Cup semis. Without MRL, the U13 team was done for the year, but the U14 team had an automatic entrance into the Regional competition. SoCal needs something like this even more. As a general rule, every SoCal State Cup semifinalist is a national contender, and is better than 40+ State Cup champs. But as things stand now, only one team from SoCal advances to Regional competition.
What rankings do you refer to? I know the Got Soccer ones (selected tournaments only) anfd the NSR ( local "experts" doing those) are there other rankings out there?