2011 UNC Tarheels

Discussion in 'Women's College' started by UNC4EVER, Dec 15, 2010.

  1. Newfor2010

    Newfor2010 Member

    Jan 29, 2010
    Club:
    Asker FK
     
  2. Webster12

    Webster12 New Member

    Apr 12, 2011
    Club:
    Atlanta Beat
    Actually, I have at many times enjoyed reading South American's posts. Some are fairly insightful. What I have found annoying is the inability to be objective on Ohai. When I first read about her coming to UNC, I thought it was great. I read she was a superior ahtletic, but very humble. That makes a great team player. I would still like to believe that about her. But SA..really! I have followed your posts for some time. You have been very critical of other players, the coaching staff. One post you said Ohai must be regretting her decision to come to UNC because she was on the bench. Big deal! Many players sit on the bench. Sometimes coaches can motivate a player by doing so. I agree with another poster that she and Jones would have been well served to develope their left foot. I have seen many a player lose a great chance at a goal because they pause breifly to adjust their shot with the dominate foot. By dropping hints that two players are leaving does no one any good at all. Give it a rest. If Kealia stays next year, she could have a outstanding yeat. This was not one of her best years. But she has to share in that. You win as a team and you lose as a team.
     
  3. OnSecondThought

    OnSecondThought New Member

    Nov 23, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    GoCourage, just curious as to how you have all the details to every goal this season. How did you find this info?
     
  4. GoCourage

    GoCourage Member

    May 27, 2001
    Durham, NC
    You can find it on THB...

    http://www.tarheelblue.com/allaccess/
    Sport tab
    Women's Soccer

    Links to the goal videos... watch away.
     
  5. attackerp

    attackerp Member

    Nov 4, 2009
    Where would Ohai be going?

    I'm hearing other school transfers as well. Maybe someone should atart a rumor transfer thread.
     
  6. GoCourage

    GoCourage Member

    May 27, 2001
    Durham, NC
    And just to keep it real I decided to look at minutes played to see what big surprises 2011 had since there is an apparent truthiness floating around...

    First interesting surprise? Brigman averaged 92 minutes a game. More than any player since they started including the minutes played in the statistics, 2004-2011. Who is the company just below her at the top? Kendall Fletcher (91m), Rachel Givan (91m), and Kristi Eveland (90m). Obviously all of the OT matches played a part but that seems quite phenomenal to me for a player that was not heavily recruited.

    Next up in the 2011 list? ECH's walk-on Caitlin Ball (81m). She is 34th on this 2004-2011 list. No season had its 2nd (or 3rd) player so far down the list. It was probably also a watershed year trying to find fit defenders to start along side Brigman. Next up in a big clump... Crystal Dunn (38th, 78m), Amber Brooks (41st, 76m), Satara Murray (42nd, 75m), Meg Morris (44th, 74m), and Ranee Premji (46th, 74m).

    Ohai (53rd, 70m) and Jones (58th, 65m) followed. What kind of company was Ohai keeping in that spot with those minutes? Freshman campaign for Nikki Washington (73m) which also happened to be the highest average in her career and second highest ever (2004-2011) for a forward. Sophomore Jaime Gilbert holds has the highest average of any forward on record with 77m. Junior campaign for Heather O'Reilly (70m), and senior campaign for Lindsey Tarpley (68m) are close. Hea-O in her senior year averaged 65m. Casey in her senior year averaged 65m. Sophomore forward Whitney Engen averaged 64m.

    Here is the link to the google doc spreadsheet if anyone is interested in taking a trip down memory lane. Maybe it will bring back some good memories.
     
  7. Soccerhunter

    Soccerhunter Member+

    Sep 12, 2009
    Unfortunately, I have been preoccupied with personal family matters and have not been able to follow the Heels for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the Heels have apparently been defeated in the third round for the second year in a row.

    I applaud the effort that the players have made this year where it has been clear that things really didn't jell as well as both we fans and the players would have liked. I will agree with other posters that we had chemistry and coordination problems throughout the year. I have no inside information so I can't speak to specific player interactions and to various things that the coaching staff may have tried to implement. While, as I have said before, I am inclined to hold a coaching staff responsible for not only the technical preparation of the team, but also attending to its "chemistry" and its emotional preparation, in this case I also must respect the record of success of this coaching staff and have to believe that they haven't just suddenly lost their skills and insights and become coaching failures over the course of a couple of seasons. We need to take a longer view.

    I would specifically like to thank the players for their hustle and effort. You have supplied we fans with great pleasure... and thanks to Brittani Bartok for her Youtube channel - I hope that it can continue into next year!

    For those interested in the pursuit of more analysis and criticism of the 2011 season, I assume that you will continue on this thread to do so, but I do hope that it will be respectful and analytic rather then personal and tearing down.

    At this point in time, I am interested in looking forward to next season rather than re-hashing the last one. Consequently, for those who wish to, move on to a 2012 thread and pursue discussion of that we have to look forward to this next year!
     
  8. uncchamps2012

    uncchamps2012 Member

    Jul 9, 2011
    Let's all chill out about the 13-5-2 record this year. 7 overtime games. Lots of injuries, some new ones and some where the player was not full strength for a year or more.
    The thing I just can't figure out is why they didn't score this year. I think Jones, Dunn, and Ohai still played well. Ohai seems to have lost a little bit of speed, but I can't give any objective evidence. I just know that last year, she used to zip by people a bit more easily than this year.
    I don't understand how Meg Morris manages to get so many minutes. I understand the upsides- fast, aggressive, can take the ball forward. But, I also think she hurts the team a lot. She often overthrows on throw ins. Long passes are often too strong. Sometimes she turns the ball towards the goal on defense in risky spots. He runs forward with the ball are flashy and impressive in some ways, but how often do these runs actually result in good results? I think she would be better as a reserve midfielder or forward, where she can bring in some energy and speed off the bunch, but have less of a chance of hurting us.
    Lubrano needs more minutes- She always plays 150%, plays smart, tough as nails. A couple of her assists this year were balls she on on 50-50's and just pushed it forward for a breakaway for the striker.
    Ohai is a star. rough year for her. could quite get her goals, but of the goals she had this year, many of them were brilliant. show me a more impressive college goal than what she did against Ohio State. She had some other goals from impressive distances. the difference from last year is that she did not get the bread and butter opportunistic striker goals from 5 or 6 feet off a rebound. But then talent is there.
    Dunn is probably the best player in the country. Look at her when she has the ball. every time, she creates something, even when she gets the ball in her own defensive third. Again, it is hard to understand how she did not score more. She is so talented that it is hard to know where to play her. i am hoping that one of the freshmen can play striker so that the 2010 ACC Denfensive Player of the Year can play mid-field. She could be a Tobin Heath presence there.
    Brooks is phenomenal. Every ball is hers. no one beats her in the air. She gets fouls called on her where she didn't do anything wrong. She is simply stronger than her opponents, so sometimes when there is completely legal contact, the other player falls awkwardly and they call her for a foul. She needs to chill out though on the dissent, even though she is most often right. All of the dissent is just not the way UNC usually plays. It doesn't look classy, which is what UNC is all about, win or lose.
    Rich will have a break out year in 2012- look for her to have at least 10 goals and a bunch of assists.
    and hopefully this #1 ranked GK will be a major upgrade. hats off to the GK's for their efforts this year, but we have just been weak in goal comparatively for a couple of years now. I remember when UNC beat MSU in Texas in 2010 at the beginning of the year with Seiloff having a shut out with some great saves that I thought UNC was set in GK for a few years. She just has not lived up to that expectation yet.
    Premji- She is a hard worker and a smart player. She had some particularly good games early in the season. But, ultimately, we need a attacking MF who has a little more pizzaz- who can be a threat to shoot from distance, who can be a factor in the air, and who can put away the things close up. Great player, like a lot about her- -- just don't see her as typical UNC starter material.
    Jones will be missed- always loved the way she played...another one who got called for fouls simply for being strong, even when she did nothing illegal. Hope she gets a look for US WNT at some point.
     
  9. Heeldoc

    Heeldoc Member

    Oct 9, 2011
    According to AD, Morris had a bad knee all season. Jones, apparently, also battled injuries. Both gutted it out.
     
  10. Heeldoc

    Heeldoc Member

    Oct 9, 2011
    I should add that while AD did mention Morris' injury early in the season, I don't know for sure about Jones' injuries. I thought she was sick or possibly hurt when she stopped kicking corner kicks, but she seemed to recover at the end of the season and was always a catalyst and a leader for the offense--a dangerous, championship player for UNC.
     
  11. worthyofbeing1

    Oct 23, 2011
    Why didnt Kat Nigro play all year?

    Nothing will change with UNC until they find a elite attacking midfielder.

    They need to build a team around Crystal Dunn, Megan Brigman and Amber Brooks. Everyone else should be replaceable.
     
  12. Lorrie Fair

    Lorrie Fair Member

    Jul 31, 2010
    They need a elite goal scorer.

    Every team UNC has had a go to player besides this season.

    Kealia Ohai is suppose to be that player. She went backwards. People will blame Anson and the midfield. Fact is she didnt get better in the offseason.

    Courtney Jones was suppose to be a leader and someone that could score a lot goals. She didnt lead or score very much.

    A lot players of the current team regressed instead of gotten better. Call it injuries or lack fitness. Your players can't get worse when your playing in a conference like the ACC.
     
  13. richmondD15

    richmondD15 Member

    Oct 22, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    Nigro injured her ankle in the warmups for the Houston game. Was supposed to be out for about 3 weeks, so I'm guessing she didn't heal as quick as the training staff initially diagnosed
     
  14. giggs4ever1

    giggs4ever1 New Member

    May 31, 2011
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Being an avid college soccer fan and watching the Tarheels from a distance, along with other elite teams in the NCAA, it is apparent to me that the Tarheels relied far to much on individual play rather than team play which hurt the team on the offensive side of the ball and was ultimately their downfall.

    As good a player as Dunn, Ohai and Jones might be (not everyone in the NCAA is convinced of this) how many times did they dribble into traffic, try to take on multiple defenders while disregarding team mates who were open, shoot from impossible angles, or make poor pases in the those rare instances when they actually did release the ball. All of the above almost always led to giving up posession. The decision making ability of these players for supposed elite players was very noticeable and against the good teams this was exposed time and again. Opposing teams were quick to shut down these players by double teaming them with little fear that they would find the open player. With the exception of Dunn the technical ability of Ohai and Jones (first touch, passing, receiving, shielding, etc.) is average at best.

    If these players have any ambition to play at the international level or WPS they better change their ways (assuming they are capable of doing that) as coaches at the post college level have limited tolerance for players who consistently turn over the ball under the limited substitution rules that they are bound by.

    AD's consistent critique that the team's overall fitness level was sub par seems odd in many ways:

    Has the program changed?
    Is the entire team injured and unable to participate in conditioning sessions?
    Are the UNC players fitness levels that much lower than other teams?

    This is all unlikely.

    Could it be that the game has evolved (opposing players are more technically sound, defensive schemes are more sophisticated, etc.) to a point where athelticism alone does not cut it and NO team is capable of playing a high tempo game effectively even with the relaxed NCAA substitution rules when players are consistently losing posession and the team is expending tremendous energy defending.

    Teams like Stanford (and Notre Dame last year) have figured this out and are employing a posession style of play and recruiting soccer players first and foremost that can fit into their system of team play.
     
  15. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    To me, the outsider, this is all much ado about nothing. The talent was there, the coaching was there.

    What happened was simple. You had no goalkeeping. This was a gap year at the position that 99% of the time would've been covered competently all season by Daly. Her first game injury completely wrecked UNC's season. All the formation issues and player confusion issues came from a desperate need to protect the two players who ended up shouldering the position.

    Shit happens. Daly's injury was a worst-case scenario.

    Y'all will be fine next year.
     
  16. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    i don't think she's uswnt quality. she has not developed as a player in the last year or so. seems to me she'd find difficulty even making a wps team (if there's wps this year).
     
  17. paltrysum

    paltrysum Member

    May 19, 2010
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Possession-style soccer will outwit "high-tempo" soccer with astounding consistency. I have no idea what the context of Dorrance's fitness critique was but if his players are out of shape, that's his fault.

    The simple truth is you can't be in good enough shape to run all out for 90 minutes. If you're getting out possessed of the ball, that's what you're doing: chasing, running, pressuring, all while your opponent is playing keep away with you and making you waste your energy. Not sure why he doesn't recognize this and start coaching it. Perhaps he likes being a unique snowflake. Maybe he doesn't think he can coach it.

    Whatever the reason, his resistance to playing the game the way smarter teams are playing it is just enabling other programs to pass his by.
     
  18. GoCourage

    GoCourage Member

    May 27, 2001
    Durham, NC
    Maybe because you haven't coached 20 teams to national championships? Maybe that is the context? You think? Maybe?

    Amazing! Did you even bother to read the post about minutes played by UNC players historically? With a statement like that... says all you have is an agenda without a basis in reality.

    Maybe you just didn't bother following along this season and want to spout some unrealistic diatribe based on your own personal agenda? That's sort of what it sounds like to me.

    Did you even bother to watch the UNC season progress this season or are YOU just stuck in your ways and opinions. Even some of the die-hard haters recognized the move to the 4-4-2. As awesome as YOU are, I'd be willing to bet very few programs could just transition over one season. I think what a lot of people, even on these boards recognize is that, that transition requires players who can learn and/or play that style of soccer.
     
  19. Tom81

    Tom81 Member+

    Jan 25, 2008
    Any other program in the country would be ecstatic to call what UNC did, or did not do, this year, their worst season ever!

    Methinks the death of UNC soccer and the Anson Dorrance model is a bit premature!

    Not many would be shocked with UNC returning to the CC next year and winning it!

    Winning the way UNC and AD have done, certainly breeds a sense of inevitablility that leads to a cliff jumper mentality, where it is in no way justified.


    While I (FSU) want to beat UNC; I am not foolish enough to believe in their downfall!
     
  20. David

    David Member

    Jun 2, 2000
    I have followed Duke and UNC Women's soccer for many years (though a graduate of both schools, I now shade a darker blue). As I wrote an assessment of the quality of the Duke defense this year on one of the other messages, I realized I couldn't say the same things about UNC this year. It brings me back to 2002 when UNC had an outstanding overall team, but Aly Winget came in at goal to replace an injured Branham. UNC lost in the semifinals that year, but Winget was criticized throughout the year (unfairly I thought) for not being Branham. What I noticed then was that Winget was facing an unprecedented number of shots compared to prior keepers. In addition, my impression was that UNC no longer had the appearance of their opponents always being a man-down. I came up with a quirky UNC-specific metric that no other team could even consider: goals scored/opponents corners taken. The measure made sense to me as one of "team dominance" because the numerator is an offensive measure (goals) while the denominator reflects not only your ability to defend (prevent corners) but also is a function of how much you keep the ball in the offensive end.

    UNC has what seems an unbelievable ratio>1 (more goals scored than opponents corners taken), but not in 2002 or 2011. UNC was over 1.0 in all years other than in 2002 (0.67) and 2011 (0.92). But, even at the current lowest UNC ratio of 0.67 over the past 10y, they still compare favorably to this years' College Cup teams.

    Goals scored/opponent corners taken
    Duke Stan Wake FSU
    0.56 1.20 0.46 0.63
    0.49 1.16 0.40 0.56
    0.31 1.63 0.65 0.75

    In the past 10y, other things stick out: 2002 and 2011 showed the highest Opponent shots/game over the past 10y, the highest Opponent shots on goal/game, and the two highest opponent corners taken/game. Yet, the 2002 team and the 2011 were vastly different: the 2002 team was loaded with talent, put shots on goal, and scored. The current team had both the lowest goals/game, lowest shots taken, and lowest shots on goal over the past 10y. Nonetheless, in between these seemingly oddly paired bookend years, there has been no significant trend up or down in UNC Goals or opponent Goals, Opponent shots on goal, opp corners taken, or UNC goals/opp corner taken.

    So, for me, looking backward I have to think this past year seems to be an aberrancy. I certainly don't know "why" this happened, I just know that the lack of dominance did happen both from watching the games and the statistics. I can't predict the future. By UNC standards, the low goals/opponents corners taken may mean that their opponents had the ball in their offensive third more (and that is reflected in the higher number of opponent shots/game). Nonetheless, for all the opponents shots taken, the opponents this year didn't score a lot more goals than in prior years. Maybe, my initial impression that the UNC defense was lacking is in error (as I believe it was for many in 2002) and that the problem this year was that they were under more pressure because they didn't spend enough time in the UNC offensive third? In other words, lack of sustained possession in the offensive third put the defense under more pressure.

    Columns represent Year from 2011 descending to 2002, games played, UNC goal/g, Opp goal/g, UNC shot/g, Opp shot/g, UNC shot on goal/g, Opp shot on goal/g, UNC corner taken/g, Opp corner taken/g, UNC goals scored/opp corners taken.

    2011 20 2.2 0.8 16.1 9.9 6.7 4.3 7.5 3.3 0.67
    2010 24 3.0 1.0 18.3 6.5 9.4 3.3 7.5 2.3 1.35
    2009 27 2.3 0.4 20.2 6.6 9.0 2.4 7.3 2.3 1.00
    2008 28 3.2 0.6 21.3 6.8 10.1 3.0 6.6 1.8 1.82
    2007 24 2.3 0.6 19.7 5.5 9.3 2.8 8.9 2.3 1.04
    2006 28 2.9 0.5 19.7 5.9 9.4 2.6 5.9 1.8 1.59
    2005 25 3.6 0.6 23.6 6.0 12.4 2.7 7.3 1.5 2.37
    2004 23 3.0 0.6 21.5 5.7 9.8 2.9 8.1 2.8 1.05
    2003 27 4.2 0.4 23.2 6.3 11.4 3.1 7.8 2.6 1.59
    2002 27 3.1 0.7 21.1 8.5 10.0 4.0 7.6 3.4 0.92
     
  21. OnSecondThought

    OnSecondThought New Member

    Nov 23, 2011
    Club:
    --other--

    Actually, it was a move to the 4-2-3-1. Anyways, towards the end of the season, he would start games in the 3-4-3, then when the reserves came in he would change to a 4-2-3-1. It was a transition and definitely a move in the right direction. it showed that there is SOME flexibility.. but that flexibility is minimal at best. Flip flopping between formations during a game is not the best way to learn a new formation. Especially when the majority of the time the 4-2-3-1 was played by mostly reserves. If you want to implement a new formation, then you either implement it or don't.

    The BEST players can play ANY style of soccer. Of course certain style(s) would fit them better. And of course production rates may be slightly higher or lower depending on the formation. But REAL soccer players, not athletes, will have the soccer intelligence to play multiple formations. Is it ambitious to say that this could be done over one season? Maybe. But do I think that UNC should have been MUCH more productive? Absolutely! If this team is full of the all stars, national caliber players, etc. then regardless of the formation, they should have shown up when they needed to most. And if at the end of the day those real soccer players (this years roster?? questionable) cannot effectively play the new formation, then it all comes down to coaching.
     
  22. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    David, in your first table, I don't get what the three numbers are. Could you explain?
     
  23. David

    David Member

    Jun 2, 2000
    The first table are the goals scored over the entire season/total number of corner kicks taken by the opponents of this years' College Cup teams. I was trying to show this parameter for the current College Cup participants compared to this year's UNC team, and against UNC's historical average (the last column in the bottom row; easier to see UNC's trend if you paste into Excel and convert to columns). 2002 and 2011 were aberrant years for UNC, but aberrant only in the sense that they were "normal" compared to some other good teams. When I think about it, it's at least darn impressive (ie, dominance) to score more goals over the course of a season than the number of corners you allow, because the first requirement for a corner is that your opponent must get the ball into their offensive third. So, you are dominating both in a) not allowing the ball iinto your defensive third, and/or b) not conceding corners when your opponent gets there in order to have a ratio>1. I've not looked at this stat for other "dominant teams', but I bet it holds. My guess is that it's more of a function of your opponents' ability to win balls from you, possess, and get into your defensive third-- the stats support that with more shots/g by UNC's opponents in 2002 and 2011. When UNC with 3 in the back cannot possess the ball in the attack, their defense will need to endure more pressure than other teams--that doesn't make the defense bad, but just means they have more pressure.
     
  24. GoCourage

    GoCourage Member

    May 27, 2001
    Durham, NC
    Thanks for the clarification about the formation they were moving to. Looking at the personnel, e.g. starting the Wake, BC, VT, Maryland and FSU games were Brigman, Ball, Murray, and Morris. Was this their 4-back defense of subs? To me that is 2 outside backs, Morris and Murray, and 2 inside defenders, Brigman and Ball. Do you disagree? This was the line-up, up until the NCAA tournament. My belief is the adjustment was made to go back to a 3-back for the NCAA tournament as a starting formation. Do you disagree?

    I do think Soccerhunter had a point to me that Anson is far too competitive to rely on the 4-back, that was having reasonable but limited success heading into the NCAA tournament. I don't know if SH had some inside information to suggest that, but seeing the W&M line-up made me smile to think back to the statement.

    I don't disagree with anything you've said. You've done a nice job of qualifying your statements. I agree that the BEST players can probably play any style. I would put players like Chalupa, Tarpley, O'Reilly, Heath, and Nogs in that category. They could use either foot and create opportunities for their teammates regardless of the system. It has been pointed out throughout this thread some of the deficiencies of several player's repertoires that have not been addressed related to that. If you have a roster of players who you've recruited because of their ability to play your vision of a 3-4-3 (regardless of soccer skills) it is probably not so likely that anyone is going to be able to make them possession players overnight (or even at all).

    Are we in agreement that UNC does necessarily get the best players anymore? We definitely know they have some players who we expect to be coached into very effective cogs in the system (based on Anson's own admission). If that's the case you aren't left with an abundance of players who can play ANY style. If I also base my opinion on the lack of young forwards and midfielders on the WNT, I would say there are very few players in college, generally, who would have the combination of skills and genes to be that flexible.

    Yup, soccer intelligence to play multiple formations, but are they going to have the physical capabilities and mental fortitude to bust their butt for 65 minutes as a UNC forward in the 3-4-3, where they were expected to track back and play high-pressure defense the entire time they are in? Have a look at Casey Nogueira's minutes her freshman season if you don't see what I'm talking about. It wasn't just a matter of just reading the game in the UNC system.

    I think your post was quite fair. I'm not sure the antagonists are going to be happy with that.
     
  25. OnSecondThought

    OnSecondThought New Member

    Nov 23, 2011
    Club:
    --other--
    I definitely don't consider that to be a back line of subs. I guess my main point was that there were few games where the entire team played both formations. There were also some starters that played the 4-2-3-1 in midfield/forward positions. I was not trying to make an absolute statement that the 3-4-3 consisted of only starters and the 4-2-3-1 consisted of only reserves. I was trying to point out the disconnect between the two. That not everyone played both formations, which led to some confusion IMO. It was obvious that the players were not always connected on the field.

    Of course Anson wanted to come out in full attacking force for the NCAA games. I do not disagree. But there was a point in the middle of the season where the majority of goals were scored in the 4-2-3-1 and only one or two goals were scored in the 3-4-3. This shows that there was a time where good, solid, productive attacks were formed in this formation. And as shown by France in the world cup this past summer, the 4-2-3-1 is not a non-attacking formation by any means. When done right, I believe both formations can be equally as effective in scoring goals. The 3-4-3 is more effective in beating teams by a larger margin. But the 4-2-3-1 is better at creative, varying attacks, coupled with the defensive security.

    I agree that UNC does not get the best players anymore. But I think that is partially due to the type of players that they are recruiting. There are different types of players that they simply do not pursue. There are other players equally as good that do not fit in to the traditional UNC recruit. I personally think that the possession style takes a relatively high level of technical ability. I'm sure I will be criticized for saying this, but if you do not have those skills by the time you get to college, the chances you will develop them are very slim. It starts by recruiting versatile players that are intelligent, skilled, and relatively athletic.

    I don't think there are very few players that have the combination of genes and skills to be that flexible. Of course there are going to be very few players that can hold a track record and have the skills of Messi. But I do not think you need to recruit the fastest, strongest, or biggest. I just think you need to recruit skilled players that are fast enough, strong enough, and big enough. Does that mean there is not a place for the fastest, strongest, or biggest? No, there definitely is a place for them. But you cannot have a team full of them and expect to be successful. All of the successful UNC teams in the past had a good balance of both.

    The reality is, the athletically gifted ones, more often than not, have little skill. That is because growing up they can get away with using their athleticism to beat opponents that have no skill or athleticism. If you look at Barcelona, they are not the biggest or fastest guys in all of professional soccer, but they use their skill and hold the ball the majority of the time. They let the ball do the work for them, which IMO is rare inAmerican women's soccer.

    Barcelona and Arsenal are two teams known for their passing capabilities. And two teams that Anson watches religiously, and takes drills from for the team to use. Sadly, you can't take a bunch of track stars and expect them to be Messi's, Villa's, Van Persie's, Walcott's, etc.
     

Share This Page