Went to a youth tourney this weekend...................

.....what level were you watching exactly in the u16 bracket. Probably the lowest. I play u16(im 14), and everyone has great first touches, and has good technical/tactical skill. We can take on just about anyone with dribbling, but we pass more than 90% of the time. My coach really stresses a good first touch, but most of the time our passes are first touch. The funny thing is, my team isnt even premier. We are one step below premier. I think you were watching rec or challenge ball this weekend......

 

By more direct connection to pros we need more professional soccer on tv. MLS, Champions League, MFL,...etc. I learned so much just from watching what the "best" did in situations. Limited touches, creative moves through the midfield, and defensive tactics to prevent goal scoring oppurtunities, and that was just watching two matches a week.

 

No, it just depends on what tourney you're watching. The game is pretty equal everywhere...we all have good teams and bad teams.

 

He appears to be talking about the Plano Labor Day tournament which is probably one of the 4 best noninternational tournaments in the US.

I'll have to agree. I totally disagree that the best soccer is on the coasts. The best soccer in the US bar none is in Dallas. Its the toughest league and has some of the best clubs you will ever see. The Dallas Comets when I was playing were one of the few US eams that were as tactically advanced as the European teams we played (Torpedo Moscow, Bayern Munich, Nottingham Forest, etc). I always felt personally that the California teams played way too slow.

BTW in Dallas Cup u16 two consecutive years the Comets U16 club beat the U16 national team. Which is one hell of an accomplishment 8)

And before anyone tries to infer it. I didn't play in Dallas. I did play in the Plano Labor Day and Lake Highlands Thanksgiving tournaments there for about 8 years. I played for the Houston Texans and can say that out of all the teams we played nobody came close to the top 3 Dallas teams. This included the South California state champs (forget their name, but maybe NHB Blacks), La Jolla Nomads, New Mexico state champs (Alberquerque United), Colorado state champs (Littleton Bombers), the St Louis clubs (Busch, Pepsi, Scott Gallagher, and Johnny Mac), Varder (name?) from Michigan, or any of the other teams in the Southern Regionals.

BTW talentwise the best US team we ever played was IMO the Huntington Beach, but tactically and dealing with high pressure and quick games the teams from Dallas (Texans, Comets, Hornets, Titans, Storm) were a class above.

But I understand the poster. I'd doubt that there are 10 teams in the entire country at the u16 level that play a good team game. Its almost always athletics and individual skill that wins the games.

The problem isn't with touch IMO nor in having players with great vision (there are actually quite a few). The problem is that US teams DO NOT play good soccer off the ball. And we have trouble playing 1 touch combinations in anything other than a "give n go".

The result is that u16 teams too often give up the ball or have to result to dribbling to advance the ball.

BTW stylistically the differnece between Southern Regional soccer and Californias region appears to be that the Southern Region is much more physical and high pressure and the Californian teams seem to pressure less and take more touches. I'm sure some things have changed since I played but I can remember the difference from the two Pike's Peak tournaments and two International Friendship Cups of Denver that I played in.

 

Actually, the best soccer is played in my backyard.

 

No offense, but a player isn't going to see the faults in his teammates.

Agreed with the quality of the Plano tournament. I used to play in it, and there were absolutely no teams that just plain out sucked. The level of competition was great.

 

Hmmm, the U16 Boys group was predominantly Texas teams, with a smattering of teams from nearby states such as Louisiana, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Would seem a bit too local to qualify for top-4 honors.

But then again, maybe. At any rate, I don't dispute the notion that a representative sampling of "the nation's best youth soccer clubs" were in attendance, and that play was often too direct.

I was in Spain this summer and I had the pleasure of witnessing one of the top U10 youth teams in that country. Difference between those kids and even the very best U10 U.S. teams -

1) Far better first touch
2) Far better tactics

When I say "far better," I mean "I've seen the Disney 3 vs. 3 National Tournament and the worst touch among the Spanish kids was about as good as the best touch on the winning Disney team (which beat 200+ other entrants). I mean, this Spanish U10 team was about as good tactically as the best U12 team I've ever seen.

So I really mean, far better. Fortunately, the gap between our U10s and the Spanish U10s must shrink with age, because otherwise the U.S. Nationals would lose by 5 goals every time it played Spain!

Problem #1, First Touch - Too much direct longball in the States. While our little kids are winning games by "sending it" to the big fast guys to chase down, the Spanish are playing futsal and other small-field, short-passing games. Also, the Spanish kids will juggle endlessly in their spare time ... how many U.S. kids do you see doing that before a game? I rarely see U.S. kids juggling while waiting for a game. They might shoot and pass the ball around, but not juggle.

Problem #2, Tactics - Even at 10, the Spanish kids were running combination plays and rarely overdribbling. Beat one defender, move the ball, move to space, get ball back, etc. They freely moved the ball sideways and even backwards. Most U.S. teams are pretty much north-south.

My take -

1) We need more small-field games wherein breakaway strategies don't work. That way, skill has a chance to win, even at the early ages.

2) I don't know how, but somehow get our kids have got to be playing more soccer tennis, juggling, etc. Their touch isn't good enough, and formal practices alone ain't going to cut it for developing first touch.

3) Better coaching. There is too much tolerance for direct, north-south play, and for overdribbling. (I'm all for "ball hogs" who can really create opportunities by beating defenders and making passes through traffic, but most so-called ball hogs are rubbish players who dribble straight toward the opposing goal until they lose the ball.)

 

I had heard plano went from open to invitational, but they really have cut back on some teams. When I last played there we were U19 (didn't have U18 bracket then) and there were 8 brackets and every bracket had at least 2 teams that had placed in their state finals.

I see the U16s have teams from Mississippi, Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Texas, and North Texas as far as soccer states go. That isn't as big of a spread as it use to be. Surprised we aren't seeing any teams from Kansas City nor Atlanta.

I would place a bet that because they are invitational instead of open format that some entire clubs are not attending since only 5 of their 8 teams could get accepted. Or maybe some other big labor day tournaements are popping up.

Still when we would have basically a replay of the previous year's Southern Regional adding in a handful of out of region teams that were very good, the semifinals were 3-4 teams from Texas. That's just how deep the Dallas soccer league was.

 

Probably because juggling before a match could be the worst warmup ever. Agreed juggling will help thier touch, but doing it before a match isn't going to work.

With the rest of your points I totally agree, and I do think slowly but surely its changing. This summer I had the opportunity to be an assistant coach at the Texas A&M Soccer Camps, and we stressed the basics (1st touch, one touch passing, simple Roxboro Combos, etc.), as well as small sided games that didn't allow for the long ball to be played. We used these techniques from our youngest campers (8 year olds) to our oldest ones. Granted it could be a moot point if their respective coaches in their hometowns insist on using the long ball. But I do believe the change is coming.

 

Bad Warm-Up?

Hmmm, so when those Spanish kids did this and won 18-0 and then 10-0 against youth teams from other professional clubs, they did so despite a bad warm-up?

Hmmm, so when I see the Fire guys casually juggling and passing the ball to each other before their matches, that's a bad warm-up?

Well, I suppose it's one theory why the Fire are playing so poorly this year.

 

Long ball is very important. As important as the short pass.

Or as my Wolfgang Sunholtz use to say, "Short, Short, Short, LONG".

And still to this day a lot of the youth teams that play "good soccer" play this ugly despicable game that is short, short, short, short, short, short and the only time the point of attack changes is a cross. Its predictable and the best team in the world with that style is Mexico.

Or as Roy Rees said at halftime one game. "You have tried going around the outside and it didn't work. You have tried going through the middle it didn't work. We need you to start playing balls over the top. Then you will find space opening up on the wings and in front of the back 4."

The basic idea that the long ball opens up midfield based attacks and midfield based attacks in turn open up the longball. Its still very rare to see American teams actually vary how they try to attack though. And even rarer to see quick combinations in the offensive third to break down defenses.

 

So when these teams from Vardar (MI), the St Louis and Chicago clubs win national titles every year its because the coast teams didnt enter?

Soccer in the US is not played at the same level all over the country, the different regions all play with a different style, But Id say that right now the south region is lagging behind the other 3. Besides Texas, North Carolina and the Atlanta area of Georgia, the rest of the region has traditionally produced rather poor quality soccer. One poster earlier said that the south region plays more physical and high pressure. This is partly true, the south is known for playing physical and they do pressure the ball a lot. But a lot of this physical play is to make up for a lack of overall skill and usually turns out to be very ugly matches that can resemble rugby at times.

Right now the areas that are playing the best soccer are the Souther California area ( who I would say is clearly playing the best right now), the Chicago area, the Dallas area, the Washington DC area, the St. Louis area, and the Philadelphia area. They seem to play with the most attractive style, and if you look at our youth national team rosters, and our USYSA national championship teams are largely drawn from these areas

 

Its very hard to make conclusive deductions on what AREAS play the best soccer based on who wins national championships.

I remember a year in Houston where you could argue that 14 of the best 18 players in Houston all played for a certain team. That team won the national championship without much pressure really and may have had one of the most talented rosters ever at the U16 bracket.

However, its just because it was basically a city allstar team.

The team itself didn't play the greatest soccer, but frankly with Josh Henderson, Stephen Rodriguez (u16 national teamer), Eric Quill, Sean Thompson (went pro baseball), Brian Piesner, and a host of others they could rely on their players winning individual battles off the dribble and with foot speed. Interestingly enough Josh Henderson and Brian Piesner after winning the national title with the Texans moved to California and joined a team there that won the next year and now they both play on A-league teams.

Its the recruiting power of clubs that tend to win national titles and the same thing at the proranks (Real Madrid, Man U, Bayern Munich, etc). The top teams in California tend to have more skilled players because they have an enormously greater pool of players to pull from than most of the country as well as the benefit of having playable weather year round.

I'm also sure that when protrainers came in makes a big difference. Dallas had clubs getting good training 20 years ago and seemingly have developed a very strong league because of that whereas Houston has only had protraining about 12 years and Denver even less than that. I'd imagine LA and NY and a few other cities have had a full generation of good training as well and that makes a huge difference.

 

When saying the good teams in the southern region came from Texas, NC, and ATL...nobody mentioned Florida...they have probably the most skill in the south...and their elite club teams are very good....even compared to the best clubs in NC....I have seen tournaments...so I can say this(only for '87 and '86 though)

 

I think the soccer federations at the state and national levels are in agreement with this philosophy. My kid's youth league is trying to move to smaller fields and sides for most age groups. By smaller, I mean going down from 7 to a team on u9, 8 on u10 and u11, etc. I think they want to go w/out keepers until u9 or u10. I've even heard that the state federation is going to require this change from member clubs. They want to keep sides at 8 or less per team through u11 or 12, I believe.

Now, there is resistance. Scheduling is trickier, parents don't like that their "child isn't properly challenged;" or their kid can't compete in the all star tournament if all leagues don't have the same rule.

Interestingly, my daughter's travel team coach, who happens to be head of player development for the league, is putting less emphasis on winning for her team and more on skill and tactical development. The parents had to agree to this approach and resist the urge try to win at all costs. Basically, the long ball is approach is strongly discouraged by the coach and the girls are starting to come around (old habits are hard to break, though).

 

Actually Wanderer ACCURATE and timely long balls are as difficult. There are not that many Beckhams and Verons around (although in his prime I thought El Pipe had no equal).

One of the major weaknesses described by our former nat coach Steve in his paper a few years ago.(whatever you thought about him his paper on US weakneses was damn good)

1 v 1 though is still the toughest IMHO. and the most exciting.

 

Who was the Mississippi team? It had to be JFC.

 

Biggest orgazational type of change I'd like to see for the real young kids is making the goals shorter. I see a lot of goals that have been narrowed for young kids, but they're still often full height or at least close. The way it works out is that kids learn real young that the easiest way to score is just shoot for the top of the goal where none of the young goalies are big enough to reach. Considering this, the number of kids who can't seem to keep their shots low as they get older shouldn't really be a surprise.

Oh yeah, and any teams that don't play small-sided passing games during practice should be disbanded and their coaches burned at the stake. (just kidding, kinda)

More rambling before I stop...

No matter what we do with practices, we won't get more highly skilled players until we have more players who live with their soccer balls. Donovan has great ball skills because, as he admits, he went everywhere with a soccer ball. No matter how good practice sessions are run, no player will gain as much comfort and skill on the ball from 2-3 sessions per week as a kid who touches the ball for hours every day, and yes tons and tons of kids in many countries actually do spend that much time with the ball.

I've even grown up around a few Americans who do too, and these types of kids invariably have better ball skills than the kids who practice a few times a week and easily keep their eyes up when on the field. This difference often holds true even when the kids who play at practice only have decent coaching and the play every day types don't. It's really not that much of a secret formula, time with the ball=comfort with the ball. There are very few shortcuts.

 

True enough. Our living room, even though all four of our kids are gone, still has a soccer ball in it. Nostalgia? Don't know. Used to be kicked against a large blanket chest that is in the room.

And when they visit there's usually a soccer ball rattling around in their car's back seat or trunk.

 

Living With the Ball?

True enough. Although I despair less about this than I used to ... U.S. men who grew up with basketballs in their hands are getting their butts handed to them by Argentines and Yugoslavs who come from basketball backgrounds that are similar to what happens with U.S. youth soccer -- some street play, but supplemented with a strong emphasis on youth training and the club system.

I think our current youth development system can work, and will work, at making the U.S. National Team a world powerhouse. As long as we continue to sustain and enhance the current trends that I see in the U.S. youth system-- better coaching, more emphasis on technical skills and tactical sophistication, more opportunity for the top youths to get better competition and training, and a viable professional alternative (MLS, Project 40, European clubs, etc.) to college soccer.

 

I think the point about soccer on tv allowing kids the chance to learn from the pro's is worth repeating. Not everyone will have the time, money or access to a developmental team affiliated with a professional team and coaching staff. But the opportunity to watch the pro's is increasingly accessible. Not an MLS match goes by where I don't see something that makes me think "If I had known to do THAT when I was younger I'd be much better."

 

Carrying around a soccer ball is pretty tough without eventually losing a few.

Some alternatives for your youngsters:


A hackysack is good for eye foot coordination Cheaper is an old tennis ball. If your an inner city coach you can probably get some donations of tennis balls from private clubs or local courts.