All threads are temporary. This one's about soccer.

[wlu_lax6]

Ah the Neymar & Messi will have to play in a different league if you leave Spain political play.
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014/10 ... dependence" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[degenerasian]

I recall that some of you teach kids soccer?

The Canadian Soccer Association released the first of the three Coach’s Tool Kits intended to guide Youth Coaches across the country. I’ve only skimmed through it but it looks good so far. It is very straightforward and will be really useful for coaches that are new to the sport.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/files/Canad ... 141006.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[P.D.X.]

I recall that some of you teach kids soccer?

The Canadian Soccer Association released the first of the three Coach’s Tool Kits intended to guide Youth Coaches across the country. I’ve only skimmed through it but it looks good so far. It is very straightforward and will be really useful for coaches that are new to the sport.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/files/Canad ... 141006.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Canadian soccer training methods. Surefire path to success!

[The Sybian]

I recall that some of you teach kids soccer?

The Canadian Soccer Association released the first of the three Coach’s Tool Kits intended to guide Youth Coaches across the country. I’ve only skimmed through it but it looks good so far. It is very straightforward and will be really useful for coaches that are new to the sport.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/files/Canad ... 141006.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, I'll have to check this out. I grew up with the Weil Coerver method. Even trained with the old bag of bones at a soccer camp. He was about 70, looked like a walking skeleton in a track suit, screaming at us incomprehensibly. I tried some basic Coerver drills, and it was a huge failure. As I said, most of my team have never played before.

For those who may be wondering, Coerver method is simple drills that teach ball control and the basis of most fakes.

[wlu_lax6]

I recall that some of you teach kids soccer?

The Canadian Soccer Association released the first of the three Coach’s Tool Kits intended to guide Youth Coaches across the country. I’ve only skimmed through it but it looks good so far. It is very straightforward and will be really useful for coaches that are new to the sport.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/files/Canad ... 141006.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, I'll have to check this out. I grew up with the Weil Coerver method. Even trained with the old bag of bones at a soccer camp. He was about 70, looked like a walking skeleton in a track suit, screaming at us incomprehensibly. I tried some basic Coerver drills, and it was a huge failure. As I said, most of my team have never played before.

For those who may be wondering, Coerver method is simple drills that teach ball control and the basis of most fakes.

We did Coerver..Lots of stepovers, pullbacks, and rolling the ball left, right, back and forward

[degenerasian]

The Australian A-League opened this weekend. It's one of my favorite leagues to watch because they play late night Friday, Saturday our time zone and the play is quite physical and exciting. Similar style to MLS.

My favorite part is that they put the mics very close to the action and you can pick up the players playing everything. And the commentators play off it.

"What fucking game are you watching ref!"

commentator "Something said by everyone all over the world"

"Where my fucking goalscorer in the box?"

commentator "He's not buying his striker dinner tonight"

[Sabo]

Jonas Gutierrez is awesome.

[Pruitt]

Jonas Gutierrez is awesome.

That he is.

In more mundane news, Canada lost 1-0 to Colombia last night in a game played, where else?, Red Bull Arena.

I watched a bit of the match and was amazed to learn that two of Canada's starters are currently unaffiliated with ANY team. Not the MLS, not the NASL, not even the lower rungs of the Kazakhstan Premier League.

I just turned 50 recently... I have almost no hope that Canada will return to the World Cup in my lifetime.

[degenerasian]

Losing 1-0 on a James Rodriquez wonder goal is pretty good. I thought Canada at least played with some structure.
The new Spanish coach will hopefully put some organization into the program. Canada is not bad at youth level (qualified for 5 out of the last 9 U-20 World Cups) but somewhere between U20 and senior level there is a disconnect.

[Nonlinear FC]

I recall that some of you teach kids soccer?

The Canadian Soccer Association released the first of the three Coach’s Tool Kits intended to guide Youth Coaches across the country. I’ve only skimmed through it but it looks good so far. It is very straightforward and will be really useful for coaches that are new to the sport.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/files/Canad ... 141006.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, I'll have to check this out. I grew up with the Weil Coerver method. Even trained with the old bag of bones at a soccer camp. He was about 70, looked like a walking skeleton in a track suit, screaming at us incomprehensibly. I tried some basic Coerver drills, and it was a huge failure. As I said, most of my team have never played before.

For those who may be wondering, Coerver method is simple drills that teach ball control and the basis of most fakes.

We did Coerver..Lots of stepovers, pullbacks, and rolling the ball left, right, back and forward

Coerver is very good and it's what I've used for my travel teams. The "issue" is that some coaches don't move past Coerver and teach their kids tactics and situational awareness.

Part of this comes down to a fundamental flaw in America (and presumably Canada) where a lot of youth soccer coaches' first introduction to the game is by being shoved into volunteering to coach their own kid. Hell, even if you've played the game at a "higher" level in America (and presumably Canada) you likely aren't very knowledgeable unless you've gone out of your way to actually study how to coach it.

Put it this way, I spent two years in college being "coached" by the schools head lacrosse coach. When he was replaced, they brought in a "soccer guy" who was convinced that a guy below me was automatically better in goal because he was taller. (This proved one of his fatal decisions, as he was fired after one season for this type of incompetent decision making.)

The US is slowly moving toward an academy approach where starting from almost the beginning, kids with talent are being coached professionally. But we're still miles and miles away from traditional powers on this front.

[The Sybian]

Coerver is very good and it's what I've used for my travel teams. The "issue" is that some coaches don't move past Coerver and teach their kids tactics and situational awareness. Part of this comes down to a fundamental flaw in America (and presumably Canada) where a lot of youth soccer coaches' first introduction to the game is by being shoved into volunteering to coach their own kid. Hell, even if you've played the game at a "higher" level in America (and presumably Canada) you likely aren't very knowledgeable unless you've gone out of your way to actually study how to coach it.

That perfectly describes my development description. My travel team was coached by a parent until 4th or 5th grade. I will say the guy knew the game pretty well, but nowhere near where a professional today would. After that, we got a professional coach who was a high school legend, played at a great college program, and coached us and an area high school team. He was a great guy, and probably about 24 or 25 when he started. He knew the game, but had no coaching experience. We did a lot of Coerver and good drills, but there was no attempt to connect these drills to the game. Not having soccer on TV hurt tremendously. So much of what I learned as a kid all fell into place when I started watching top flight Euro leagues. I know I would have been a much better player if I grew up watching soccer. I even see it in a couple of kids I am coaching. Two kids on my team have never played before, but started watching EPL games. One kid in particular just gets it. He moves into position for passes, last week he learned to stop, pull the ball back from a defender, and switch directions. I was shocked, and he said he saw a player do that on TV, so he started to practice doing it.

[Nonlinear FC]

Coerver is very good and it's what I've used for my travel teams. The "issue" is that some coaches don't move past Coerver and teach their kids tactics and situational awareness. Part of this comes down to a fundamental flaw in America (and presumably Canada) where a lot of youth soccer coaches' first introduction to the game is by being shoved into volunteering to coach their own kid. Hell, even if you've played the game at a "higher" level in America (and presumably Canada) you likely aren't very knowledgeable unless you've gone out of your way to actually study how to coach it.

That perfectly describes my development description. My travel team was coached by a parent until 4th or 5th grade. I will say the guy knew the game pretty well, but nowhere near where a professional today would. After that, we got a professional coach who was a high school legend, played at a great college program, and coached us and an area high school team. He was a great guy, and probably about 24 or 25 when he started. He knew the game, but had no coaching experience. We did a lot of Coerver and good drills, but there was no attempt to connect these drills to the game. Not having soccer on TV hurt tremendously. So much of what I learned as a kid all fell into place when I started watching top flight Euro leagues. I know I would have been a much better player if I grew up watching soccer. I even see it in a couple of kids I am coaching. Two kids on my team have never played before, but started watching EPL games. One kid in particular just gets it. He moves into position for passes, last week he learned to stop, pull the ball back from a defender, and switch directions. I was shocked, and he said he saw a player do that on TV, so he started to practice doing it.

I don't care if we're in an echo chamber, this stuff is what a lot of folks don't understand.

When I read the same stupid articles about how we have tens of millions of kids playing soccer, but we still aren't dominating... Or that the problem is that "all the best athletes play football and basketball"... it drives me nuts.

The fundamental problem, is that in other sports, you have tons and tons of "expert" youth coaches. They had quality coaches in football and basketball (to a lesser extent baseball). So yes you have parent/volunteer coaches at the grassroots level, but they know their shit.

This is changing over time. My girls team, where myself and another dad volunteer our time, is in the 5th Division of WAGS. Last season we were the ONLY team in our division coached by non-professionals. (We went undefeated and earned promotion... we know what the fuck we're doing.) We are the anomaly these days. That means all these kids are going to grow up having had professional/expert teachers...

Multiply that out across the country and the next generation of "hey, you played soccer... wanna coach the team your kid is on?" are going to be VERY different than this current crop, to say nothing of when I was first starting out. Even on a travel team in Ann Arbor, that batches of coaches had no idea what they were doing.

[wlu_lax6]

Wow Garber taking a shot at Jurgen today. Good for him. Needed to be said...but he also needs to take his criticism too.

[DC47]

I coached my daughter's team up until U10. I thought it was obvious that the pros would do a much better job at that point, because they would understand a more sophisticated game. I've been disappointed in the results.

Counting all-star teams and school teams, she's played for 10 or so professional coaches, from South America and Europe as well as the USA. Most of them have strong resumes; three have won national titles. But I am left with the increasingly strong belief that structural forces made it pretty much impossible for these coaches to teach "good soccer."

There's considerable career pressure that focuses coaches on short-term results. That means a coach takes a chance if he or she tries to play possession soccer rather than some version of kick-and-chase. Results are more assured with the latter, especially if you have the right players. And because this is a successful strategy, the right players for kick-and-chase stay in the game and advance. The players who would thrive in the possession format but lack the speed and/or power to do well in kick-and-chase tend to fall by the wayside.

The result is that almost every soccer game I see on the girls side is pretty boring. And these are typically teams that are in the top 10 in their midwestern states. Successful teams. Coached by men (almost always) with serious soccer pedigrees. But games that even in perfect weather on manicured fields, are simply track meets and turnover-fests. Games where many minutes can go by without a single sequence of three passes that connect. Games that make me regret all those afternoons on the practice field, trying to teach young girls how to control that unruly soccer ball. I thought that I was instilling basic skills that would pay off for the girls later, when the game would become more than size and speed. Having now seen those 4 year olds reach their senior years in high school, I'd have to say that I grossly over-estimated how much anything I was teaching -- at least the part that was explicitly about soccer -- would ever matter.

I've come to a sad conclusion about the game. Perhaps the structural conditions of American youth soccer make this the wrong sport to play for those who, paradoxically, love the way soccer can be played by those who really get the nature of the game.

[Nonlinear FC]

Wow Garber taking a shot at Jurgen today. Good for him. Needed to be said...but he also needs to take his criticism too.

Ultimately, Garber showed his hand throwing in the stuff about corporate sponsorships. What Klinsmann is saying is bad for business. I mean, it's absolutely a no brainer what he's saying, to the point of STFU already. Yes, on paper, playing in Europe is better than playing in MLS.

Now, where that starts to break down is when you look at each of those cases individually... Landon, we now learn, battles depression. All along he alluded to this. He was miserable over there, most likely because he relies on a network of support which includes familiar and relatively controllable surroundings.

Bradley and Dempsey were both at big clubs where it was clear they weren't going to get playing time and, according to their agents, the offers from respective MLS clubs were by far the best on the table.

Is Jozy better off at Sunderland, or would he have been better off just staying in Holland?

Again, I'm not saying JK is "wrong" in terms of the big picture. But I really don't like how he's calling people out publicly, and he's simply ignoring the real life situations and decisions these adult men have to make.

[Pruitt]

Just when you didn't think FIFA could be any sleazier...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... al-reasons

So FIFA won't release the report about the bidding process that led up to awarding the world cups to Russia and Qatar because, according to Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chair of the adjudicatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee...

“Publishing the report in full would actually put the Fifa ethics committee and Fifa itself in a very difficult situation legally,

So instead, he will release a heavily redacted summary in 3-5 weeks.

Just wow.

[govmentchedda]

Have any of the big name transfers out of Southhampton done anything yet this year?

Mauricio Pocchetino - Tottenham sit in 9th place, three points from third, three points from 17th (probably about what is expected of them)
Luke Shaw - initial fitness concerns from Van Gaal, and he's not looked good in any ManU game I've seen this year
Adam Lallana
Dejan Lovren
Calum Chambers - has not looked good at all in the Arsenal games I've seen this year.
Rickie Lambert

[The Sybian]

Have any of the big name transfers out of Southhampton done anything yet this year?

Mauricio Pocchetino - Tottenham sit in 9th place, three points from third, three points from 17th (probably about what is expected of them)
Luke Shaw - initial fitness concerns from Van Gaal, and he's not looked good in any ManU game I've seen this year
Adam Lallana
Dejan Lovren
Calum Chambers - has not looked good at all in the Arsenal games I've seen this year.
Rickie Lambert

I think Chambers has been solid. Not great, but considering he was thrown in out of position, he doing well. I think he shows a ton of promise.

Been meaning to concede my debate with Degen. I have been extremely impressed and surprised by Southhampton. Degen tried to tell us...

[degenerasian]

Have any of the big name transfers out of Southhampton done anything yet this year?

Mauricio Pocchetino - Tottenham sit in 9th place, three points from third, three points from 17th (probably about what is expected of them)
Luke Shaw - initial fitness concerns from Van Gaal, and he's not looked good in any ManU game I've seen this year
Adam Lallana
Dejan Lovren
Calum Chambers - has not looked good at all in the Arsenal games I've seen this year.
Rickie Lambert

I think Chambers has been solid. Not great, but considering he was thrown in out of position, he doing well. I think he shows a ton of promise.

Been meaning to concede my debate with Degen. I have been extremely impressed and surprised by Southhampton. Degen tried to tell us...

I'm surprised too, thought they would be around 10th, 11th.

Southampton definitely sold high. But even with all the panic and the newspaper deadlines of impending doom, some forget that they did not sell the spine of the team. Fonte, Rodriguez and Schneiderlin. Schneiderlin controls everything in that midfield. Without him they'd be relegation bound.

There have been surprises definitely, like Yoshida filling in the shoes of Lovren. And the signings have worked: Tadic has taken the Lallana spot, Bertrand has taken over the Shaw spot and Pelle has taken over the Lambert spot.

And Rodriguez hasn't even played yet.

But the big change is coach Ronald Koeman. He's the anti Big Sam. He will play the same way whether up 2-0 or down 0-2. Attack attack attack. A reporter asked him about running up the score and he said he made 3 subs after 4-0 but those players were even hungrier than the starters!

[The Sybian]

Happy Birthday, Arsene!

[Brontoburglar]

how do you make an Arsene Wenger cake without a neck?

[wlu_lax6]

Even the coaches are taking dives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ear ... -bulgaria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[A_B]

[Pruitt]

That is fantastic.

And sadly, it's also the highlight of Toronto F.C.'s latest putrid season.

[tennbengal]

That is completely awesome.

[Sabo]

I saw this on Twitter this weekend and thought I would share.

How Sunday league teams are picked (or how Newcastle United picks its team):

[degenerasian]

That is fantastic.

And sadly, it's also the highlight of Toronto F.C.'s latest putrid season.

The reffing in soccer is so bad. Obviously Felipe is not hurt, he can get up and fight back. Why doesn't he get a yellow card.
Injury time is the dumbest thing ever and actually turns a lot of people off of the sport. It really should be fixed time or the ref needs to give about 8 minutes of injury time per half.

[The Sybian]

Not a bad idea for setting my U-9 team lineup.

I saw this on Twitter this weekend and thought I would share.

How Sunday league teams are picked (or how Newcastle United picks its team):

MLS tried the fixed time thing with a countdown clock. MLS learned to stop fucking with the game with all of their senseless attempts to "Americanize" soccer to bring in the masses. Ride the wave of popularity the EPL is gaining, and stick with soccer rules.

The reffing in soccer is so bad. Obviously Felipe is not hurt, he can get up and fight back. Why doesn't he get a yellow card. Injury time is the dumbest thing ever and actually turns a lot of people off of the sport. It really should be fixed time or the ref needs to give about 8 minutes of injury time per half.

[degenerasian]

MLS tried the fixed time thing with a countdown clock. MLS learned to stop fucking with the game with all of their senseless attempts to "Americanize" soccer to bring in the masses. Ride the wave of popularity the EPL is gaining, and stick with soccer rules.

The reffing in soccer is so bad. Obviously Felipe is not hurt, he can get up and fight back. Why doesn't he get a yellow card. Injury time is the dumbest thing ever and actually turns a lot of people off of the sport. It really should be fixed time or the ref needs to give about 8 minutes of injury time per half.

That's ok too, then refs have to add more time for players faking injuries in the last 10 minutes. One of the dumbest things is during a substitution the ref chasing the withdrawn player off the field. If he wants to walk slowly off the field, just add more time or yellow card him.

[The Sybian]

That's ok too, then refs have to add more time for players faking injuries in the last 10 minutes. One of the dumbest things is during a substitution the ref chasing the withdrawn player off the field. If he wants to walk slowly off the field, just add more time or yellow card him.

I think this is done to appease the other team and fans, also to keep the game moving. Nobody wants to see the game delayed 2 minutes while a player slowly walks off, shaking hands with every player on the pitch.

[Pruitt]

MLS tried the fixed time thing with a countdown clock. MLS learned to stop fucking with the game with all of their senseless attempts to "Americanize" soccer to bring in the masses. Ride the wave of popularity the EPL is gaining, and stick with soccer rules.

The reffing in soccer is so bad. Obviously Felipe is not hurt, he can get up and fight back. Why doesn't he get a yellow card. Injury time is the dumbest thing ever and actually turns a lot of people off of the sport. It really should be fixed time or the ref needs to give about 8 minutes of injury time per half.

That's ok too, then refs have to add more time for players faking injuries in the last 10 minutes. One of the dumbest things is during a substitution the ref chasing the withdrawn player off the field. If he wants to walk slowly off the field, just add more time or yellow card him.

Some refs will add time on in added time for the irritating time-wasting substitutions, but other refs won't. There really has to be a firm rule on this, because I've seen 3 minutes of added time last up to 5 minutes, and also seen refs blow the whistle right at 3:00.

[degenerasian]

MLS tried the fixed time thing with a countdown clock. MLS learned to stop fucking with the game with all of their senseless attempts to "Americanize" soccer to bring in the masses. Ride the wave of popularity the EPL is gaining, and stick with soccer rules.

The reffing in soccer is so bad. Obviously Felipe is not hurt, he can get up and fight back. Why doesn't he get a yellow card. Injury time is the dumbest thing ever and actually turns a lot of people off of the sport. It really should be fixed time or the ref needs to give about 8 minutes of injury time per half.

That's ok too, then refs have to add more time for players faking injuries in the last 10 minutes. One of the dumbest things is during a substitution the ref chasing the withdrawn player off the field. If he wants to walk slowly off the field, just add more time or yellow card him.

Some refs will add time on in added time for the irritating time-wasting substitutions, but other refs won't. There really has to be a firm rule on this, because I've seen 3 minutes of added time last up to 5 minutes, and also seen refs blow the whistle right at 3:00.

yes, there was a game i saw the other day where it was 3 minutes of injury time posted. Then there was a substitution within those 3 minutes and the ref still blew at 3 minutes.

[degenerasian]

I see Torres is fitting right in at Milan. Looks at this wonderful give-and-go

[P.D.X.]

Steve Zakuani just announced his retirement on his website. Not shocking, but still pretty sad. Add him to the list of "could've beens".

http://www.stevezakuani.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[boxcar]

HOWAY THE LADS

[Rex]

Damn it I was going to put money on that.

[cerrano]

HOWAY THE LADS

TOON! TOON! ARMY! ARMY!

[Pruitt]

HOWAY THE LADS

TOON! TOON! ARMY! ARMY!

Nice win.

Spurs fans have already started talking about "revenge" and "big rematch"! Let City and Chelsea worry about the Champions League. We are bound for League Cup glory.

[Sabo]

Gooch signs for Charlton Athletic on a free transfer through January.

[Nonlinear FC]

Steve Zakuani just announced his retirement on his website. Not shocking, but still pretty sad. Add him to the list of "could've beens".

http://www.stevezakuani.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Shakes fist at Brian Mullen)