I'll put my thoughts together in the form of "criticism sandwich", where critique is sandwiched between two complements. I encourage you to always use this when discussing any aspect of a game with you child. Bring up something positive first, then the critique, then end on a positive. So, along this line, I thought the kids worked well with each other last Thursday--I didn't hear any negative comments among our team. We were definitely the better passing team; however, I thought for the first five minutes of the game we were absent from the field of play minus a couple kids. We watched the ball instead of running to meet it; we allowed Infinity to do pull-back after pull-back to maintain possession in front of our net (we need to double up with a primary and secondary defender to strip the ball immediately away from anyone who dribbles too much); and we allowed an early shot that we were lucky hit the post (although the ref credited Tate with the save and gave a corner kick). We did handle their set plays well and shut down the corner kicks and free kicks. So after an initial five minutes of standing and watching we got everybody going and put together a string of passes that found Isaac open on the left wing for two quick goals. I liked that Isaac scored a goal with each foot--and we now have several players who can release strong shots with either foot. What I also like about these goals is that they originated with strong control and heads up passing by Dylan and Jackson Hulse (center and left mid positions, respectively). We were fortunate to have Jackson join us on a development pass or we would have only played with seven the first half. I was happy to see that the kids could run a full 25 minute half (minus some lethargy the first five!) Before half Nick had a strong throw-in into the box that the Infinity defender intentionally handled, leading to a PK, which Isaac put into the right side netting to give us a 3-0 cushion at half. Assist to Nick! Overall we looked to be the more mature and dominant team after the first half, and we continued this right into the second. Before start of half I suggested that we slow down play a bit and stretch out the opponent, but after a quick rest the kids decided they wanted more goals, which was fine by the coaches. We've had games in the past where we've let a 4-1 lead end in a 4-4 tie, so we always go for points when goals present themselves. For those reasons we also have designated players to take free kicks and corner kicks. We want to convert on these opportunities.
For second half we brought Tate out as striker and put his cousin back as keeper. The switch yielded quick dividends as Tate challenged the defense to keep up with him as he streaked up the right side and put a strong shot past the keeper into the net. It was a very nice finish and a familiar sight to those familiar with Tate's speed. A few later charges were not so fruitful, with some low angle (i.e. low probability) shots going directly to a well-positioned keeper--in these situations we want our players to drop the ball back to a midfielder or cross it out of the keeper's reach. We'll find many more scoring opportunities when we look to set up teammates for higher probability shots. Despite being down by 4, Infinity kept trying, and they were able to get through our defense into the middle for a 1 on 1 shot on our keeper--Jackson Hulse did a great job to come out of his net to cut down the shooter's angle, but the shot was slotted nicely to the far post. Several of us observed that there was a missed offsides call on this play, but that is life in soccer. I always like to tell the kids to not let the game get to a point where bad calls by the refs can change the outcome--in this case we needed to overlap each other to help out on defense--that means once a player is beat, he needs to chase down the dribbler from behind as a goal-side defender works to slow him down. We call this "containment". So if you hear me yell, "containment!", it means we isolate the dribblers where they don't pose a scoring threat. Then, once we've slowed down the attack through containment, we work to "dispossess" them and set up our own counterattack.
The other point to keep in mind is that attacks do not always start with the ball moving toward the opponent's goal--I like to see our defense drop the ball to the keeper and let the keeper switch the ball up the other side of the field. Kyler "club arm" Hugie did a great job as defender and dropped some nice balls back to the keeper. I was really pleased to see that our defense was not panicking and booting the ball out whenever pressured. I don't want to see players "swing and miss" at rolling balls when they are the last one back. I don't recall this happening on defense and generally the back line looked solid. Jackson Weaver helped our defense greatly for his first competition game--and he also looks to be a strong "attacking midfielder" where he showed some dribbling and shooting skill, most notably right after Infinity got their goal when he made a solo effort to earn it back by dribbling through the Infinity defense and forcing the keeper to make a save. We made a mid-half keeper change to keep fresh legs in the field, and we maintained a strong attack. Gideon had a great lob shot from outside that went just wide. Jackson Hulse worked the ball through the middle and took a couple shots on frame, but the keeper was on his line. Nick also let a ball release from inside the 18 that forced another save. And despite being the youngest player on the field, Trent showed some of the bigger kids how to dribble under pressure to draw defenders in and then kick the ball back out to an open teammate. Trent also recovered a blocked shot that his brother sent so hard into the keeper it left him doubled over--Trent fed the ball back to older brother who sent in a solid cross for my favorite goal of the game as Dylan timed his run to the far post perfectly and connected his outstretched foot on the ball to guide it into the open net. We always want at least one player to "crash" the back post to intercept these crosses (note to Ethan: do NOT crash directly into the post--this is just a metaphor). Dylan has a great perspective of the field and was where he needed to be. We closed the game out with a cross from the left wing that Nick smacked with an outstretched foot to redirect the ball back to the near post--the off-balance keeper was helpless as he watched the ball roll in. If it hadn't been such a nice play I would have felt sad for the hapless goalie. Whoever crossed that ball please identify yourself! It was a great assist from the left side. I should videotape these games.
This was a fun game and we expected to come away with the win--still, the outcome could have been different if we had gotten down a couple goals during that early 5 minutes of absenteeism. For next Thursday we need to be strong from the start as we play Sport Logan. We tied them last year and they ended their first match this season in a 3-3 draw against the combined TFS squad, now called "PL-Stingerz". If our boys play to their potential, we can beat any team in this league (we've shown that we can tie any team)--we have a solid group of kids who have really come together as a team. It is nice to see this progress. We'll look forward to having Ethan back with a face-guard to protect the broken nose, and Logan should be healthy too. Thanks for letting us know when a player is sick, injured, or forgot his soccer shoes! We keep an extra pair of shin guards and jersey in the bag--we'll put some old cleats and duct tape in the bag for future mishaps!
Thanks for supporting your kids in this fantastic sport. Have the kids work on iSoccer skills at home. If you can, go to a field and have them take shots on goal. We have a practice Tuesday evening at the Mendon Stake Center.
Go Wolverines!
