FANTASY PREMIERSHIP
JOIN THE REST OF THE WORLD IN PLAYING FANTASY SOCCER. WHO WILL BE THE NEXT JOSE. http://fantasy.premierleague.com IS THE CHOICE OF MOST FANS. FEEL FREE TO JOIN THE LEAGUE THAT MANY OF THE LOCAL COACHES PARTICIPATE IN.
league is uindy and the code to get in is : 1209271-266858.
GOT GOT GOT NEED
For many they are a key part of the World Cup build up, but it has been claimed pupils have been banned from swapping Panini football stickers in their school playground because 'it's annoying for teachers'.
The collectables, featuring stars such as Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar, have reportedly been blamed for a number of playground bustups between young football fans.
It has been claimed that teachers at Battyeford Primary School in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, became so fed up as their pupils' desire for the stickers reached fever pitch that they have banned them from the playground.
Craze: Pupils have been banned from swapping Panini football stickers in their school playground because 'it's annoying for teachers', it is claimed
'Pupils were getting into fights and teachers were getting annoyed,' childminder Lisa Davies-Unger, 47, who looks after children at the school, told The Sun.
'It's a distraction so I suppose that led to the ban.'
However, a spokesman at the school said children had not been banned from bringing the stickers to school, and were even encouraged to swap the stickers as part of a school club.
'There is no ban on children bringing stickers into school,' he said.
'Children are welcome to bring in their stickers and they are doing so with the blessing of staff. We even have a special club where children can get together and swap them in their free time.'
Panini, which has the exclusive rights from FIFA to produce and sell the tournament's official sticker album expects this year's edition to be the most popular yet, with billions sold before and during this year's competition.
Rules: Teachers at Battyeford Primary School in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, deny children have been banned from bringing stickers to school
Collection: Panini, which has the exclusive rights from FIFA to produce and sell World Cup official sticker albums expects this year's edition to be the most popular yet
Already 40million of the packets, which sell for around 50p, have been bought - and no doubt swapped - worldwide.
And last week it was reported that a teacher in the Columbian city of Bucaramanga had been accused of confiscating stickers from pupils, and using them to complete his own Panini album.
According to local media a 13-year-old boy reported seeing the teacher in the staff room filling his album with the stickers taken from children.
Last month Panini had to reassure fans in Brazil that there would not be a shortage of stickers after thieves hijacked a van containing 300,000 of them.
PANINI STICKER ALBUM
I encourage you to log on to http://en.stickeralbum.fifa.com and have your soccer playing child start building their live sticker album. I remember as a child myself purchasing soccer cards to put in to my album and this is a pastime that was passed on from my older brothers. An addictive hobby that now I share with my son. Each day you get to open up new packets of virtual cards and place them in the book. Ensuring the child learns about all the countries participating and the players that play for them. Duplicate cards are traded with other members. What fun we had. Get them involved.
The Ride Home
Author unknown. Changingthegameproject.com
One of the saddest things I had to do as a Director of Coaching for numerous soccer clubs was conduct exit interviews, meetings with players whom had decided to leave the club. Children quit sports for a litany of reasons, and my job was always to see what we could learn, so we could improve the experience for other children. When I got these players alone, and asked them “what was your least favorite moment in sports?” I often got a very similar and sad answer: the ride home after the game. It has always amazed me how a moment off the field can have such a detrimental effect on it, yet when we think about it, the toxicity of the ride home makes perfect sense. Emotions are high, disappointment, frustration, and exhaustion are heightened for both player and parent, yet many parents choose this moment to confront their child about a play, criticize them for having a poor game, and chastise their child, their teammates, their coach, and their opponents. There could not be a less teachable moment in your child’s sporting life then the ride home, yet it is often the moment that well intentioned parents decide to do all of their teaching. One of the biggest problems on the ride home is that a simple question from you, often meant to encourage your own child, can be construed as an attack on a teammate or coach by your child. As Bruce Brown states in his book Teaching Character Through Sport, “athletes do not need adults to question their actions, the actions of other players, or the coach’s decisions concerning strategy or playing time.” A simple comment such as “Why does Jenny get all the shots?” may be meant to construe to your child that you think she is a good shooter who should also take shots, but is interpreted by your daughter that “Jenny is a ball hog!” Questions such as “Why does Billy always play goalie” or “Why does your team always play zone?” can just as easily undermine the coach’s authority, and again cause confusion and uncertainty for your child. Many children indicated to me that parental actions and conversations after games made them feel as though their value and worth in their parents’ eyes was tied to their athletic performance, and the wins and losses of their team. Ask yourself whether you are quieter after a hard loss, or happier and more buoyant after a big win. Do you tend to criticize and dissect your child’s performance after a loss, but overlook many of the same mistakes because he or she won? If you see that you are doing this, even though your intentions may be well meaning, your child’s perceptions of your words and actions can be quite detrimental to their performance, and to your relationship. One of the things that Coach Brown urges parents to be a source of confidence and comfort in situations such as when your child has played well in a loss, when your child has played poorly, and especially when your child has played very little or not at all. Even then, it is critically important that you do not bring the game up for them, as uninvited conversations may cause resentment in children. Give them the time and space to digest the game and recover physically and emotionally from a match. When your child is ready to bring the game up and talk about it, be a quiet and reflective listener, and make sure she can see the big picture and not just the outcome of a single event. Help her work through the game, and facilitate her growth and education by guiding her toward her own answers. Kids learn a lot when they realize things such as “we had a bad week of practice and coach told us this was coming” Most importantly says Brown, remember that your child always loves hearing you sincerely tell them “I love watching you play.” The only exception to the above ‘Ride Home’ rule is when your child engages in behavior that you would not accept at home, such as spitting, cursing, assaulting an opponent, or disrespecting a coach or authority figure. In these cases you should initiate the conversation, not as a parent to an athlete, but as a parent to a child. Even then you must be careful and considerate of the emotions of the match, and choose your words wisely. Deal with the issue, and then put it to bed; do not use it as a segue to a discussion of the entire game. Not every child is the same, and some children may want to discuss the game on the way home. My advice is let them bring it up, and let them end the conversation. if you are unsure, ask your kids whether they want to talk about the game, and honor their feelings and their position on this issue. There is nothing, aside from the unacceptable behavior mentioned above, that cannot be discussed at a later time. The best part is, you will likely have a far better conversation about it hours after a game, instead of minutes. As many youth sports are entering the season of playoffs and state championships, emotions are higher than ever, stress and pressure are more prevalent, and it is crucial that you let the Ride Home belong to your son or daughter. They will thank you for it one day, that I promise.
Just EAT this bloody DONUT
Confessions of a dad getting his son ready for an 8am game.
Twenty years I've been doing this. Twenty bloody years. I apologize to all the parents that I've ever coached. To the ones who drop their kids off at 7.37am and their kids sprint to the fields to let me know they got lost or were following the family that never have directions but always show up to the fields late with a sodding Starbucks. I'm sorry.
I 've been out and about late nights, looked at my watch and thought it's late but my only responsibility is to get to the game 30 minutes before. I've never had any trouble although I could mention a few times my head has been spinning for the wrong reasons and have only figured out tactically what to do after the coffee kicked in or the stomach settled.
So this past Sunday my son stayed with me and my only responsibility was to get him to the fields on time. 8am game. Be there at 7.45. Early night for the two of us. Alarm set. 7:17 SSSSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sharing bathwater, Trying to wake him up in the bath (at one point slapping his face lightly), drying him (still not awake), putting uniform on, forgetting shin pads inner sleeves. Having to dry Under Armor in dryer at 7.23, Spike Hair (important), unlacing cleats that mother triple knotted, forcing chocolate milk down him (I know, I know, I know) and a donut (I know). Out the door, in the car, back in the house, forgot his ball.
Fortunately the fields are close. We showed up 3 minutes late after I stopped off for a tall quadruple shot Starbucks Latte : ) . We lost. : ( .
Never again!
From Russia With Love
HEADLINE READS 'play like Mertens ' However my Russian is bad.
Always great to hear from our #skillskoolers and none more than Soof Mertens who left America in the new year to start a new life in Moscow Russia. Sofia originally is from Holland and had the opportunity to work with the Ajax coaches in an academy set up in Moscow. Pictured (to the left) you can see Soof kitted out in full Ajax gear. It sure looks cold Soof. We miss you and look forward to future updates from the other side of the world.
Radical non-possession in world football.
Courtesy of the Guardian.
The Question: is this the end for tiki-taka?
The success of defensive rigidity and rapid counter-attacks against possession football hints at another tactical evolution.
Pep Guardiola has tried to implement tiki-taka at Bayern this season but found his system ineffective againt Real's counter-attacking.
People are unhappy. They're unhappy at teams like Bayern Munich who keep the ball, preserving possession and looking to pass opponents into submission, and they're unhappy at teams like Chelsea who defend deep, allow opponents to have the ball and try to pick them off on the break. People, over the past fortnight, have declared themselves bored by – and opposed to – both proactive and reactive football.
That's not actually as contradictory as it sounds. We live in an age of extremes. When Barcelona first started to play tiki-taka under Pep Guardiola, they began to achieve unprecedented levels of possession. For the first time probably since Arrigo Sacchi's Milan almost two decades previously, there was a new philosophy about. This wasn't just a minor tweak of positioning, a tendency for one centre-forward to drop slightly deeper, or for the full-backs to push a bit higher. It wasn't a slight change of shape: it was a whole new style.
It took the basic tenets of total football to previously unimagined extremes – in part because of an exceptional generation of players many of whom had been schooled in a particularly idiosyncratic style at La Masia, in part because of a visionary coach in Guardiola, and in part because of the changes in the offside law that increased the size of the effective playing area and so permitted smaller, more technical players to flourish.
When totaalvoetbal emerged as a term in the Netherlands in the early 70s, the totaal aspect of it was part of a wider movement in Dutch culture, particularly architecture. JB Bakema, one of the theory's prime exponents, argued that all buildings should have individual characteristics but should be designed with their place in the overall environment in mind. The application of the term to football made sense in terms of Bakema – the whole point of it was that players were aware of their positions within the system and were constantly renegotiating it for themselves; but there was also, at least outside of the Netherlands, a more popular resonance. This was total football because everybody, it seems, could do everything: defenders could attack and attackers could defend.
Although tiki-taka shared with total football the high defensive line, the interchanging of positions and the sense that the game could be controlled through possession, its characteristics were far from total: everything became sublimated to the pass. The centre-forward became a false nine because that enhanced fluidity of movement and created additional angles to keep the ball moving; the full-backs played higher up the pitch than ever before; midfielders were selected in defence for their passing ability from deep; even the goalkeeper had to be able to play the ball out from the back.
For a time, football seemed not to know how to react. When Chelsea came so close to eliminating Barça in the Champions League semi-final in 2009, the assumption was that the great physicality of Premier League teams could brush them aside, yet Manchester United never got anywhere near them in the final. The semi-final the following year, and the defeat to José Mourinho's Internazionale, came as a watershed. Yes, Inter were fortunate in some respects, but at the same time there were spells in the second leg of that tie – spells the significance of which perhaps wasn't fully recognised at the time – in which Barça were reduced to endless sideways passing, bereft of imagination and verticality. Yes, Barça missed chances they would usually have taken and, yes, Bojan Krkic's late strike should have counted, but the lesson was there: radical possession football could be defeated by radical non-possession football.
In his controversial biography, Diego Torres explained the code Mourinho came up with at Real Madrid for handling games against high-class teams, particularly away from home:
"1) The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors. 2) Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition. 3) Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it's better to encourage their mistakes. 4) Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake. 5) Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake. 6) Whoever has the ball has fear. 7) Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger."
That's the theory Mourinho used in the first leg against Atlético and last Sunday against Liverpool. Others, in a more diluted form, have followed: Real Madrid were quite happy to sit deep and absorb pressure against Bayern, both at home and away, capitalising on Bayern's inability to counter the counter (Uefa's technical reports show the number of goals scored from counter-attacks has fallen from 40% in 2005-06 to 27% last season; the increased efficiency of the attack-to-defence transition is one of the great developments of the last decade, something discussed in detail in the quarter-finals issue of Champions magazine) and their haplessness at set-pieces (a persistent flaw in Guardiola sides, perhaps rooted in his insistence on picking defenders who can pass rather than those who can mark and win headers).
Mourinho was quite open about his switch to a defensive approach in this spell at Chelsea. "We may have to take a step back in order to be more consistent at the back," he said in December after his side's Capital One Cup quarter-final exit to Sunderland. "It's something I don't want to do, to play more counter-attacking, but I'm giving it serious thought. If I want to win 1-0, I think I can, as I think it's one of the easiest things in football. It's not so difficult, as you don't give players the chance to express themselves."
Their next game, nine days later, was the 0-0 draw at Arsenal and a new tone had been set. Against teams prepared to attack Chelsea, the change of approach was hugely effective, but against other counter-attacking sides or teams who prefer to sit deep, it left Chelsea vulnerable to mistakes, misfortune and moments of brilliance from the opposition. As Mourinho himself noted on Sunday after the win at Liverpool, it's one thing to set out defensively, quite another to have the discipline to complete the job. "I am a bit confused what the media thinks about defensive displays," he said. "When a team defends well you call it a defensive display. When a team defends badly and concedes two or three goals you don't consider it a defensive display."
Wednesday demonstrated the problem. Eden Hazard's lapse in allowing Juanfran to run beyond him led to Atlético's equaliser and Chelsea were chasing the game. Mourinho brought on a second striker in Samuel Eto'o and, even leaving aside the fact it was his foul that conceded the penalty, the addition of a second striker surrendered midfield. "That made it possible to bring in five midfielders," said Diego Simeone, who brought on Raúl García for Adrián López 12 minutes after Eto'o's arrival. "We benefited from that: it left a lot more space for us to control the game."
In itself, the notion that possession is dangerous is nothing new. Egil Olsen discovered in the 80s that in the Norwegian league a side was more likely to score before the ball went out of play if the opposing goalkeeper had the ball than its own. What is different is the degree, while the dynamic when, for want of better terms, a Guardiola-ist team meets a Mourinho-ist team, is wholly new. One team is voracious in its appetite for the ball, the other has no interest in it, and the result is that one side can have 75-80% of possession – and this is the crucial part – without ever really being in control of the game.
That's a natural part of evolution. A thesis (radical possession) arises, an antithesis (radical non-possession) arises to combat it and at some point a synthesis is achieved that will govern the consensus of how the vast majority of clubs will play for the next few years. That the two extremes are so seemingly unpopular is revealing, less in the preference it suggests on the part of the majority of fans for football with a more traditional narrative of cut and thrust, than in the depth of the hostility. That suggests a potential new influence on the tactics of the future: while most fans quite logically prioritise winning, could it be that the growth in the global, less partisan, audience and the commercial need to appeal to it, leads teams to favour football with a more overt aesthetic appeal?
The other oddity in the reaction to Bayern's defeat has been the number of attacks on Guardiola and the assertion that tiki-taka is dead. In five seasons as a manager, Guardiola has won four league titles, two domestics cups (and is in another final), two Champions Leagues and three Club World Cups. Even given the dominance of the present era of superclubs, that is a phenomenal record. But the idea that tiki-taka is over, that Barcelona's defeat to Bayern last season and Bayern's defeat to Real Madrid somehow invalidate an entire philosophy, is to misunderstand the whole nature of tactics.
In tactics there are no absolute rights and there aren't many absolute wrongs: there is certainly no magic formula. Tactical theorists aren't like alchemists searching for the quintessence that will explain everything. There is evolution and development in tactical thinking, but everything is contingent on other factors; the same structuralist theory that underpinned Bakema teaches that nothing is not relative. Tiki-taka worked so well at Barcelona in part because of the technical ability of the players, in part because opponents were still adjusting to changes in the offside law and in part because of the intensity of their play. You can get away with a high line and passers rather than defenders in the back line only if there is ferocious pressure on the ball.
One of the reasons for Barcelona's slide from the very peak is that they have lost that intensity: stats from Whoscored.com show that Lionel Messi, for instance, has gone from retrieving possession through tackles or interceptions 2.1 times per league game in 2010-11 to 0.6 this season. Bayern were noticeably lacking in zip and zest in both legs against Real Madrid, perhaps because after such a glut of success over the past two seasons their hunger has been dulled, perhaps because they have won the league so easily this season that a certain edge has been lost and perhaps because Guardiola made tactical errors.
There are those who have argued that Bayern destroyed tiki-taka in the semi-final last season and that it was therefore an enormous error to try to implement it at Bayern this season. That, though, is to ignore the fact that Bayern last season were a highly proactive, possession-oriented side in pretty much every game other than those against Barcelona: domestically, only Barcelona had more possession in the top five leagues in Europe last season; only Barcelona had more possession in the Champions League group stages last season. In those semi-finals, Jupp Heynckes recognised that Barcelona were better at retaining possession and so set his side up to play reactively, with great success.
None of that means tiki-taka is finished as a system. None of that means teams will not continue to try to control games through possession. What does seem to be the case, though, is that the examples of Inter in 2010 and Chelsea, against both Barça and Bayern in 2012, has radicalised the approach of reactive teams when encountering tiki-taka, and that will probably prevent it ever again enjoying the pre-eminence it enjoyed at Barcelona between 2009 and 2011 – just as total football, or at least the version with an aggressively high defensive line, never quite dominated the club game again after the break-up of Ajax after the 1973 European Cup final. It was a specific way of playing for a specific set of players in a specific set of circumstances at a specific time. Its influence was profound, as that of Guardiola's Barcelona was and assuredly will continue to be. Whether that style will ever dominate in the same way again is another issue. Once the evolutionary wheel has turned, it rarely goes back.
GOPRO Indy Eleven
A great opportunity presented itself for some of the kids I coach to represent FC Pride and Skill Skool by walking out with Indy Eleven in their inaugural game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
What an experience, in front of 11,000 +. The following video is a little mash up of the events that preceded the game. Courtesy of Miss Abby and the GoPro. Go Indy Eleven.
#skillskooler Connor making waves for IFA
Corrigan to Captain
Connor Corrigan joins Rece Buckmaster and Bennett Kim as tri-captains for the IFA 18's.
Long time CUSC and IFA player Connor Corrigan has proven to be one of the nation's best attacking left backs. Corrigan has reached this level by putting in hours and hours of soccer since an early age. His dedication to the sport is second to none and certainly has not gone unnoticed. Last year Corrigan was starting left back and playing two-years up with an IFA team that reached playoffs for the first time since 2009. Shortly after playoffs, Corrigan accepted an offer to play for the Michigan State Spartans.
"Connor's attitude and drive every day in training meets the image any coach would want to represent their program. He comes to every training focused on getting better. He leads each phase of training with honest habits whether it be individual technique, small group functional work or team activities. Connor's daily actions are contagious within this team and set the bar high for all players to reach not only on the 18's DA, but the 16's and 14's too." Presser said.
Amongst many young players competing at high levels of soccer at a young age, Connor's goal has always been to play at the highest level he can manage. After being considered a top player for Carmel United's youth system, Connor was selected to join the academy. With three years under his belt and a college decision to play in the Big Ten Conference, Connor once again made another stride toward achieving his goals.
"My goal in soccer ever since I've been a little kid has been to be the best all around player I can. My goal is to play at the highest level possible and the academy has helped me with that because it is constantly putting me in a competitive environment every single day and allowing me to see and play against the best players around." Said Corrigan
Leadership has been described as "a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." While Rece Buckmaster and Bennett Kim have accomplished this task in the Fall, Coach Presser feels by adding Corrigan to this leadership group would assure the team's goals for the remainder of the 2014 season of qualifying for playoffs.
"Being a captain will be a great experience for me because it gives me a chance to take on a new leadership position for my teammates on and off the field." Said Corrigan
Along with announcing Corrigan as captain, Coach Presser has announced some player personnel changes within the academy since the departure of three key attackers, Joey Bastian (Butler University), Jeff Rhodes (Sand Diego State University), and Cameron Lindley (Chicago Fire). The ultimate decision was to elevate players within the academy who had proven to be ready to play up. The 14's DA promoted center defender, Will Hirschman, to the 16's. The 16's DA promoted center defender, Jeremiah Gutjar, and left back, Spencer Glass, to the playoff bound 18's. The 18's promoted "DP" David Anderson to a full-time status after proving his ability on CUSC's 18's.
Along with personnel changes, coach Presser has made some tactical changes to the 18's to help produce more goals on the field. Future Indiana University player, Rece Buckmaster, has been pushed forward from defensive midfield to attacking midfield, and Connor Corrigan has been pushed forward from left back to left forward. These changes will help manufacture more goals on the field, but they are also changes to encourage these players development. Buckmaster and Corrigan have both been playing deeper on the field for several years. This positional change will allow them to become more familiar with game repetitions in the attacking area of the field. Presser had the following to add about Corrigan.
"Connor is an extremely gifted soccer player with a high intellect of the game. He has shown to be an attacking threat game after game in this division for 2 years coming forward out of the back. Ultimately I believe his best position is left back, however, he must continue to become more educated in and around goal in order to establish new personal goals of becoming a pro. Moving Connor to Left Forward will allow him to receive more repetitions around goal and in the attacking third."
This change has seen an immediate impact as Corrigan was able to capitalize on IFA's only goal in the 1-1 draw vs Columbus Crew this past weekend. IFA had controlled the tempo from the very beginning. After several missed shots and failure to capitalize, Buckmaster found Corrigan off a wide service in the box as he redirected the ball with his head past the GK to open up the games 1st goal.
"So far I am really enjoying my role as forward. It gives me a new opportunity to better myself around goal which I need to play at the best level, and it gives me a chance to help my team win the games and hopefully get to playoffs." Said Corrigan
Article courtesy of IFA
Got Reflexes
Think stopping free kick blasts struck at 75+ mph is hard? Parrying shots from point-blank range? Okay, how about saving footballs and tennis balls in rapid-fire succession?
There’s a reason goalkeepers are hardly envied by their peers, but at the same time, the very best at the position possess traits coveted by all athletes, most notably their unrivaled reflexes and resolute focus.
Chelsea keeper Petr Cech - winner of three UEFA Best Goalkeeper awards — demonstrated both these skills in a recent Chelsea training video, dubbed the “ultimate goalkeeping drill:”
In the exercise, Cech is alternately ambushed by footballs kicked from both sides while tennis balls are struck at him from just a few feet away with a racquet. Incredibly, Cech doesn’t fail to catch a single one.
COURTESY FOX SOCCER THOMAS HAUTMANN (TWITTER)
Never work with kids.
I said send me a pic AJ from training camp. Did not expect selfie. Your not popular enough for people to wonder what you look like first thing in the morning wearing flip flops.
Historic Goal
I scored the last goal In Twister history and now we've witnessed the first Indy Eleven goal.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=561KOk2D0rA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D561KOk2D0rA
The gift of Christmas and New Year to me.
Amazes me how a lot of my more accomplished players come back to me to train. Sometimes doing so with the younger players. All simply buying in to the idea technique matters at any age and repetition is either learning or maintenance of the skill one has. It challenges me greatly. Sunday had me work with 9 kids. 2 hopeful MLS players. 1 Indy Eleven cert, 2 standout collegiate players and 4 hopeful youth talents. No problem. All working together, helping each other out, busting their butt to make 2014 a better year than last. Great session and very proud of them. I have my own wishes for 2014. 'I gotta feeling!'
Happy New Year.