“HOW WERE THE REFS?”

                                                                                                       

I want to start off by saying I think that the US has the most potential of any nation in the world to become a soccer powerhouse. We just need to continue to grow as a soccer culture. When I write about these things it’s not to bash but to bring about discussions on topics that I think can improve….having said that: 
 
What would happen if we brought a second division top European league team to come and play in MLS? Would they win the league? I don’t think they would. Not because they aren’t good enough, but because they wouldn’t be used to the referees. Our refs allow way too much to go, the technical players and teams get punished for it.
I know that refs get a bad rep everywhere. The problem here is that clear-cut fouls in the world’s game are simply not called in our country. After experiencing it first hand the difference I can tell you is that in Europe you can not touch the other players in the back on any stoppage of play, not even a throw in.. it’s an automatic call. If you go up for a header and you lead or push-off.. it’s a foul. If you clip a heal or tackle from behind.. it’s a foul. They are mainly fouls because they can be dangerous and players get hurt. There is nothing wrong with a strong challenge, one that may be shoulder to shoulder or through the ball but it’s the tackling from behind and clipping that keep players out for weeks at a time with ankle, knee, and hip injuries. The other thing is if you use curse word is the same penalty (yellow or red card) as potentially ending a players career, how does that make sense? Players use bad words, it’s a passionate game, have thicker skin and move on.
 
College is worse of ALL, 2 hand pushes in the back on headers are no calls. Refs refuse to reward PKs and cards out of lack of confidence and personality.
 
Now we know that in Europe it can go the other way. Where players dive and put on a show to gain a penalty kick or a free kick, it’s embarrassing to the game no doubt about it.
 
However in the end it comes down to the fact that most refs here haven’t played the game and if they did they’d call a lot more fouls. Most youth refs are just over weight old guys with glasses who more often than not don’t watch the soccer yet come out Saturday and Sundayto ref games for the $100.  In Europe, refs are promoted just like teams are. You get rated and if you do well during the year you will go up from the 8th division to the 7th and so on.  It’s a good system and one that can work here.
 
On this post I ask for your thoughts and comments, as it would make an interesting discussion.

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Isn’t it “ODD”?

Soccer is played with 22 players on the field, 11 for each team.  A goalkeeper and 10 field players. In the US, we start playing 11 vs 11 at age 12.  Imagine watching 22 12 year olds running around a 120 meter by 80 meter soccer field? If you are a true technical soccer fan, it is extremely hard to watch! Birds actually land ON the field WHILE THE GAME IS GOING ON!
It is said that in a 90 min game a professional player will spend less than 3 minutes on the ball. So what does that translate to for kids who are moving the ball less and covering less ground in a 70 min game?  MUCH less.  Our kids need touches on the ball more often! Futsal has helped in this sense but that is for about 2 months in the “off season”.
There is no reason that our young players should be playing 11 aside before the age of 15.  Smaller field = fewer players on the field = more touches on the ball, and better development.
In this country, we go from playing 6 vs 6 from ages 4-9, 8 vs 8 from ages 10-11 and then 11 vs 11. Why the hell would we play even numbers all the way up until 11 vs 11? 11 is an odd number so shouldn’t it be 5 vs 5, 7 vs 7, 9 vs 9 then 11 vs 11? That’s how it is everywhere else. There is no reason that we should have to invent a formation for playing with even numbers.
When coaches take a look at how the best youth coaches play and the formations they use, our US coaches can’t use the models because we would have to add in a player somewhere on the field.

Now let’s cover an epic tragedy.  College soccer’s substitution rules. It is getting to the point where coaches sub 8 or 9 at a time, and up to 20 times a game.  You can’t really blame them, because if the rules allow it, you of course can take advantage. However it’s far from what soccer is. At the college level you should be allowed to use 6 subs for the game. That’s it. That way the team who is trying to play the least amount of soccer can’t just press you for 90 min subbing every 10 min like an American football team doing everything in their power to stop your technical attacking minded soccer from happening.
The players who end up coming out of college soccer and going to the pros more often than not end up injured around month 7 of the pro season. In comparison to a 3-month college season and being allowed to get subbed twice a game, 10 months and or 90 min is a lot.  It is known that college soccer is not supposed to be there to develop professional athletes. Let’s think about it a different way.  In college you play 2 games a week, usually half are on the road and half of those are mid-week games that’s a lot of missed classes. If we kept all the games to the weekend and one game a week it would mean more studying time. An overall more well-rounded student athlete that stays healthy.
 
Wrap up: Odd small sided games throughout youth development, less subs in college, and a 10-month college season.

How about you pay me to do it? Winning vs Development

As a coach who came from a technical upbringing I have made it my goal to push technical development with my youth teams. When I’m with my women’s pro team or my D I college team I just see too many players who are just not there technically. One of the advantages of working 15 hour days is I have been blessed with the ability to see (in a single day) soccer at the youth level, the college level and the pro level. The transition from youth to college and to pro is not as you would expect where kids start less technical and as time goes on the technical level rises up until where at the pros the technical level is at its highest. From what I can see it is actually almost the opposite where kids are more technical than the college and pros. I believe that this is because kids who are smaller and more technical are not properly rewarded and become discouraged to try new creative things while the fastest most physical kids are passed on to the next level.

Don’t get me wrong I always look at how quick a player is. I like a player who can run well and beat someone into space, but if they cannot do it with the ball and create something for other players around them, is it really worth it in the long run? In addition to how I look at a players physical stature, I also look at if he can make the ball roll when he passes it. Does it pop and bobble up or is it tight to the ground? Are his passes to help a teammate or to simply get rid of the ball? When he dribbles, is it towards goal with a definitive touch to cut out the defender or does he get pushed to the corner flag?

I feel that we all have an unwritten responsibility to US Soccer where we must reward technical ability. The kid that can juggle 100 times with both feet and all surfaces should be the one getting picked up over the 14 year old with hair under his arms who can run by a few kids. As of now this is simply not the case. Recently with my u-14 team played a very direct team and we lost 2-1. We played much better than the other team and connected many more passes. Our possession rate was about a bit over 60% from what I could see on film. The other team played long off the goalkeeper and any free kick in our half of the field while we tried to play short off of goal kicks and when our keeper had it in his hands (which cost us a goal). Most of our free kicks where taken quickly and shortly, I always demand we have 2 over the ball to play short and start to swing and move the ball again. However if the parents are happy and the team wins and the coach of the team doesn’t know any better or puts more weight into winning is he wrong? Not by most American standards.

As youth coaches are we not responsible for developing the next generation? If our team has more possession percentage won’t our players have more time on the ball which will allow them more touches in the game which in the end gives them more development time? Shouldn’t our training sessions that include fitness be fitness with the ball as appose to just blind running?

I honestly believe that the only way club soccer is going to develop an advanced generation of players to that one previous is if clubs provide a proper training environment. This means lights, at least half a field of space, weekly coaching meetings to discuss monthly goals and give exercises for practice with video sessions and a proper coaching salary. Can we expect the best youth coaches if the payment does not equal the work load? No! The best coaches will move on to College and schools that pay. Lets pay the youth coaches more and keep the best coaches in youth soccer. That is, in my opinion, the only way to really develop US youth soccer players. If not we will just continue to be develop part time players by part time coaches who in turn do a part time job.