ES Soccer Thread

[Skinz4Life12]

i think Kitchen needs to take a seat behind Saragosa until he can learn to stop sucking (when he comes back to DCU)

[Corcaigh]

The first goal at 40 seconds is about the worst defending you could see. A US defender lines up covering the near post on a corner, and then runs toward to ball as it is crossed in, totally miss-timing his jump and the ball.

---------- Post added March-27th-2012 at 09:19 AM ----------

It's simple. The best athletes in this country don't play soccer. Never have. Never will. The US will always stink at this sport. Can't believe so many people still don't understand this.

This is nonsense. Many foreign countries don't care about basketball and yet the NBA has had multiple overseas MVPs, and other countries have beaten the USA in international play because the US teams were poorly prepared and coached.

The USA has more than enough of adequate athletic ability playing the sport. The greatest impediment to soccer development in the USA is the desire of parents to have the kids playing officiated games and be on U10 elite travel teams before they have adequate fundamentals. Stop playing games and scrimmages, and start practicing.

The level of coaching depth is awful too and a big problem for development of young players. When my son wanted to play rec soccer as break from his other sports, the 'all-star' rec team we put together would beat the local travel teams because of how poorly they were coached. They were trying to play at a level the kids couldn't execute - trying to hit passes, shots and trying long corners that were well out of their skill set.

[renaissance]

This is nonsense. Many foreign countries don't care about basketball and yet the NBA has had multiple overseas MVPs, and other countries have beaten the USA in international play because the US teams were poorly prepared and coached.

The USA has more than enough of adequate athletic ability playing the sport. The greatest impediment to soccer development in the USA is the desire of parents to have the kids playing officiated games and be on U10 elite travel teams before they have adequate fundamentals. Stop playing games and scrimmages, and start practicing.

Nah, he's right. Because guys like Messi, Xavi, Kaka, etc are definitely what Bubble Screen would consider the best "athletes" in their respective countries.

[Corcaigh]

Nah, he's right. Because guys like Messi, Xavi, Kaka, etc are definitely what Bubble Screen would consider the best "athletes" in their respective countries.

Good point. If Messi, Xavi or Kaka were born here they would have been either a power forward in the NBA or defensive tackle in the NFL.

[FanboyOf91]

Good point. If Messi, Xavi or Kaka were born here they would have been either a power forward in the NBA or defensive tackle in the NFL.

Messi would be a beast in the low post.

[Skinz4Life12]

Messi would be a beast in the low post.

how tall is Messi?

[Elessar78]

Yeah all it takes is being a good athlete. Ochocinco really proved that, huh?

---------- Post added March-27th-2012 at 10:16 AM ----------

Pathetic.

I have a sad feeling that we will never be good at soccer. Just not in our culture.

yeah, tell that to these 10 Year olds. They are the state champs from California.

[Corcaigh]

how tall is Messi?

5' 7" in heels.

[Kosher Ham]

It's simple. The best athletes in this country don't play soccer. Never have. Never will. The US will always stink at this sport. Can't believe so many people still don't understand this.

Nor are they PGA players or NASCAR drivers. That makes sense right ?

[Corcaigh]

yeah, tell that to these 10 Year olds. They are the state champs from California.

They could beat DC United today,

But how many of these kids will play for the USA versus another country.

[jobaga]

Nor are they PGA players or NASCAR drivers. That makes sense right ?

Its a shame, I really hate professional basketball.....but, since that's where the best athletes are- I guess I can only watch the NBA

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Why are 10 year olds playing on a full size pitch, 11 vs 11? You have to really feel for the lil' guys dwarfed by the full size goals in that clip. And the morons screaming at them from the sideline just compound a lot of what is so wrong with youth soccer.

That should be on a much smaller pitch, with maybe 7 vs 7. With the emphasis at that age and younger on enjoyment and not win at all costs.

Hail.

[boysetsfire]

Yeah those kids need to be playing 7v7 on a smaller field. With all that time on the ball because of the size of the field you get a false sense of security. As you get older and are playing competitively those windows get smaller and smaller. Some can make the adjustment but most can't. And yeah those guys yelling instructions were beyond annoying.

[Elessar78]

Why are 10 year olds playing on a full size pitch, 11 vs 11? You have to really feel for the lil' guys dwarfed by the full size goals in that clip. And the morons screaming at them from the sideline just compound a lot of what is so wrong with youth soccer.

That should be on a much smaller pitch, with maybe 7 vs 7. With the emphasis at that age and younger on enjoyment and not win at all costs.

Hail.

You guys are funny. These American kids can play soccer and you nitpick on the format over which they have no control over. A set up created by adults decades ago. What can they control? Their skills and how they play. If you reduce the playing size, then it's relative, there are less players so the space isn't an issue. The size of the goal is equal opportunity, one goal isn't smaller for the other team. Plus look at their finishes; near post volley, a kid waltzes past two defenders and slides the ball past the keeper. Whether the goal is 7' x 21' or 8' x 24', is irrelevant.

Famed Ajax coach Rinus Michels in his book Teambuilding says that U11 are ready for the full 11v11 game. You could argue that he's talking through the lens of seeing Ajax caliber players but these kids aren't slouches either.

[Elessar78]

This is from that team's blog. They are currently in Spain training with Barcelona for the week. Looks like they've held their own against the big guys for the past two years.

http://blog.3four3.com/2012/03/28/la...elona-academy/

On top of that we have taken our boys under 10 Barcelona-USA Academy team to receive professional training (Jordi Vinyals, current L’Hospitalet coach) in the mornings and compete in friendly matches with local Academies in the evenings. This will be the third consecutive year we take the current U10 team, all of which have been crowned Cal South State Cup Champions weeks prior to departing for Spain. The highlight match will once again be the deemed “clasico” between the real Barcelona Academy team and our Barcelona USA version. For two years running we have come away undefeated in our matches against them (4-1 win in 2010, 2-2 draw in 2011). The level of respect for our Barca USA version has grown tremendously over that time due to the competitiveness of our teams and how we’ve taken their methodology and applied it. The 2010 version of THE TRIP was where Ben Lederman first wowed Barcelona coaches and scouts with his play. He received the invite for his trial during the 2011 trip and was then offered a spot on the world’s best youth academy.

The second week of this year’s trip will see my boys U11 Barcelona-USA Academy (2000′s/2001′s) travel to the prestigious MIC Cup International tournament. This is a special team who has 3 peated as State Cup champions at u9, u10, and u11. The boys are fresh off the “Quadruple,” having won League, League Cup, Surf Cup and State Cup this season. It will be a great challenge for them to compete against the likes of Ajax, FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Manchester United to name a few.