BEHIND THE PLAY #40

This issue sees my first attempt here at goal analysis. Starting with some recent Messi content from this past weekend. Also, what’s with cancelling games because of a little rain? Lol. Parent opinions have changed on that.

How’d that go in?

How are goals scored? As a former defender it often bothers me how even at the highest levels of the game, teams concede goals that were clearly preventable. As I’ve now managed to achieve rank amateur status in video editing* I’ll occasionally be plaguing you with complaints of defending at the highest level that ignore one or more of the basic principles of defending. We used to get taught that there were five established principles of defending but current thinking on this is more comprehensive and fills some missing gaps. Here’s one of the better and more succinct descriptions of defensive principles I’ve found although for me the one that is still missing despite all these revisions is communication.

When I look at how goals are scored I tend to see opportunities presented by defensive breakdowns. While that’s not always true and there are goals scored purely from excellent attacking play based on precision, skill and timing, most do generally evolve from attackers recognizing and exploiting defensive errors.

The first goal I’m looked at is from this past weekend in the Inter-Miami vs DC United game. It was the sixth goal for Miami in a 6-2 win. Messi had come on with about half an hour to go and ended up scoring three goals in 12 minutes. I’ve shaken my head a few times on Twitter about how amateurish the defending in MLS has been against Messi but this one really puts the ‘sham’ in shambolic. Here’s a couple of examples of what I’m talking about. This was last season soon after Messi had arrived in MLS.

And here’s two still frames from another MLS goal Messi scored; also from the 2023 season.

Guess what ball watching and not tracking runs leads to?

So you get the idea. I’m convinced that close to half of all goals, at all levels, are down to defenders not communicating with each other, ball watching and not tracking runs. Often in concert with each other.

Anyways, long preamble to the actual video I put together of the goal vs DC United.

_{Those reading this as an email will be taken to YouTube to watch the video but those reading it online should be able to view it inline without leaving the page you’re on.}

I’m going to keep the analysis pretty simple on these videos. There’s stuff out there that seems more designed to make the viewer think the analyst is a genius because complex hyper-modern terminology is used. Again, most goals are scored because defenders switch off mentally, lose their shape, don’t track runs, don’t communicate and/or ball watch. If you’re watching these as a youth coach I want you to be able to take away practical, useful info that you can incorporate into your team sessions.

Here’s the takeaways from this one:

• Hold a compact shape, as a back four, for as long as you can in your defensive third. Keep assessing what areas are dangerous and minimize your opponent’s ability to exploit them with your spacing. This does not happen in the clip. The “DC” in this case stands for Decapitated Chickens. All running around with no purpose or effect.

• If you’re going to break from that and move to press an opponent be sure you can get there to stop or at least impede what they want and intend to do with the ball. If you can’t do that all you’re doing is leaving a space in behind you while not adding anything to the defensive effort. The centreback who lazily moves with Suarez makes this mistake. Not only does he not stop him from turning and playing the pass, he doesn’t even track him when he turns and runs into the space he vacated. Same with the eager left back. Leaves his post, does nothing but leave a huge gap which the left side CB felt forced to move into when a Miami player smartly drifted out wide.

• Don’t ball watch. Scan. It’s not just for midfielders when their team is in possession. It’s critical info for defenders so they know where their opponents are in relation to themselves, their goal and the ball. Info is gold for defenders. Helps you individually and when communicated it helps all your teammates in the vicinity.

• Track runners. At the very least make it hard for them to receive the ball in dangerous areas and make their teammates question whether they can reach them with a pass because of your proximity. You’re playing against Messi. You don’t get a second or two to ball watch the pass he just played before deciding maybe you should track his run into that massive space in your penalty area that he’s about to score a goal in. Track runs. Impede runs. If one of those two gets goal side and ball side with an arm across Messi, its very unlikely he scores.

And while you’re here, here’s a bonus video I shot of Atiba Hutchinson being robbed of a goal in the dying seconds of the game against Morocco. His header hit the underside of the bar at warp speed but stayed out. This would’ve tied the game 2-2 with seconds left. Junior Hoilett with the excellent corner kick. We had great seats to view the agony. I wore my Atiba Canada jersey to the first game against Belgium and more than any other players, I really hoped he would score at the tournament. I will add that the Morocco fans at that game may have been the loudest of any I’ve been in a stadium with.

Next week, I’ve got a breakdown of Alphonso Davies goal against Croatia at the World Cup. Canada’s first in a men’s World Cup.

*Feel free to send me video software ideas and editing tips!

The evolution of parental weather trauma in youth soccer

Phone rings mid-day last Saturday. It’s my buddy who has worked in the game at the club level locally, like me, for over 20 years. We used to work together.

Him: “So are you getting it from both sides.”

Me, laughing: “Totally!”

We have a moan for a few minutes about getting complaints about decisions that were made to play and not play games this past weekend during heavy rainfall.

I’d already said to our staff the night before as we prepared to deal with the atmospheric river that is happening here in Vancouver, that there’s no win in this for us, regardless of the decisions taken. The decision to cancel games is never one we take lightly and those decisions, we’ve learned, create two groups with different ideologies on the subject. The considerably bigger one is the “I can’t believe you didn’t cancel games in this weather!” countered by the increasingly smaller “I can’t believe you cancelled games because of a little rain!”

The reality is that clubs can only control cancellations for ages below U11. Once you hit U11 and are in divisions run by leagues administered beyond your club, it’s not your call.

Note that the fields in question were not closed by our Park Board and the checks we did on Friday evening and early Saturday made it clear only one field needed to be closed and the other one we use for younger players was fine. Plus, it was 13 celsius, almost spring-like! I do understand that some were worried about road flooding which proved to be a very real problem in parts of Metro Vancouver. We did end up closing the one we left open later in the morning as it started substantially puddling making play difficult and the chance of damage likely. To be clear though, it wasn’t closed because we felt it was unsafe for play. We cancelled games because we risked damage to the field that would’ve seen it be closed for several weeks giving us no field to play on in that time.

When I was on the call with my friend it reminded me of an email I got about 18 years ago. It had been wet all week and then freezing temperatures set in. Grass fields were all closed and back then we switched to gravel field alternates when that happened. Problem is the wet gravel/sand field we used for younger players at an elementary school had suddenly frozen creating an uneven field riddled with hard ridges, holes and small ice patches over what had been puddles. Imagine a cake that had is icing applied by a knife but the icing is frozen gravel. Totally unsafe. We cancelled games.

The email I got from a dad of one of the players was one of the more scathing I can remember and I work in an area packed with A type personalities who aren’t afraid of expressing displeasure. “You are helping to make sure we raise a generation of soft kids. These games should have been played and you should be embarrassed that you cancelled them because it’s a bit cold.” That’s the family-friendly version of it.

So in one generation the criticisms have gone from “Why aren’t you playing U7 games on completely frozen, ankle destroying gravel fields in sub-zero temperatures?” to “Why are you playing U10 games in moderate rain on grass fields that are open in 13 degree celsius weather?”

There’s a big ‘told you so’ coming at our next staff meeting :)