3/14 St Cloud Friendlies Game #3 vs Rev

After our game against the Blues we were pretty beat up and Brownie was unable to play.  Plus we were missing Bella, Gaffer, and Stoker who were not here today.  Both Taz and Kari were injured during the game so we finished the game with only 10 healthy players.

We started off the game with some very good ball movement and had an ok chance early.  After the first couple of minutes Rev began to dominate the territory battle.  But being in our half only translated to 2 quality chances for them.  The most dangerous was off a throw in when their right forward was able to beat our defenders and AJ came up with a big save.

Immediately off of that save AJ punted the ball and after a scrum we won possession of the ball.  Taz played it up to Jordy.  Jordy flicked it onto Blitz who turned their defender inside out and fired a dipping shot into the net.

After the goal we began to dominate the field position, but we only created one more quality chance in the half.  With 2 minutes left in the half we had a goal kick that we did not mark up on and Rev won the ball.  The ball came to their right forward who hit a volley over AJ to tie the game up.

This was the 2nd goal kick of the half that we had not marked up on properly and they had another chance from the throw in.  We really need to tune in on what seem like harmless dead ball situations.

We played pretty well in the second half and Blitz continued to dominate up front.  Our quick passing led to more shots and we were able to go ahead when Lydia played a free kick into the box that Blitz cut back to her left foot and roofed the shot.  Fun to watch.

AJ had one really good save in the second half to keep us in the lead, but I was happy with how we played.

The game ended a little early due to an injury to Kari, who would turn out to be ok.  All in all it was a good weekend for us to begin getting into game season.  These were our first games in a very long time and we will continue to adjust and improve a ton over the next 3 weekends.

U13 Blue vs U13 Rev Highlights from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

3/14 St Cloud Friendlies Game #2 vs U14 Blue

The good part about having games video taped is that it is really cool to watch the game again.  The bad part is that it takes a lot of time to go back through and put everything together.  So with that in mind I am just getting to post our game against the 14 Blues from St Cloud now.

After our game against Mequon, Cook, Young Kim, and I all had dinner and talked about the games from the day.  Cook thought that we showed a lot of skill on the ball, but we needed to be more direct and get the ball forward quicker.  I told him that I didn't disagree with him, but that at this age I'd rather have kids who are showing skill on the ball every time they get it than have kids who play one and two touch soccer.  I believe it is a lot easier to teach girls when to pass as they get older than it is to teach them when/how to beat players.

In our game against Mequon, recap here, we spent the entire first half showing skill in our end and did not get anywhere.  The second half was a little better, but not much.  For the rest of the weekend I decided to have us focus on finding our forwards as quickly as possible so we could move up field faster.  I told our forwards that I didn't want them to take off on their own, unless they had an odd man rush, but to hold the ball up so we could attack as a team.

We also switched from our 4-3-3 into a 4-4-2.  The reason I had gone with the 4-3-3 originally was because it is much harder to pass the ball when you don't have wingers.  It requires a lot of movement.  I was happy with how much we moved off the ball against Mequon and felt that now we could play with outside mids while still keeping our movement up.

Switching to a 4-4-2 will really help us to exploit our 1v1 and 2v2 skill out on the wing, so this formation will really play to our strengths.

Today's game against the 14's was the game that I was looking forward to the most for this weekend.  They are a really good team and they challenge us.  Plus, we play our best against good teams.  Because we have the video highlights I'm going to save some time and not recap the game, but finding our forwards earlier really seemed to work for us producing 3 goals from our front runners.

For best viewing be sure to click on the full screen button:)

First Half Highlights 

U13 Blue vs U14 Blue 1st Half Highlights from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

2nd Half Highlights

U13 Blue vs U14 Blue 2nd Half Highlights from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

11/29 Scrimmage vs U12 South Boys err Showcase By U12 Boys

Holy cow are our U12 boys a ton of fun to watch.  I was looking forward to playing them again as both the games this fall had been good.  Today the boys put on an absolute show against us.  It was great for us to play them because we have been talking about needing to train at a faster pace and this game was perfect to show us why as the boys absolutely shredded us with their skill and quickness.

I am trying something new with the video that we were able to take this weekend by pulling out all the dribbling highlight and passing highlights from the game and making videos out of them as well as pulling the goals out by themselves.  Let me know which highlights version you like better.  The one with the replays or the one without it.  I am going to try to add music to the clips later.

Here are the dribbling highlights.  The boys pull out some amazing stuff.  

*For best viewing, double click the video while it is playing and watch the highlights in full screen.

11/29 vs U12 Boys Dribbling Highlights with music from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

Here are the passing movements that were fun to watch.

 
11/29 Passing from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

The boys got on the board first with a goal around the 9th minute when they countered us very quickly.  Good passing and great runs led to the shot.  While the shot should have been saved, the movement deserved a goal.

Boys First Goal from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

We were able to tie the game up 10 minutes later when Kenzie flicked on the thrown in into the box where Carly challenged the boys defender for the ball.  The ball came through to Kari, who continued her run into the danger area, and her quick touch was able to sneak past both the goalie and the defender on the line.

U13 Goal from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

The boys scored their second goal around the 40th minute mark and it was a thing of beauty.  After winning the ball in the midfield the boys set off on another one of their quick counter attacks.  The scissors were mesmerizing and the pass and finisher were fantastic and a joy to watch.

Boys 2nd Goal from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

Despite the show being put on by the boys we were somehow within one goal of them at the end of the game.  Soccer is a cruel game like that depending on your position in the game.  As we approached the final minutes of the games I thought about how this group of girls always finds a way to be close at the end of games even when they have no business being in them.  They always seem to give themselves a chance to get a result.  It is a great characteristic to have and one that will serve us well in the future.  

As we were pushing to tie the game up the boys countered us after blocking a shot in their box with another great full field movement.  Again the dribbling and passing are fun to watch.  How did he get through our 3 defenders with the ball?

Boys 3rd Goal from Andy Kaasa on Vimeo.

 We finished the game on that note.  After the game I talked with the girls about the speed at which the boys play, but they never seemed rushed on the ball.  They are relaxed and skilled.  We didn't use our skill and we were not ready for their quickness because we don't aren't used to this type of pressure on a consistent basis.  The challenge for the girls is going to be to try and create this type of defensive pressure so we will be able to play at the same speed as the boys.