State Cup Game #1 vs St Croix

I arrived at the field about two and a half hours before our game today to check in with Mark's team and be on their bench for their first game against Eagan.  They began the game really well and cruised through the first half going up 3-0.  They slept walked through the second half and allowed Eagan to have more of the ball, but not many, if any, real chances and the game finished 4-0.

The 13's showed up to watch the 12's game and I pointed out to them how it was important to play both halves strong and not allow a team back into a game in the second half.

When it was time for our game we started out quickly and Gaffer almost scored 2 minutes into the game. We had a couple of other chances before we were able to get on the board in the 7th minute.  Brownie (CD) had stepped up to intercept a clear from St Croix on the right side of the field.  Jazzy (RD) saw Brownie stepping and covered for her at center D and they switched positions as Brownie stayed out right after she played the ball to Sizzle (CM).  Sizzle returned the pass to Brownie who hit a 1st time cross towards the penalty spot in the air.  The St Croix goalie came out hard for the ball but Gaffer arrived at the ball first and flicked the ball over the goalie with her head into the goal.

It was great to see all the work on crossing and finishing paying dividends.  

We continued to press St Croix and put crosses into the box but we could not get another goal.  St Croix's goalie played well and hung onto everything she got her hands onto and St Croix's defenders cleared everything they came in contact with.  Putting those two factors along with our struggles to hit the target on all of our chances kept St Croix in the game.

17 minutes in St Croix made a rare appearance in our half after they cleared the ball long.  We had tried to play the ball out of the back but lost it around the half line on a give and go and St Croix played the ball long to the top of our box.  Our clearing attempt went to a St Croix player who was about 28 yards from goal and she struck the perfect U13 shot high into the top part of the net over AJ to tie the game.

After the goal we continued to press but could not finish anything.  I couldn't help but flash back to Nomads when we were in the same type of situation.

At half time I talked to the girls about the Manchester Utd game from that morning that saw Man U turn on the switch in the second half to destroy Tottenham 5-2 after being down 0-2 at half time.  It was an incredible turn around that saw Utd score 5 goals in 23 minutes. Soccer is a game of two halves and I stressed to the girls to be sharp with their finishing in the second half and once we scored to take the lead to make sure to score again and end the game.We came out sharp in the second half but we missed a handful of chances to go up.  We finally had our breakthrough 17 minutes into the second half when Stoker (CM) dribbled by two St Croix defenders and slotted a perfect pass to Blitz (Fwd) who left no doubt about this chance ending up in the back of the net when she fired the ball into the net from 18 yards out.

Two minutes after that Taz played the ball out of the air from a St Croix punt to Gaffer who turned just outside the top of the box and put home the 2nd goal in 2 minutes.  It was the quick finish to the game that we had talked about after we went up by one.

We continued to create chances the rest of the game and we delivered a number of great early crosses, but we were unable to score another goal.  Our team defense was good and we did not allow St Croix to get within 40 yards of our goal after they scored.  I was also really happy with our crosses today, but we will have to finish our chances better.  If we had brought our finishing boots today the score would have been a lot more lopsided.  But to St Croix's credit they battled hard and didn't give away any goals.

Tomorrow we have Coon Rapids who did not play today.  The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy.  I think the girls will be sharper in front of goal and it should be a good game.

State Cup 09

We will begin our quest to win our 2nd Consecutive State Cup this weekend.  This year we will be playing at our age group.  The entire experience of last year should give the girls a lot of confidence going into the tournament this year.  

We have not played against teams in Minnesota from our age group since we were U11's so I don't know a lot about many of the teams in the tournament.  I have seen some of the teams play against Mark's team over the last year and they have faired pretty well against them.

Here is our schedule.

We are in Group D with St Croix, Edina, PSA, and Coon Rapids.

We play St Croix in our first game of the weekend and follow that up with Coon Rapids on Sunday.  We then have a 2 week layoff when we play Edina.  3 weeks from now we wrap up the group stage with PSA.  

The Semi Finals are scheduled for that Sunday and the Finals are scheduled on the 30th of May. 

Transition Game

Set Up

• One Red team and One Blue team
• One team at each goal with one line on each post.  Balls with one line.  1 GK in each goal.
• How many players are in each line will depend on the numbers you are starting with (1v0, 1v1, 2v1 ect)

Procedure

• 1 Blue attacker dribbles out and shoots from 20 yards out
• Immediately after the shot 2 Red attackers dribble out and go 2v1 versus the Blue player

• As soon as the 2v1 is over the next 2 Blues step on to create a 3v2
• The 3v2 continues until a goal is scored or the ball goes out of bounds.

• When the 3v2 ball is dead, no matter where the ball goes out, the next 2 Red players step onto the field to create a 4v3

• The game continues until all the players are on the field

Make It Competitive

• Keep track of the goals for each round and play a Best of 5 Series

Variations
This game can start out a number of different ways depending on what you are working on.  You can begin with a player coming from each goal to play

• 1v1  You can begin with a player coming from each goal to play.  Whoever scores on the 1v1 will send out the next player to create a 2v1. 
• 2v1 The attacking team starts with 2 players and the defending team sends out one defender
• 2v1 With A Target: The attacking team sends out a target player and begins with a defender on her back.  The ball starts from the post with a pass up to the target player and that player follows her pass to create the 2v1.
• 3v2 With A Target: Same set up as the 2v1

Forward and Midfield Movement: Training 4/23

After our training on Tuesday I stuck around to watch a little bit of Mark's team train and see if I could pick up any new ideas from the session.  It turned out to be a good night for picking up something new as I watched Mark run one of the best sessions I have seen this year.

Mark had picked it up when he was playing over in France and those coaches had picked it up from Inter Milan.  So this activity has been tested through the ages:)

I. Off Foot Juggling

II. 3v2 Target Play To Goal

Set Up

• 4 teams of 3 players 
• Red team is defending
• Blue, Green and Yellow are attacking
• The two cones closest to the goal act as an offside line

Procedure

• Blue attacker plays the ball to the Blue target forward who checks to the ball at an angle
• 2 Red defenders follow the target and begin defending after the target forward touches the ball

• The Blue target forward lays the ball off one touch to either of the 2 Blue midfielders and continues her movement across the field

• We want the target player to continue her movement across the field to create space for the midfield runners and to keep her speed up.  As she comes across the field, the target should turn and run backwards to keep the goal in front of her.
• The midfielder that does not receive the ball needs to make the run that will create the most space based off of where the target player and defenders are running.  All runs should be curved or diagonal.

• Look to combine to get in to goal 

Make It Competitive

• +1 for a shot on goal
• +3 for a goal
• Defending Team: +2 if you win the ball
• Play for 4 minutes then switch the defending team

Key Points

• The pass into the target and the layoff need to be sharp and crisp or else the exercise will be over due to a poor pass.
• The midfielders need to read where the forward and the defenders are running and make runs that will get them open in dangerous spaces.
• Watch the offside line.  Keep moving horizontally when you hit the line to keep your speed up.
• The entire exercise should take no more than 5-7 seconds to be truly game like.

We started out doing the exercise going 3v1 and moved to 3v2 after 2 rounds.  I found that this exercise didn't look quite as cool when my girls were going through it as the 12's did and I noticed that the difference was when the 12's did the 3v2 the defending team would send one defender high and the 2nd would sit back.  By playing in a straight line they were able to get split a lot and it looked really good offensively.  Our defenders stayed close together and denied the split while often times cutting off one side of the field.  

The good defense allowed us to make adjustments and look to beat the 2 players out wide and cross the ball back in or dribble in.  As we began to find success out wide we talked about making sure the 2 runners into the box kept their depth and made the defenders have to decide who to cover.

This drill also provided me with the perfect chance to begin to show our mids how to make runs past the forwards and allow them to change positions in the attacking 1/3.  Too often our forwards become stagnant in the attacking half and I would like to see them dropping back to receive the ball and clear space for our mids to run onto.  

In order to get this movement I told the mids that they had to criss-cross after the ball was played into the target forward.  I told the girls to really bend their runs on this to create the width and space that the target forward would need to complete a successful pass.  I told the target forward to continue her run diagonally into the midfield after she laid the ball off and become a support player.

It looks confusing in this drawing but on the field it was pretty simple and caused a lot of problems for the defenders because now the 2 midfielders were sprinting forward into the space and the target forward now gave them an outlet in support in case things broke down.

There were now 3 options after the layoff:
A) The midfielder can go directly to goal
B) The midfielder can lay the ball back to the support player and go from there
C) The midfielder can play the ball over the top to the other mid on the far side.

 We had a lot of success with the 3rd option.  It was a great way to work on the Up Back and Through Skillzy.  The key was that the far midfielder had to curve her run wide enough so there would be space to play her the ball and she would be able to receive the ball attacking the goal.

III.  7v7 Scrimmage
We finished with the same type of scrimmage we did at the last session awarding points for getting the ball wide before attacking the goal.  The girls are doing a good job of varying what they are doing in the attack now.  Variety in attack will be our main focus over the next month. 

IV. Keeper Training
After training Evan worked with AJ on keeper training.  6 of the girls stuck around to be shooters. 

Early Cross: Training 4/21

Evan had the last three sessions with the girls as I was out of town with the 16 Blues for their MRL games in Cincinnati from last Thursday-Sunday.  The 16's went 3-0 over the weekend and are in a great position to battle for the league title and a place in Regionals.

Evan continued with our crossing and finishing work and he brought in some defensive work for the Sunday training.

For today's session I found another great session that Mark did 2 years ago with the current 15's.  

I. Off Foot Juggling

II. Driving The Ball

III. Battle In The Box - Early Cross

This exercise was perfect for what we are working on and it gave the girls another variation to keep their attention.  

Set Up

• 4 teams of 4 players in different color vests (We had 3 teams of 5 players so we had 1 team serving, 1 team attacking, 1 team defending with one of the defending players stepping in goal.  We had 4 minute rounds)
• 35x60 yard field set up as in the illustration below (with a penalty box, goal, GK, and starting disks for attackers/defenders and wide players)

Procedure

• Blue team attacks, green defends, gray team on deck, gold team serving
• Gold 1 passes to gold 2 who takes a short prep touch and serves in a cross from the right for blue to finish
• Green tries to clear the ball from the box
• When the ball is dead (in the goal, out of bounds, or out of the penalty box), defending team exits the area and is on deck waiting, attacking team (blue) becomes the defending team, and the team on deck (gray) attacks a cross that will be played in from the other (left) side
• Gold pairs alternate positions after each cross

Make It Competitive

• +2 points for the first team that makes contact with the ball in the box (looking for aggressive movement towards the ball by both the attacking and defending teams)
• +4 points if the defenders clear the box in the air directly from a cross (so +6 total if they get to the ball first and clear the box in the air)
• +2 point if the attackers get a shot off
• +4 points for a goal

Coaching Points for the Crossers

• Good first prep touch, under control but away from your feet to set up the early cross
• Find a target for your cross instead of just kicking the ball (far post, near post, or a player's feet)
• Look up as the ball is being passes to you to see what you are going to do when you get it

Coaching Points for the Attackers

• Initial movement should be away from the ball to force your defender to work hard to see both the attacker and the ball
• Be creative and careful on your runs (careful about offsides) - lose your defender with quick changes of direction, starts and stops, or bursts of acceleration
• Don't get all 4 runners flat in the box, someone has to stay at the top of the box in the event of a poorly cleared ball from the defenders or to offer a lay back pass option
• Work hard to keep the ball in the box if the defending team gets to it first
• Wanting the ball is about attitude

Coaching Points for the Defenders

• Transition quickly from attack to defense and organize
• Communicate with each other and sort out who is marking who
• Don't lose your mark!
• Attack the ball, don't let it drop in our box
• Clearances should be high and wide
• Kamikaze to block shots in our box

IV. 7v7 Scrimmage With Service Boxes

For our scrimmage I added service boxes in the corners to encourage the girls to get the ball wide and to the end line before attacking the goal.  This is going to be where the space will be for us in State Cup so the girls need to continue to work on getting the ball wide.

 Points

• +1 for a goal without going into the service area
• +3 if the ball goes into the service area and your team gets a shot on goal
• +5 if the ball goes into the service area and you score a goal
• +10 if you deliver an early cross from your half that results in a goal

I didn't want the girls to have to wide if it was on to go straight to goal, but the points were set up to encourage getting to the end line.