Cross to 2v1 Finishing: Training 4/13

I found out at about 2pm today that our normal 5pm training session was actually at 6:30 tonight.  Crap!  Shot out an email to everyone and hoped that everyone would get the message.  

I. Off Foot Juggling and Driving The Ball
I decided to have the girls show up at 6pm and we started outside since it is finally nice out in Minnesota.  We began with our off foot juggling.  With the goal being to have every girl able to get at least 30 juggles in a row with their weaker foot.

LK reached the 100 mark today and we are up to 9 of the girls being able to do at least 30.  I am hoping that by next week all of the girls will be able to get 30.

After 15 minutes of everyone working on their off foot juggling I had the girls who had reached the 30 mark work on driving the ball to a teammate.  

II. Cross to 3v1 Finishing

Set Up:

• 3 teams of 4 players 
• 1 crosser from each group goes out to the service area with all the balls
• Remaining players are finishers 

Procedure:

• *Blue crosser completes a give and go with the Red crosser and serves the ball into the box
• The Red defender chooses one Blue attacker to mark and sticks with her until the ball is served.  This works on the server getting her head up and seeing which 2 finishers are open and attempts to serve the ball to one of them.
• 3 Blue finishers go 3v1 against the Red defender and try to score off the cross 

• Green sets up to be the crosser and finisher with the Red team defending again

Variations To Start The Exercise

• Black Arrow: Play the ball to the crosser and if the Red player stays where she is complete a Give and Go.  If she comes out to close down the server either play in a early cross or beat her down the line.
• Yellow Arrow: Play the ball to the Red player.  If the Blue player stays support play her the ball for an early cross.  If the Blue player makes a run down the line for an overlap player the ball to the corner.
• Red Arrow: By pass the Red player with a ball to the corner for a 1st time cross by the Blue server.

 III. 5v5 Cut Throat Scrimmage 

 The final goal in this scrimmage was fun to watch.  With 15 seconds left in training AJ punted the ball to the far corner with Brownie racing after it.  Just before it went out of bounds Brownie jumped up and hit it back over her head into the mixer.  Jordy got a head on the ball and flicked it on a little further to Kari.  Kari was facing away from goal and she hit it first time out of the air with the outside of her foot into the far corner of the goal.  A nice way to end training.

4/11 Scrimmage vs U15 White

After much work to secure a field we we able to play the 15 Whites this afternoon on the Park High Turf.  This is a huge field so I figured that the 15's would have a huge advantage with their size, speed, and ability to swing the ball from one side of the field to the other.  Going into the game I did not think we would do as well as we had done on Monday against them due to the factors I just mentioned, plus I figured the 15's would have a little extra motivation after the game on Monday.  

We were without Jazzy and Carly today, but had Millie with us.

I was on the field coaching so I don't have any notes from this game so I'm just going to give my abbreviated thoughts about the game.

The 15's controlled the game with their passing and we we struggled to complete passes against them and maintain possession.  However, we had the most dangerous chances of the game through our counter attack.

Gaffer and Jody had break aways in the first half that the 15's goalie made great saves on.  Blitz almost had another break away save for another brave play from their goalie sliding out to the ball right before she arrived, she would have scored.  Kenzie also had a break away from the top of the 18 but her run let her down and her first touch went too far outside.  This was a great teaching moment to show her that if she had started her run just a little wider she would have made her first touch a lot easier because she would have been attacking the goal instead of running straight and trying to receive the ball across her body.

The 15's had 2 free kicks in the first half from dangerous positions but failed to capitalize on the shots.  Besides that, they had a handful of outside shots and crosses but AJ was never really troubled.  

A great thing about this group is that once the ball gets around our 18 yard box we really tighten up and give up very few chances.  This resiliency, and solid goal keeping, allows us to compete against older teams who have the run of play.

The times that we we did have possession of the ball in their half we continued to work on our defenders not allowing their forwards to turn when they received the ball.  It was a huge theme for them today and it continued to improve through the game.

At half time we discussed the importance of our defenders not allowing their forwards to turn and the fact that we needed to keep the ball when we won possession.

We had the wind the second half and the opening 10 minutes of the half we had the control of the game from a possession stand point.  The pressure led to a corner 10 minutes in.  Blitz played in the corner to the top of the 6 on the far side of the goal.  The ball was knocked down and we took a shot that their goalie made another incredible save on the goal line.  The ball squirted out to the top of the 6 where Blitz had charged into and she powered the ball into the back of the net.

After the goal the 15's really took control of the game as our midfield really struggled to win the ball and keep possession when we did win it.  The 15's continued to hit long shots that AJ dealt with but when they began to get to the end line and became more dangerous.  20 minutes in they were able to play the ball to the end line, beat our defender and deliver a cross inside the 6 for a one time finish.

Instead of letting down after getting scored on, the girls were upset with each other for letting it happen.  Then AJ made a joke, we all laughed and began to go about trying to regain the lead.  

The 15's still had a majority of the control in our half, but we were dangerous on the counter and we had another 3 counter attacks that produced really good chances but we just missed on the final pass or our final touch.

The game ended tied 1-1 so we went to a shoot-out.

Sizzle stepped up and made our first shot and they missed over the bar 1-0
Becks made the second and they scored 2-1
Gaffer hit the outside of the post and they scored to tie it 2-2
Bella scored our 4th shot and they matched it 3-3
LK was money on the 5th shot and again they matched it 4-4
Extra Shooters!
Kenzie placed her shot into the corner and so did they 5-5
Jordy hit hers into the upper corner and they scored again 6-6
Lydia hit hers off the inside of the post to score our 7th goal

I was down by the pk spot blowing the whistle for each kick and as their 8th shooter was walking up to shoot I told Kari that she would be our next shooter.  AJ informed me that she wouldn't need to shoot because she was going to save this shot.  I love her confidence.  Their shooter just missed wide and AJ said "I told you that Kari wouldn't need to shoot!"

Final thoughts
The 15's might be the best group for us to play.  (Along with our 14's) They make us work really hard defensively and put us under immense pressure when we have the ball so we struggle to keep possession.  They are more athletic than us in tight spaces so we have to think ahead.  

They controlled the entire game, but we did not give up many dangerous chances.  

The game was pretty physical and neither team backed down from a challenge.

Our counter attack was super effective and we created 6 high quality scoring chances from it.  We do a really good job of committing numbers forward when we get the chance.

We scored on another corner.  It is a good trend to see.

We love shootouts.  

Delivering The Early Cross: Training 4/11

With the scrimmage coming up this afternoon we spent almost the entire training working on our crossing and finishing.  

I. 7v7 Scrimmage to Warm Up

II. Early Cross and Volley Work
We spent almost 45 minutes on our technique.  We divided the girls up into 3 groups 

• One group worked on bending in early crosses.  We used the corner flags as defenders to curve the ball around. 
• One group finished off the crosses
• Another group was with Evan working on volley technique

III. Transition Game
As we continue to expand on our game it is important that we continue to work on our greatest strength, the counter/transition game over large space.  I figure that we will have to use our transitions and counters in the game this afternoon if we are going to be able to score any goals.

IV. 8v8 Scrimmage With The White Team
We mixed up the Blue and White teams to finish off the training with a scrimmage. 

4/6 Crossing and Finishing and Scrimmage vs U15 White

Today something happened that hasn't happened since October.  We had everyone at training!  It was a momentous occasion.  As soon as I saw that everyone was at the field, I felt a huge energy boost and I was excited to get going.

Everyone had arrived at training 15-20 minutes early so I told the girls of their new challenge for the next 3 weeks.  Back in the fall we challenged the girls to be able to juggle the ball 50 times in a row with just their feet.  The new challenge from now up until our first game of State Cup will be to juggle the ball 30 times in a row with their opposite foot.

I went back and forth on the number knowing that 30 would be too easy for some of the girls and I almost set it at 50.  But for some of the girls they still really struggle juggling for their weaker foot and I want to be able to say that everyone on the team can get to a certain level.  For the girls who 30 was too easy I challenged them to see who could be the first person to get to 100, 250, and 500.

About half the girls achieved the 30 juggle mark and LK is the current high juggler with 98.

I. Technical Work: Crossing and Finishing

I divided the girls into 3 groups of 6 and sent each group to a goal.  1/2 the girls were crossers and 1/2 were finishers.  The crossers took one touch and worked on driving the ball to the pk spot or far post.  The finishers worked on timing their runs and finishing through a header or volley.

We started on the right side and switched to the left and worked on attacking the end line to cross the ball and attacking the end line but cutting the ball back early and delivering a cross in the air.  For the cut back we worked on the runners into the box adjusting their runs by backing up when the crosser cuts the ball back.  We call it "pulling off the defender."

II. 2v1 Wide Play to 2v1 Finishing

I have been wanting to do this exercise for a couple of weeks now but we never had the right numbers to make it work.  We ended up spending more time than I had planned on the crossing and finishing so we only had about 10 minutes for this.  Not enough time to really get into the drill, but I wanted to intro it for the girls so we will be able to really get into it at our next 1/2 field training.

Set Up

• 2 Blue crossers begin staggered in the wide channel
• 2 Blue finishers begin near the center circle with a ball
• 2 Red defenders begin at the disk 10 yards away
• Same set up on opposite side of the field

 Procedure

• Blue finisher plays the ball out to the Blue attacker who is in the advanced position
• 1 Red defender goes out to the wide channel where the 2 Blue crossers go 2v1 against her 
• 1 Red defender stays in the middle to defend the 2 Blue finishers who begin to make their runs wide into the box

• The crossers go 2v1 until they are able to play the ball into the 2 finishers
• As soon as the cross is played in the other side begins

There are lots of different ways to approach the 2v1: Give and Go, Overlap, Dribble, Lay It Back For An Early Cross

We talked about the visual cue that if the defender is sitting back from the ball carrier she can play an early cross in behind the defender in the middle

We only introduced this today, but we will be working a lot on the different ways to get the ball into the box and the runs the finishers can make.  I hope to build it so we will have a recovery defender out wide to put more pressure on the crossers and I want to build towards having 2 or 3 defenders in the middle that the finishers have to beat to the ball.

III. Scrimmage vs U15 White

Earlier in the day Singer had called me asking if the 13's would be interested in scrimmaging the 15's for the last 1/2 of training.  I was all for it so Singer called Yong and asked if we could do it and he said that because he would have a lot of players tonight he wanted to make sure that we played for at least 45 minutes so he could get all the girls enough playing time.  Fine by me.  

I asked him again if he thought it would be beneficial for his girls.  They are so much bigger, faster, and stronger than us, plus it is difficult for them to get excited to play a team that is 2 years younger than them at this age.  (15-13 is a lot different than 18-16) Yong said it would be good for them to get in some game experience before they begin MRL play so we were all set.

We were awesome in the scrimmage.  We continued where we left off from last weekend.  We moved the ball around really well.  We were dangerous in the attack.  A couple minutes in we sent a header on a corner kick just over the bar.  We are becoming very dangerous on corners.  

We played super well defensively and did a great job of forcing them one way and denying them switching the field, which is what they are very good at.  Our central defenders, Brownie and Lydia, did not let their forwards turn and attack us.  Brownie had one spectacular tackle when she was caught 1v1 with one of their players as the last defender.  She did a great job of jockeying and when the moment was right she got stuck in, won the ball, and sent the attacker flying.

The 15's scored off a corner when AJ hit the ball out into the danger area when she was caught deciding between catching the ball and punching it.  We blocked the first shot, but the second shot flew past us into the empty net.

The girls responded well and continued to play good defense and attack.  With 5 minutes left in the scrimmage we had the ball out on the right wing.  We played the ball to Kenzie (RM) who flicked it onto Blitz (fwd) who headed it onto Gaffer (fwd) who was running into space!  Gaffer accelerated and finished off the break away with a nice toe poke over the goalie.

I was super happy with how the girls played in the scrimmage today.  I don't know if we will be able to play the 15's this close again this year as I'm sure they will be motivated the next time we play them.  After the training Yong and I began to set up a scrimmage between the 2 teams for this Saturday so it will be another really good test for us.

WDM Premier Games Game #2 vs JUSC (IA)

The wind had picked up considerably during the day and the wind played a huge factor in the U12 White's second game.  The first half was dominated by us scoring 3 goals and not letting the Blue Valley team out of their half.  The second half was controlled by them with us struggling to get out of our half, but they only managed to finish one of their chances.  I wondered if the wind would have an effect on our game.

Right after the game I took the scenic route through Des Moines to get to the Cownie Soccer Complex.  I arrived at the field just as the 12 Blues were kicking off on the field that we would be playing on.  It was really nice of the Tournament Director to set up Mark's 12's and my 13's with back to back game times on the same field.  

As the 12's began to dominate I made my way one field over to watch the Gladiator team from Nebraska playing Dakota Rev.  Whoever won this game would be the team who we would be playing tomorrow providing we played up to our potential in our 2nd game.  As soon as I arrived at the sideline Gladiator's CM cracked a 25 yard shot into the top part of the net to take a 1-0 lead.  1 minute later the same center mid played a through ball to set up a 2nd goal.  They scored another goal and missed a PK all in the first half.  

Gladiators were playing either a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3 but the key to their team was the 3 center midfielders.  I was really looking forward to playing against a team with 3 center mids because we have not played against a team with 3 center mids besides our 14's back when they were playing a 4-3-3.  With how well our center mids had played defensively in the first game I wanted to see how they could handle playing against a midfield trio.

Onto our game.  We started the game really well.  We were spread out and moved the ball all over the field.  We were very composed on the ball and the girls were seeing the benefit of proper spacing on the field and they were recognizing when to make certain runs.  Our only small issue was our forwards runs.  We haven't worked on them yet so I wasn't too worried, but we continued to talk to the girls on the sidelines about the different types of runs they could make.

We had numerous chances but the JUSC goalie continued to make good save after good save.  14 minutes in their goalie pushed a shot just wide of the post for a corner.  Becks swung the corner in and Sizzle ran onto it and flicked it to the penalty spot.  Jordy got a touch on the ball and it found it's way to Kari who hammered home the ball for our first goal.

Four minutes later we had a good passing movement that found Blitz (fwd) making a great diagonal through run towards the left corner, (Yes!  A run into space!) and after a controlling touch she found Kari running in from the right mid who took a touch and finished off her second goal in 4 minutes.  It was a great team goal.

After this goal we were really rolling and the girls were very fun to watch.

At the 26th minute we were fouled just inside our attacking half.  As everyone was running with their back to the ball to get set up for the free kick, LK found Sizzle making a quick run on the far side of the field and played her the ball.  Sizzle took a touch and crushed the ball past the diving keeper and into the net.  

This goal is one of the favorite goals that we've scored this year.  The fact that both LK and Sizzle were tuned in and were looking to be dangerous the second the foul was called shows another level of player.

Nothing to say at half time but to continue playing like we were in the first half and challenge the girls to not allow Johnston a single shot on goal.  Take pride in the shutout.  We continually talk about the idea that when we get up on a team and are playing well, we never ever want to give up a goal.

Second half was very similar to the first half as we continued to play really, really well.  We were finding a great balance of passing to feet and to space.  About 75% feet and 25% space.  I was happy to see that the wind was not having an effect on our game because we really like to keep the ball on the ground.  We had a handful of really good chances but their goalie continued to play well and we missed the net on a couple of other chances.

15 minutes into the half we were on the board again through some quick midfield passing that sprang Gaffer through on a break away and our 4th goal.

The girls didn't let up the rest of the game and we were able to keep the ball in Johnston's half until the final whistle.

After the game we talked about how our defenders and our defensive effort were what allowed us to play so well offensively.  It is crucial for the girls to stay focussed on defense.  We gave our defenders Brownie, Lydia, Jazzy, LK, Taz, and our goalie, AJ, the recognition they deserved for keeping 2 consecutive clean sheets and 3 in our last 3 games.

* * *
Just after we scored our first goal I received the news that this would be our last game of the tournament due to the weather.  I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be able to play Gladiators and KC tomorrow.  This was the tournament that we had really been prepping for the entire spring and winter.  It was the culmination of our last month of games and how I was going to really judge what we needed to work on before State Cup and hopefully Regionals.  

Because we have to play our first State Cup games the last weekend in April we are not going to be able to play against any of the other top Regional teams that we would have been able to play at the Eclipse tournament that weekend.  So now the challenge will be to try and find local competition that will be able to prep us.

Right after I received the word that the rest of the tournament was cancelled a JUSC player went down injured after being hit with the ball.  It's incredible how much the ball stings when it is cold out.  This injury left the Johnston team with only 10 players.  

I thought about withdrawing one of our players but I decided that I wasn't going to short our kids playing time because they did not bring enough players to the tournament.  Especially after hearing that we were not going to be playing tomorrow.  

I decided that this would be a good training session for us on how to move the ball and keep our spacing with limited pressure.

I had watched part of their first game and they had 12 players.  I didn't ask their coach what the deal was with bringing so few players to a tournament but I had wished that I would have asked to change our schedule on Friday night to play the other top seeds.  I guess we can only play the teams put in front of us and this turned out to be a really good training session for us.

I made the decision that I wasn't going to drive home into the Storm of the Century.  I'd much rather go back to the hotel and watch the best team and college basketball, UNC, to see if they could continue their journey to the National Championship that everyone had said that they would win one year ago.  I love that they have been able to perform with the target on their back the entire year.