We came up against the Lou Fusz (MO) team at 8:50AM on Sunday. After seeing the team play a bit yesterday, I didn't think we'd have much trouble if we played a decent game.
I wanted to experiment with a new formation this morning. Our 3-3-1 was effective thus far, but with the wide field we could give up the middle too easily with the girls spread out. Though I always harp on becoming more compact when not in possession of the ball, it was difficult on the wide field for the little-legged girls to close space and passing lanes in defending transition (when we lost the ball). The 3-3-1 was good for our attack wide attack, but I wanted to get more numbers in the box when the cross was about to occur. Also, with one forward forced to moved latterly across a wide field (with not much room to attack vertically up the field), it was difficult for a sole forward to always be an option up field as we switched the point of attack across the back line or through midfield.
With this said, I wasn't too worried that we wouldn't score goals as we have some extremely dangerous attacking players. It was giving up goals that I wanted to address a bit with the formation shift also, as the more talented teams we would likely face in the semis and maybe even in the final if we were to advance that far were sure to have more quality players. I wanted to be able to give these teams the flanks, not the middle of the field.
So I went to a 3-2-2 for this game.
The RM-LM-RF-LF box would give us more numbers in the middle of the field, both on attack and on defense. I went over this with the girls, pointing out the key factors I wanted the girls to grasp with this formation.
Options for our wide defenders to find our forwards, and the constant connection of our twin strikers.
Width when changing the point of the attack by our weak side back.
For warm ups, I put the girls through a 2v1 activity to begin to address proper spacing between the two attackers, proper pace on passes, passing v dribbling to beat defenders, positive first touched to beat defenders, awareness by the second attacker (the attacker without the ball) to not run offsides, and attacking at speed. Sounds like a lot? It is. But in my experience, the girls can pick it up, even when inundated with information. I realize this goes against many coaching philosophies which preach the KISS mentality (Keep It Simple Stupid), and that young players should only be given one or two ideas to work on each session. I think this is great for recreational players and the recreational competitive players. However, I'm not dealing with those types of players on this team, and I've found player development success for these more gifted players my way with info overload of sorts, and I'll keep on this track as long as I continue to see the development results.
Purple 1 has a ball and passes to the Red defender. Red passes back to either Purple 1 or Purple 2, and both Purple players attack 2v1 against the Red defender.
Whichever Purple attackers gets a shot off or loses the ball becomes the next Red defender on deck at midfield.
Blue 1 and 2 begin their sequence by passing to their Red defender as soon as Purple 1 and 2's ball is dead (in the goal, out of bounds, cleared out by the defender)
* * * * *
We completely dominated play in this game. Mallory (LF) was fouled in the 8th minute after she beat the Lou Fusz right defender down the flank, cut inside to goal, and was taken down in the box. B-Money hit a low PK to the left corner (as you face the goal) but it just didn't have enough pace on it. The Lou Fusz GK made a great diving save to keep the score at 0-0.
Two minutes later, we got on the board when Maddog's (RF) left footed cross was deflected in by a Lou Fusz defender.
In the 18th minute, we doubled our lead as Phi Phi (RD) sent a long clearance from the back to Maddog at midfield. Maddog pounced on the loose ball, beat her marking defender and was off to goal.
As recent as 3 weeks ago, Maddog would have dribbled at goal and ripped a shot as hard as she could at goal. I've stressed a lot in the fall training sessions and at the two previous tournaments about finishing with composure and skill when 1v1 with the GK. A lot to ask for at the U11 age group, but I know it can be done. I want the girls to keep the ball under control at speed, get their head up, recognize the GK's position, recognize the open space in the goal, and focus on keeping the ball low using their inside or outside of the foot to finish, not an instep shot for power.
I use a girl named Millie as my benchmark here as when she was at this U11 age group (though playing on my U13 team), she demonstrated a clear ability to pass the ball in the net on breakaways, focusing on accuracy and finesse over power. Millie was the best I've ever seen at doing this at this young age, and there's nothing wrong with me wanting these girls to try and emulate what Millie was able to do.
In this case, Maddog did exactly what I was looking for. Dribbled as speed towards goal, got her head up, saw the Lou Fusz GK stay back on her line, took an additional touch to get closer, and passed the ball with the outside of her right foot into the lower right corner. Nice.
Five minutes later, we put the game away on another 1v1 with the GK. Anna B (LM) received a change of field pass from the right and played a great ball into space for Mallory (LF) to run onto at goal. Mal took a couple touches and toe-poked the ball under the onrushing GK.
Fourteen minutes into the second half, we gave up what would turn out to be our only goal conceded this weekend. A Lou Fusz midfielder took a long, hopeful shot that bounced in front of Maddog in goal. She played the high bounce well, but the ball squirted between her hands and dropped behind her. She made a quick effort to snatch up the loose ball, but the ref (from close to the center cirle mind you) deemed that it crossed the line.
We got our 4th 4 minutes from time as B-Money absolutely hammered a direct free kick home from 25 yards out.
Another good performance from the team.
* * * * *
So as winner of Group C, we were scheduled to come up against the winner's of Group B, Ohio Elite I. As I mentioned, I had seen this team play a number of times and was excited to match up with them but a little bit nervous as well. I admit it, now my sites were set on advancing to the final game if we could, and I would have loved to see Ohio Elite in the final.
However, in looking at all the results this morning, there was a chance that we might not face Ohio Elite in the semis. There were 3 groups of 4 teams, so the 3 group winners and one wildcard team would advance to the semis. Looked like Viati '97 would win Group A, OESA I took Group B, we took Group C. Pending on the results of the 10:10AM round of games this morning, mathematically 1 of 3 teams could take the wildcard spot. If the wildcard came from Group A, my thought was that tournament officials would not have the Group A winner and Group A wildcard meet again for the second time this weekend in the semifinals.
So, as you might imagine, I was pulling for the wildcard to come from Group A so that, if we did end up winning the semifinal, we'd then face OESA I (Group B winner) in the final. In a fall season that has seen so many things go right for this group, the GSE Cardinals (Cincinnati, OH) took the wildcard slot due to goal differential. They were from Group A.
Changes were made at headquarters and we "lucked out" again (from a pure results perspective) as we ended up facing the wildcard team in the semis with Ohio Elite squaring off against Viati '97 in the other match up. I knew we were a better team than the GSE group, thought we were stronger than Viati (though Viati was stronger than GSE), and knew we'd be in for a tough battle with OESA.
As a coach coaching for development, wouldn't I want to face Viati in the semis (a stronger team than GSE) then see OESA in the finals? Probably. But now with the end in site, an end that I didn't really think we'd see coming to this event, I wanted the girls to win it. Is this wrong? I don't know.
* * * * *
GSE were a big team. I watched them play their final group game this morning and was confident our speed, quickness, and skills would carry us through.
The game started out well for us. As I have in most regional tournament games this fall, I started with Normy in goal. We have a few girls who can play GK well, but Normy is at another level. I don't want to pigeon hole players at this young age, but in the tournament games that I feel are "bigger" games, I put the players in positions and make tactical substitutions in the best interest of team results. Results over development here again? Maybe. Is this wrong? For sure... if it was the same for every single game this team played. However, I do rotate players around a lot and still have relatively equal playing time for all the girls. I say relatively because I don't usually change my central defender during a half, preferring for some consistency in the back line. I also rarely change my GK until the halftime break. All other players (with 14 on the roster for most tournaments) play at least 50% of the game. [8v8 with 14 player - 1 GK, 1 central defender = 12, so the 6 on the bench rotate in and out with the 6 others (excluding our central defender and GK) on the field].
We came out strong and played well early on. Field conditions were hard and bumpy, and it was really windy. Tough to control the ball and knock it around. We had the wind at our back and this hindered the GSE team from clearing their defensive zone, so most of the half was spent in their end. It wasn't pretty soccer, but the girls battled hard.
In the 14th minute, Maddog (RF) hit over a sweet corner kick to the far post, though a bit too far out from the danger area 6 yards off the goal line (where I like the girls to aim their corner kicks). We had struggles a bit on our corner kicks this weekend on the wide fields, but I had given a few of the girls some refreshers about hitting long, aerial balls earlier in the day during our downtime. The GSE GK, not anticipating the strong kick, came off her line to the near post to play the cross, but the ball sailed over her. It dropped near the top of the penalty box (14 yards out), Ash (LF) flicked a pass to Pig Pen (aka Rooney) (RM), and Rooney lasered a ball into the back of the open net between to GSE defenders.
Five minutes later we doubled our lead as B-Money (RM) hit over another corner from the opposite side of the field. It was a great service, right to the danger area I was looking for. The GK was caught in no-man's land (exactly why I want the corners put to the top of the 6 yard box), should I come out or should I stay on my line? Meg (LF) came barreling in as a slot runner and hit the ball first time for the goal.
Six minutes into the second half, we put the game away with a great goal.
Meg (RD) won a tackle about 10 yards in our defending half and started up field. With time and space, she served in an early cross to Maddog (LF) at the top of the GSE box. Maddog, with her back to goal shielding the defender, laid a ball off to her supporting runner Sophie (LM) who hit a low hard shot past the GSE GK. 3-0 in a good result. Off to the finals.
During the game, I kept sneaking glances over my shoulder at the other semifinal being played right next to us. It looked to be a hard fought contest as I heard both team celebrate multiple goals. As it turned out, the game went into over time, with Viati '97 scoring the Golden Goal to win it in the sudden death period.
I had seen both teams play this weekend and felt Ohio Elite was the stronger team. Though Viati would be a tough opponent in the final later today, I was disappointed (truly) not to see Ohio Elite in the final. I thought we were a better team than Viati, wasn't as sure about Ohio Elite. But if Viati beat them...
* * * * *
With the wind behind us again for the first half of play, we once again started out strong in the Championship game.
Within the first five minutes, Maddog, our goal scoring terror of the weekend, created a great chance at left forward. She received the ball on a change of field pass, and took the Viati right defender on 1v1. She cut to the inside of the field, had what I thought was enough space to rip a shot from just inside the penalty box, but chose to cut back to her weaker left foot and then shoot. I yelled out and encouraged her to take advantage of the shooting opportunity with her stronger foot instead of cutting back, trying to beat the defender, and take a less powerful strike on goal.
As I usually do, whatever I yell out to a player on the field I turn and give instruction to the girls on the sidelines. Did you guys see that? Did you guys understand what I was just trying to tell Maddog? Did you see that she had the opportunity to take a shot with her stronger foot? And so on.
A couple minutes later, almost the exact same situation occurred with Maddog running at the Viati right defender. She angled in at goal again, cut the ball to the inside with the outside of her right foot, took another touch across the top of the penalty box, and hammered in the opening goal with a solid strike from 14 yards out.
Like that, Dorky? Came the call from someone on the bench. Yep.
We carried the play the remainder of the half, though again the windy conditions and hard surface didn't lend to as pretty of a game as it could have been between these teams. Viati was a skilled team with a super-fast and athletic outside left midfielder and a very talented central player in Edgar Davids glasses.
Two minutes from the halftime whistle, Maddog struck again. Though I took notes during the game, I somehow neglected to write anything down about this goal. After I watch the tape, I'll update.
The second half was a more even match up. Though we played better soccer going into the wind, the wind helped Viati keep up the pressure against us with longer clearances from their back line. We defended very well with Mallory (our tournament MVP) as our central defender, Gizmo, Viv, Phi Phi, Meg, and Emi all rotating in at one point or another as outside defenders. Bargsy (Anna B), Sophie, Ash, and Rooney all had solid performances in our midfield, with Maddog, B-Money, Raley, Phi Phi and Emi up top.
Normy was on fire in goal. She made a handful of saves that likely any other player on this team would have struggled to make. She was sure-handed and confident - a huge advantage at this age level. If she decides to pursue this position in the years to come, I think she'll do very well at it. If she were not such a talented field player as well, I'd probably suggest seeking more formal GK instruction. Actually, I'll probably suggest that anyways. At this point though, though I ask her to play at least a half at GK in games like this, if she ever said no I'd put someone else in. Maybe. :)
The game ended 2-0, and for the first time that I know of, a Minnesota girls team was crowned at the Best of the Midwest.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 02:14PM 