Football is a mindgame ~ You play with your brain.

I recently read an article from a prominent soccer coaching center in Europe. In it, a professional youth coach makes some good points that I would like to apply starting next year.

By now, you have been to enough games to see many of us coaches talking and directing players on the field: “ Hold Johnnie. Run with it. Take him on. Shoot. Rebound. DROP! DROP! “

The scary thing is that such style is incredibly seductive because if the goal is just winning, at a young age, and if the coach knows enough to be dangerous, it will probably work. While teams at this point tend to be very disorganized, the organized team with the puppet master pulling all the strings will usually win. But if our goal is player development, in the long run telling each boy what to do all the time is a disaster. As players get older the game gets faster, spaces become smaller, and pressure becomes much more intense. There simply isn’t time to listen to instructions and react. Only players who can read the game and can instantly and instinctively react will have any chance of maximizing their potential. Soccer is a player’s game.

Soccer is not a coach centric exercise but is inherently player centric. To have any chance of succeeding at higher levels players must be able to see game problems and have the ability to formulate their own solutions.

From a training perspective this means:

• Players must be taught to understand concepts that they can apply to a wide range of situations.
• Players need to learn to make their own decisions.
• Players need to feel free to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

The idea of letting the players play with the minimum of interference in matches, far from reducing the role of the coach, actually elevates the responsibility and makes it much more demanding. If the coach is to perform their job adequately we must become true educators (i.e. teach and repeat during practice, remind during games) but must allow them to take on the game on their own ~ in essence, we have to let the players apply what they have been taught (this is why players it is so important not to miss practices).

The game of soccer has changed greatly over the last 25 years. Players are faster and stronger and the move towards zonal systems has reduced time and space. These trends will continue. The current World and European champions, Spain, are unquestionably the finest team right now. But why?? Is it because they are faster than their opponents? No. Do they have better technique? Yes, they have great technique BUT then so do many other teams. They are the best team because, as soccer players, they are more intelligent than their opponents. For years Spain has been developing its’ youth on a program of rapid, short passing and constant movement to space and the creation of triangles everywhere on the field. The result is a generation of players able to observe, decide and execute faster than those from other nations.

Yes, other countries will catch up to Spain, they will develop their own styles and strategies; that is the nature of a dynamic, competitive system. But only those countries that emphasize intelligence and decision-making in their players will progress. Programs that continue to see soccer as an athletic contest where the team that runs fastest and longest will win are destined to languish in mediocrity.

CONCLUSION

So starting soon I will begin to move towards a more removed role when it comes to the players during games. I want them to begin to make their own decisions. Will I be totally quiet? No. I still need to help them during games and give them support (tell them to calm down, to think, help them see patterns). But I plan to give them more opportunities to make their own decisions and figure things out on their own. BUT remember: I can only do this if the boys do not miss practices AND pay attention. In the end, it will benefit them all.

I'll leave you with a comment the great Johan Cruyff made during his tenure as Barcelona's coach (when he coached Pep Guardiola actually):

“Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster.”  

Johan Cruyff