So why did I start the girls out in "positions" last night. Am I finally going to start working with them on developing a passing game? No. Girl Power plays with a lot of skill but they still tend to crowd the ball and what I want to encourage them to do is to have a better sense of the whole field rather than simply being fixated on the ball. I was hoping to use that "position" set-up as a way to force them to stay far enough away from the ball sometimes that they'd actually have a better view of what was happening all over the field.
In the video above you see a recent match between Barcelona and Espanol. With Messi, Neymar and Suarez Barcelona have three of the best one-v-one dribblers in the world and you do see some of that skill on plain display when Messi takes that delicate first touch from Suarez' pass and with a little flick-on past the defender creates space for a shot where there had been none. We're used to seeing that from Lionel but what's fascinating here is that you see from all three players a brilliant display of awareness and anticipation. Neymar sees that Luis Suarez is in a position where a good pass to him will put him one-v-one with the right back. As the pass comes to Suarez he has so much space you might expect him to take on that back and go for the goal himself but he control's Neymar's pass so deftly that he has plenty of time to look up and assess his options. And what does he see? Messi, suddenly streaking toward the top of the box. Messi sees the possibility at the same time Suarez does and without hesitation Suarez makes that beautiful chip over a defender and right to Leo's feet. These are three of the most accomplished ball control players in the world and that control gives them the ability to look up from the ball and see the possibilities, to anticipate.
In order to play cooperatively like that and to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves players must be able to assess the situations they're in. They've got to see the whole field and know in an instant where they are, where their teammates and the opposition are. What we see at the highest level in the game are players who have the experience and skill to act in concert. We see the passing and, like an alley-oop in basketball, the effortless quality that sort of combination play has is just astounding. But we must not take for granted what players need before they can get anywhere close to that sort of cooperative play. They need ball skills, obviously. But they also need vision.
Many a coach get's enamored of that sort of combination play and they want their young soccer players to start passing right away to create that beautiful weaving of movement to the goal. What they get is a lot of kicking instead and if you have a couple of stout defenders with big legs and at least one rabbit to play up top you can have some early, if ugly, success. But a true passing attack is a tactic that requires a lot of individual technique to execute. Without the technique (skills) tactics are pointless. With the Legends approach we know that we can't put the cart before the horse. First and most importantly we've got to put players on a path to developing their individual dribbling and ball control skills, a path that encourages creativity and fearlessness, that values effort and real joy in play over game outcomes. With Girl Power I'm lucky to have the most committed group of dribblers and ball-hogs I've ever coached and do they love to play! Last night's performance was really special. I had asked them before the game to be sure to keep away from the walls and always try to dribble into open space in the middle of the field. I suggested to them that to do that they would need to use moves other than the simple cuts and zig-zags I'd seen so much of recently. "Get your foot on top of the ball and show me those Maradonas and play-behinds. Show me those Cruyff turns." Wow, did they ever come out ready to put on a show.
On Eileen's first possession she started her dribble with a little carry-over touch coming from her right into the middle of the field. As the first opposition player came toward her she quickly stopped the ball with her right foot then spun counter clock-wise to make a perfect little pull-back with her left foot that took her right past the defender. After that great start everyone got on board and started trying all their skills. Abby had some beautiful play-behinds but last night she broke out a new move, a sort of step-over, that she used to weave across and back over the field until she found a seam to exploit. The pull-back and play-behind was Anna's move too and she used it to great affect repeatedly.
Zoe and Ava were showing off the great Cruyff turn move they both have nailed down in practice. My thought watching them both was "finally!" as they both can do that move so fast in practice but they rarely bring it out in games. I assume that's because they don't always realize it when they are in a situation where that skill is just what's called for. And that's why it's so important for me to keep encouraging them to attempt to use those skills and forget the score. Only by trying the skills in a game situation can they develop a sense of when to use a particular move. That was what I said to Emily as she took a break on the bench after making a great run where she did three Cruyffs in a row. She actually does a sort of Maradona/Cruyff combo move where she reaches out to pull the ball back under herself then executes a quick left-footed pull-back to get turned around. She didn't make much progress up field on that particular run as she went into the move each time a little early, before the defender was really engaged. But she kept the ball, possessing it for at least five seconds. If you watch a game closely to see how long any one possession lasts I can assure you that you'll see that anything over three seconds is atypical, even for a team like ours.
I was really happy to see both Hailey and Ashley attempt some more complex moves in this game. I've been a little concerned lately that the two of them have been too reliant on their current strengths; a delicate touch for Hailey and overwhelming speed for Ashley. For both of them it can often seem that they don't need anything else. Hailey can move so quickly with the ball and has such delicate control, even in a crowd, that she is often very successful taking a direct path to the goal. Similarly, Ashley is so fast and so sure-footed on her shot (with either foot) that she can usually beat the last defender by making a big touch to one side and simply outrunning them to get to the ball.
Last night both girls had moments where they not only changed direction but also changed pace, using moves that require them to actually stop the ball momentarily and hopefully what they learned was that in doing that you can use a defending players inertia against them, drawing them one way with speed then changing pace and direction to get them to over-run you. That's how Abby's step over works. She dribbles straight ahead then sort of runs past the ball and then turns full on it to reverse direction. That step-over past the ball always tricks a defender into taking another step too and so when Abby turns back she's gained at least two steps of space.
With all of the girls performances last night I think what was most apparent to me was that often unappreciated affect that using these sorts of "toe-on-the-ball" moves has: this type of dribbling requires patience and a willingness to take a longer path to the goal and so it usually results in longer stretches of tenacious ball possession.
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