That was a great game last night. Really enjoyable, skillful soccer. And in that game Girl Power finally got challenged by a team that had more than a physical advantage over them. TC Fire played skillfully throughout and most if not all of their players showed a very good first touch on the ball and their movement up field was mostly achieved with very deft dribbling. They passed the ball a bit more regularly than we would with only a few of their players seeming to look for one-v-one chances but those players were up to it and did win a lot of those match-ups. And, of course, they had a couple of players who had real power in their shooting strokes giving them a real advantage in our half even as Girl Power valiantly repelled one attack after another.
I feel that our girls needed this sort of challenge. They need to see a team that does everything they do in terms of commitment to skillful play and yet simply does it all a tick faster. Our girls have played against weaker competition for so long that their dribbling has taken on a sort of languid pace. They've spent so much time playing teams that won't vigorously challenge for the ball that they've always had time to work with the ball casually, and in those fall games when we did lose the ball it was always due to some wild, kicking sort of attack and the result of that was just that one of our girls farther back in the field would pick the ball up and start the whole attack over again. What they saw last night were defenders who, like Girl Power themselves, go into challenges to steal the ball, to come away with it. So, the girls faced the sort of defensive pressure they have only seen recently from the White Tigers but in this case from a team that had more sure footed finishers.
This past fall was the first season in which Legends fielded select level teams. The one that I coach, my son's U11 team, is made up of players who came out of their final season of U10 recreational (last spring) having reached a point in their development where few rec teams could challenge them. Naturally most of my players came into their first select season with a mixture of excited anticipation of the new competition and confidence in their own abilities. What they found at their first match was that the team we faced was playing at what seemed to my boys a bewilderingly faster pace. My boys complained of being roughed up and pushed around. They complained about the officiating. But when the game was over and they'd calmed down I was able to explain to them that the other team wasn't really particularly rough, they just played the game faster. They closed to challenge faster. They closed on loose balls faster. They got up to full speed on their dribble more quickly. They pulled the trigger on their shots faster and earlier.
By our very next game my U11 boys had begun to pick up their pace and adjust. The pressure of better competition had very quickly started to help them find speed they didn't know they had and now that higher pace is normal. I'm sure our girls will respond the same way. They've been shown by another team that you can play with skill and speed and I'm sure that they'll simply accelerate to match that.
As far as individual play, I can only compliment everyone on their performance. My only post game note for the girls was that I'd like to see them using the "Cruyff" turn skill more and I'd like to see them get their foot on top of the ball while dribbling more often as well as more moves that involve that sort of touch (maradonna, pull-backs, etc). Zoe was using that sort of "carry over" touch a lot and it was very effective. Other than that what I saw was a lot of very good first touches, a lot of every effective basic dribbling and a much improved sense of how to cover the field.
And as for the TC Fire? Well, I think we can get them next time.
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