U14 Weekly

U14 Boys Weekly

Back-To-Back Service Opens Account

A solid, 2-0 home win began the spring/summer campaign off on a high note, though that is the last mention of the actual winnning of the game to be found here.



The 4-3-3 formation appeared effective, and there are moments when, as a coach, I really wonder if the universe isn't watching what we do; the opening goal, despite our very offensive formation, was a result of Jared George (right back) overlapping Robby Burbank (right winger) and serving the ball across the face of goal toward the center forward and left winger, who had both made good runs in the area.  As it happened, Jared's cross narrowly missed those two, but Evan Chaires made a great run and was able to meet the ball at the back post and was cool enough under pressure to smash the serve home.  I could not have scripted a better goal to start the season with to illustrate how effective attacking full-backs can be.

We'll need to exercise caution against better opposition, however, as we saw in the second half our right backs were often caught up field, leaving forwards open behind themselves.  Any loss of possession became very, very dangerous in this case.  We got a little lucky at times, but generally the two center backs mopped things up well and the boys were able to experiment with this style of play without conceding.  Krasnicj (SP?  "K" from here onward...) may have taken us to task in the cage of death at Rising Stars this winter, but as one of our boys stated during the game, "The offside law is killing these guys!"  It's all well and good to score fistfuls indoor by poaching, cherry picking and so on, and playing long vertical passes, but those options go out the window with three refs and a back 4 who hold a high line (most of Alex Wilcox's touches as the stand-in GK were on long balls he simply had to come out and pick up.)

Some items we'll work on in training in the days to come will include continued work on our spacing in order to maximize our success in passing the ball, and a heavy dose of work in the defensive phase of the game, mainly focusing on the back line, but also the team as a whole.  Our pressing in the opponent's half was effective when we were able to apply it; when we couldn't we became disjointed, one or two players pressing, the rest too far away to press and cover adequately.  This is the crucial moment, where a team must determine instantly if the press is on, or if it will be better to drop off, establish the line of confrontation and press at that point with the whole group.

Several players impressed very much, some starters proving they are fit for the job, and some players off the bench showing they can start, or that they are deserving of more minutes in the next match.  The holiday will disrupt the schedule a  bit, so training time is limited; not only do we need to improve the performance of the team, but those boys with teammates breathing down their necks, and the fellows doing the breathing, will want to have very sharp training sessions to show that the impressions on Monday were not flukes.  My confidence in the team took a sharp move upward, and I was glad that the players played as I hoped they would; now that I know what they can do, we'll see if they can improve further and show consistency.

Tougher tests await, but those players who have been with us for 3-4-5 years are clearly making up the gaps from past seasons.  The new boys this year are settling in well, too, and this spring appears to full of good games, and some clear advancements in the performance of this group.