LMSC Update

Quick Boys Weekend Wrap-Up

A very positive start to the new campaign over the weekend, though the 2-1 loss in the final at the CASA Classic was a less-than-storybook finish!  Several thoughts and observations which ran through my head over the weekend...trying to keep it concise.

First, the technical quality of the boys was both evident and I believe, without being too partial, the best in the competition as a whole.  There is great trickery in the Quick Boys' roster, quality in the passing, and sharp minds across the bunch.  Ultimately, players who control the game play at the highest levels.  That's not to say every player is all-round talented; some are lethal in a mere 792 square yards (the penalty area) like Falcao, leaving the rest of the pitch to his teammates; Blues fans, try to forget this performance:

But, Stamford Bridge can take heart in this...

However, few would argue that Falcao controls the match outside the area to nearly the same extent.  Each boy in our team will tend toward a given position or positions (they are all highly effective now at nearly any position...but that will change as the game becomes ever more complex) but it is the technical quality we saw over the weekend that will allow them to excel wherever their personal strengths land them.  The remarkable aspects of the final match were the absolute lack of fear, given the disparate sizes of the two sides, and the lack of advantage that afforded the CAPA players.  Had our boys been less confident with the ball, less able to evade tackles, or moved passes slower/less accurately, that match may well have gotten out of hand.  Of course, I would be remiss not to mention that our man in goal, Henry, awoke from the relative slumber of the first three matches to show what quality he has, and any other GK at the tournament would have conceded any number of times where Henry stood his ground.  It was, to say the least, an impressive performance.

The conversation we had on the sideline throughout the match was centered around recognizing the difference between opponents 1-3 and 4...it was clear we would have to settle for less possession, and less time on the ball.  Ergo, we would endure more turnovers, and more defensive pressure.  There was impressive maturity in our boys in managing this, with none losing their composure or straying too much from our passing and combination-centered approach.  The poster child for bringing a big bag of guts into the match was Ingram, who was hobbled slightly by a quad strain, and came off at the end of the match with stud marks (and pretty good ones, too!) on  his right thigh, a ball bruise (could see the seams!) on his left thigh, and a nasty pair of scratches down the side of his right leg...and a huge smile on his face the whole time.  Franny's goal was a wonderful shot, cool as you please, and it was interesting to see a boy who is so quiet (around me, anyway) play quite loudly over the weekend (see the stats at the bottom).  

At the half, it was easy, we switched to a 3-3-1 from our 2-4-1 to shore up the back line against the speed of the CAPA boys- Marc, Ingram, Max, Jed, and Cole defended so very well - and I talked about living for games like those.  1-1 against a bunch of HGH-looking monsters, with a half to play and teamful of outstanding performances.  Can't ask for a better situation.  It's not easy at all to shift from 8-0 romps to a tight match (esp. in game 4 in 2 days!) and yet the boys made it look pretty natural.  I suspect they, too, wanted that contest more than the blowouts.

At the end of the day, though, CAPA's size and speed pushed us backward one time too many - thankfully neither goal was very saveable.  It would have been harsh on Henry's performance if he were to give up a goal he could have saved in that match.  Not that he couldn't have saved the goals, but given the volume and quality of the chances, the law of averages won out.  

Some technical points I was very pleased to see come from training to the matches: confident 1v.1 play, good movement of the ball laterally, both individually and collectively- much room for improvement here, but I feel the boys better understand why I am always asking them to "think laterally" as they play.  Defensively, we've done a few sessions of proper 1v1 defending, and tackling with intent to keep possession (versus the kicking at the ball most youth players employ).  This was one area that was moderately successful, and good to see...what is exciting was that over and over through the course of the weekend, the boys saw that officials let proper tackling technique go even with much contact (credit, too, by the way, to CASA...officials were pleasantly un-noticeable!).  We are, I am certain, ahead of the curve in these areas.

Other thoughts...the high-score debate popped right up, of course.  7-0 up in 15 minutes the first game was tricky to handle.  I know others would do differently, but here's my basic line (always allowing that there are special circumstances outside these parameters).  Around 7-9 goals there's a line in youth soccer I don't cross.  Our guys had pretty well proven the point that we were the better team, and I hope to show some of the value of winning with class- or at least empathy and consideration for others.  I'll add that at the U16-ish and up age groups...well, an opponent gets what he gets...I'm not a total hippie.  Additionally, the value of keeping the score within reason (why is 7 or 8 reasonable, but 9 or 10 is not?  I have no idea...it just seems that way to me) and therefore our opponent engaged makes the "conditioned" portion of the match more useful.

For example, we had to keep the ball in the opponent's half, get everyone a touch of the ball and then we could go to goal.  If the ball was out of play, or a free kick given, we started over.  At one point I included Henry in this, but that seems a bit too showy so we went away from that.  Another time we went to the rule that goals could only be scored after everyone touched the ball, it was played to a wide area, served and finished with a one-time shot.  And that ain't easy.  Lastly, before the third match, we had three boys who had not yet scored, so the rule was for them to score first and from there decide about how to proceed.  There are a million other such ways to challenge the kids without totally patronizing the opponent, and for the most part I thought we balanced getting some value out of a game we were winning in a walk with being victorious with humility and respect.  

I will say, it makes my teeth itch to do it...it is loathsome to ask guys to essentially not score.  After all, goals are rare (even Messi'll tell you that!) and it isn't easy to not score.  

Tough situations.  I hope, if nothing else, what I did was understandable to folks...

Player                   Goals                    Assists               GA                 Points

Max                        5                            4                                             14

Franny                     6                            1                                             13

Issy                         3                            4                                             10     

Alex                        3                            1                                                7

Cole                        2                            1                                                5

Wyatt                      1                            2                                                4

Marc                       1                            1                                                3

Jed                          1                            1                                                3 

Ingram                     1                            0                                                2

Henry                      0                            0                      4(GA Avg.:1)     0