Pirlo, Long Passes, & Control - Revised 8/20

OPTA And UEFA Stats For EURO 2012

Pirlo Highlights Modern Characteristics Of Football

Get stuck in son!  Er, can't tackle what I can't catch, Boss.

Coming out of EURO 2012, one brief mention in another blog post (by Martin Laurence at whoscored) about the number of long passes played by Andrea Pirlo (named by Michael Cox as "...the most important player of his generation.") in the tournament got me thinking about youth soccer, and how misinformed so many participants are.  Laurence used OPTA's stats and a careful reading of their definitions does not satisfy the obvious question; how long is a long pass? (8/20/12 NOTE: FourFourTwo, who partners with OPTA to offer their statszone app, state that the definition of a long pass is anything over 30 yards)  UEFA does the same, and their numbers were different for Pirlo: from the final backward through the group stage he played, by UEFA's count, 11 (of 81)-13 (of 86)-32 (of 146)-9 (of 91)-14 (of 79)-12 (of 57) long passes.  That's an average of 15.16 long passes per game, 50% more than OPTA credited him with- more on this below.

LMSC Weekly

Quick Boys Meet John Hackworth; Springboks Perform Well In First Match Of 2012

• Hackworth, 1 Stinson, 0 - He stuck to his guns...I didn't
• Heatstroke, hydration, and 11 year old kids
• Injured versus hurt
• A teachable moment in the Springboks' game
• The sticky points of playing against your own club
• The challenges of differing coaching styles
• A call for more cohesive club structure in America

Some related themes this week between the two sides, and some crossover points which fans of both teams may find of interest.  Everything below is written presuming both sets of team families/players will take interest!

Hackworth, whose son was on the Nether Providence Broncos team, is clearly putting his money where his mouth is, which was nice affirmation that the folks involved with US Soccer and who are leading the charge to improve player development in this country are not only offering advice, but also taking their own advice.  The most prominent characteristic of the Broncos' approach was that their GK never (maybe not quite never, but close enough) punted or kicked long.  This is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the new wave of player development guidelines, and one I have veered from with the QBs the last two matches...shamefully in front of a man I admire and whose advice I hope to spread further in youth soccer.

GK Technical

Defending The Short Service

Maryland's Cardona Overplays Difficult Situation

Maryland hosted UCLA on August 31st in a great matchup of top programs.  Inside 15 minutes, however, the visitors had a 2-1 lead on a goal that could have been prevented.  A breakdown in still captures follows:

Cardona starts well off his line, but never advances, and so, after the attackers first touch, fails to generate any sense of additional pressure on him...

EPL Analysis

Man City Transition

We're So Good, Say Mancini's Men, We Don't Need The Ball
(But We'll Keep It Anyway)

A quick look at one instance of how a top team with an all-universe roster of players is set up to, and executes, counter-attacking football.  The notion of teams dominating possession in order to win is faulty; many great teams are happy ignoring possession stats in favor of creating counters from extraordinarily strong defensive efforts.  The midfield group of Milner, Toure Yaya, Rodwell and Sinclair are not a tricky, 90-plus passes per game sort of bunch.  They form a pretty hard block in front of the center backs (be they two or three...City are messing around with 3 in the back, to the befuddlement of Jonathon Wilson, one of my favorite football analysts) who are, in their own right, a very, very solid group of defenders.  Never mind that Joe Hart is wearing the gloves behind all this armament.

U-20 Women

U-20 National Team Advances To Final

Fitness Proves Difference Over Nigerians In Semi-Final

See the goals here.  

The Nigerians did provide a tough test, twice narrowly failing to score, once on a breakaway that Bryane Heaberlin, the US GK, did just enough to distract the attacker from hitting the target, though only just.  The second near miss was a second half offside call that was finished, but called back, rightly so, but again, only just.

Attacking II (Re-Print)

Arsenal Use Width To Attack Middle
How To Get Behind The Backs 
While Keeping The Ball On The Ground

FROM 2011-12 Season...the old 192 Square Feet archives:

More excellent running by a winger/wide player to expose the center of the defense.  Theo Wolcott (who subsequently missed the 1v1 with the GK...he makes fans and critics absolutely nuts, but in this instance did very well to get in) breaks in from the right of the Arsenal attack, and uses great timing and angling of his run to get in on the GK.  Man U showed us something similar a week or two ago, and I captured that play featuring Danny Welbeck (in the second set of photos) here.

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...