Becky Hammon

Another..............Barrier............Broken..........

Becky Hammon and Tony Parker

It's all about women this week.  After the previous post on Malala, which wasn't exactly soccer-related, but certainly applicable to young women learning to lead in any situation, young coach Becky Hammon popped up on the radar, and brought a great example of a woman being a leader in sports to mind.  Sadly, soccer is struggling with all the same issues.  Sometimes it feels like we should be there already.

Isn't it common sense that anyone can teach, organize, lead, research, play, create, sell - regardless of social/racial/ethnic/religious/financial/geographic/etc. background?  And yet...

Our determination to preserve a sense of exceptionalism about ourselves is pretty impressive.  I'm special, not advantaged!  And certainly not biased...though how often do we adjudge potential in others based on shared characteristics?  Went to the same school, grew up in the same area, looks the same as me?  It is the very deepest, gooiest mud in which the "other" must gain traction and break through the incessant barriers to equality- though not the only mud.  It's important to see people advance in fields where folks who look like them, come from backgrounds like them and so on have never been before.  But it's starting to feel like there's no end to the glass ceilings, old boys clubs, and protected turf.  Lots of credit to Becky Hammon for working her way into the San Antonio Spurs' organization and convincing Greg Popovich to hire her (and to him for the integrity to hire a good person, regardless of the packaging).  She's another of our dogged heroes pursuing her goals and testing her abilities at the highest level no matter the unlikely nature of even having the opportunity.  She's fortunate to have crossed paths with Popovich; she's inspiring because she made sure she was too good for Popovich to overlook.  There's a lot to unpack in this sort of situation.

BleacherReport has a nice background story on Hammon, and there are some insightful comments presented as common knowledge that indicate another tiny shift in mainstream thinking that will give hope to non-white/male/middle-aged coaching candidates (and people in any other sector struggling against similar demographic sticking points - women make up more than half the worlds' population....seems idiotic to refer to Hammon here as a "minority," though she is in terms of the demographics of coaching...see, lots to unpack!)

A couple months ago, Janet Napolitano spoke in Philly and offered some comments on women and leadership and I shared some her speech in this space, and the BleacherReport article makes them worth repeating here again:

In the final analysis, effective leadership depends on a few key pieces.  Leaders must have a long-term vision.  They must think bigger and persuade other people that they want to be part of this something bigger.  They must also have a sense, operationally, of how to get it all done.  

And then they must have the wisdom and patience to step back and let others do it. 

All of the above is true if you are a man. 

All of the above is true if you are a woman.

From the article on Hammon, here are several good quotes from Pop about his hiring priorities...clearly nothing here that only men can provide (or white guys, or whatever...):

Popovich...seeks out coaches with strong ideas and strong voices, who will challenge him and keep the creative sparks flying, whether in the video room or in a fourth-quarter timeout.
Other traits Popovich looks for in a prospective coach: "Are they comfortable in their own skin? Can they admit fault? Can they admit a mistake? Can they communicate? All those things you think about before you hire somebody, because the worst thing is a coach that can't admit that he or she was wrong, and it's their way or the highway. Or can't participate or give the players ownership in what's going on on the court. That's not going to work in the NBA. It's got to be a participatory sort of thing."
There is one other requirement...that Popovich calls mandatory..."Sense of humor," he said. "No sense of humor, no job."

Just for fun, here's the 112th Congress, with all 13 women - 112 editions of this body has seen an increase in representatives by 6-fold (91 in the first Congress/539 in the 112th), and a mere 13 women have found their way into the club:

Leadership

After the Nobel Prizes were handed out the other day, I caught a review of the Peace Prize ceremony in which Malala Yousafzai accepted her award.  She was, of course, the Pakistani girl who was shot point blank in the forehead by a Taliban soldier for the crime of advocating for education for women and girls.  A real menace to society, this girl.

Women Worth Following

Her speech gave me chills, as I listened on WHYY...she's an amazing young woman.  What chilled me in a very different way was when I watched the video (below) the indifference of the old men in the room "listening" to her.  To be so jaded as to check your phone during this hero's speech is stunning.  You really can't trust anyone over 30, can you?

But, that's life with bureaucrats...it'll always be the Malala's, the Rosa Parks', and Mother Teresa's who change things.  Regular folks who have the guts and the (mis)fortune to be granted (or survive to) a platform from which they may speak truth to power, and their courage and ideals be moved forward from the darkness of oppression and the status quo.

Malala is a reminder that the purest form of leadership is humbly seeking the manifestation of an ideal, pursuing it whether in the limelight or not, and letting nothing turn attention from the ideal.  She'll chase this simple (but paradigm-shifting) goal her whole life, whether anyone follows her or not - and that's what makes her so powerful.  The strength of that conviction, the selflessness of the ideal and the doggedness she displays make her a source of optimism for her supporters and perhaps most importantly, a consistent and reliable point of reference.

But watch, and let her prove the point herself:

Unexpected Success

DC United Buck Conventional Wisdom

In a remarkable turnaround year for DC, two stats jump out:
They have conceded the second-highest "shots against per game average" in MLS...and have conceded the second-fewest "goals per game average" in the league.

In 2013 they tallied 16 points all season (3pts for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss...) whereas this year they chalked up 58 points and more than doubled their offensive output.

Giving up nearly 40% fewer goals helped too!  But it's tough to give up fewer goals when nearly leading the league in shots against.  Remarkable stuff.

Two possible explanations: terrific team defense that compresses the penalty area space and forces teams to launch from long range...the sometimes excoriated Bill Hamid at GK is improving and becoming the keeper everyone hoped he would (Which is always funny...a guy who "will be" good is blasted for an error in Olympic qualifying as though the process of developing into a top-notch professional is to be an error-free process.  Brilliant.)  And lastly, lady Luck....sometimes it lasts for a while, for good or for ill.  Liverpool rode it last year, and now we're surprised (really?) when a team that gave up that many goals and didn't buy some better defenders this summer is seeming to struggle this year. Interesting thoughts on a lack of defenders in the pro game here.  Arsene Wenger quoted within:

"People say we should buy defenders, but there is not a lot on the market and if you look at the other clubs, they had exactly the same problem as we did. Everybody is looking for defenders and everybody couldn't find any."

As for shots from distance, here's some numbers to consider:

This may cover up the really good stuff, but it does reveal some tantalizing information.  I sorted the table the link takes you to by distance...that's the average distance a goal was scored from.  I have listed here, in descending order of distance, the double-digit scorers in MLS.

The breakdown:

5 guys in double digits averaging more than 22 yards per goal - 59 goals

20 guys scoring 10 or more goals from inside 21 yards - 273 goals 

That's 83 % of all goals scored by the best goal scorers from inside 21 yards

Gotta get into the penalty area, or very close to it...

Morales 27 yards / 10 Goals

Espindola 25yds/10 Goals

Nguyen 24yds/17 Goals

Valeri 24yds/11 Goals

Higuain 24yds/11 Goals

Henry-Barnes-Silva 21yds/10-11-11 Goals

Dempsey 20yds/ 15 Goals

Plata 20yds/13 Goals

Donovan-Brown-Defoe-Torres-Keane-Finlay 19yds/10-10-11-15-19-11 Goals

Castillo-Bruin-Le Toux 18yds/10-10-12 Goals

Martins-Perez 17yds/17-11 Goals

Dwyer-Wondolowski 16yds/ 22-14 Goals

Zardes 15yds/16 Goals

WrightPhilips 14yds/25 Goals

Courage

"Maybe in my next life I will be a number nine and miss five chances but stick one in and be a hero.  It's great. A goalkeeper can't let five in and save one to be a hero. You understand that from day one. When I look at the best goalkeepers in the world, success doesn't matter to them, failure doesn't matter to them. They just do their job."

The above quote from Tim Howard via the Liverpool Echo and ESPN came at a time when it seemed every GK on earth was making errors.  A small sampling below, helpful for meditating on the guts required to be a GK, the comfort level one needs to handle the devastating effects of even small errors, and the confidence and resilience necessary to get back to work after such moments.

First the Philly Union saw their playoff hopes pretty well sunk as a result of this error by new GK Rais Mbolhi (skip to 4.32 mark for the play):

Tough to watch.

Then there's this from the number one college team in the nation, Notre Dame, at home to Boston College:

Blame that on the Center Back...but the GK is half the communication problem there, so...

NC State said "thanks!" to another top ten team in Louisville for this GK gift of a goal (about 30 seconds into the film):

http://www.gopack.com/allaccess/?media=462648

Haverford Analysis

College Defending

In an interesting match at Kean earlier this month, Haverford fell 2-1 in OT.  With suspensions and injuries depleting the starting lineup, Haverford sat in low pressure and absorbed Kean's attacks, conceding a great deal of possession, but still had a chance to win with a 1-0 lead as late as the 86th minute.

The efficacy of low pressure defending is seen all over the world, and at all levels.  While everyone would love to play flowing football with lots of passes and combinations, it is rare to have the requisite talent to do so.  Our own Philly Union have shown this year how solid defensive organization and pragmatism can get results repeatedly.

Kean have wonderful, technical players, but even for that talent, it was tough sledding against a team determined to minimize mistakes by keeping the game small and manageable.  However, it wasn't as clean a performance as it could have been (of course!) and the value of possession and patience can be seen below.

In the first still frame we see a good shape and starting position by the red (Haverford).  However, Kean are patient and simply roll the ball from one outside back across to the other, to the tune of three or four times in this particular possession.  There isn't much space here for the Kean attack to advance the ball:

On the third switch of play, we see the second still frame:

Here things are getting dicier.  The outside backs have become far too stretched, essentially opening up huge spaces for the midfielders to play in, and making it very tough for the Haverford center mids to help each other out.  The Kean wingers are in 1v1 situations with lots of space; the Haverford CBs will find it tough to get out to cover the outside backs.  The 1v1 between the ACM for Kean and the lone HCM for Haverford (inside the center circle) is a good situation for Kean as well.  

The main problem is that the Haverford ACM (red arrow) hasn't closed down the Kean HCM fast enough and this may allow that Kean player to face the back four, and play positive passes into advanced teammates who now have more space than we'd like to operate.  This may be a result of the Haverford forward and ACM pressing too high up the field so they are chasing across too much space (with too little support the team is stretched,) or they have lost their shape/starting position as the outside back begins to swing the ball back across the field so the ACM is late to press the holder, or that the back 4 and holders did not move up to provide cover for the two forward players...I won't say in this space which the staff prefer...but for certain the left-to-right dimension is far too wide.

Credit must be given to Kean for their patience and skill, and it's a fine lesson in why slightly dull ball swinging through the back 4 is useful- no team can maintain their shape integrity indefinitely defensively.  However, it's simple enough to fix this spacing and pressing issues - much harder to learn the creative and high speed play to break that defending down.  Jose Mourinho has made a very good living allowing his opponent to have the ball based on the assumption that the team with the ball will make more mistakes than the team without; SPEC goals.  Set Pieces, Errors, Counters.  The stuff coaches live in terror of!

Defending Crosses

Nerves Of Steel

Here's why the old-fashioned cry of "just put it in the box" is ill-advised.  Mind you, GKs have been doing this stuff for decades...but these days the level of organization inside the penalty area means that GKs and backs are accounting for very small margins.  Attackers must be very cool and precise to break down such defenses.

Wojciech Szczesny pulls out all the stops to defend this Man City cross.  The attack comes from a tough angle for the GK as the player with the ball is able to threaten the goal, particularly if the defender over-pursues and allows him to run at the goal.  The attacker is also well-positioned to play a ball between the GK and the covering CB (Per Mertesacker) for the central attacker to run on to.  To mitigate some of these threats, Szczesny does a quick little cheat move, though in the end the attacker elected to play a ball into a space reasonably comfortably covered by Mertesacker who cleared over the endline for a corner.  For a GK, however, the lesson is a good one in terms of excellent footwork and timing to gain an advantage...perhaps his movements forced the crosser to pick out a less dangerous pass.

With the attacker just approaching the edge of penalty area, Szczesny has a solid, if basic, starting position:

As the attacker is put under a small bit of pressure, puts his head down to attack the defender and advance into the penalty area, Szczesny jumps a yard or more, nearly to the top of the 6 yard area to get a jump on the ball played centrally:

As the cross is played, Szczesny identifies that the ball is an excellent one, and unplayable by the GK.  He now relies on Mertesacker to cover the top of the 6 as Szczesny prepares to face a shot in case Mertesacker gets beaten to the ball...most key is that as soon as the cross is played, Szczesny has recovered back to the goal line, his original starting position so that he can cover the goal line laterally from a strong position and an athletic posture - he has given himself every possible chance to save a shot:

Here's the replay from a different angle.  The attacker enters the penalty area, and Szczesny has moved from his left shoulder outside the back post to his right shoulder inside the back post:

Jumped out to here as attacker looks up...

...and slides back to the goal line as the attacker plays the cross.

Forward's Movement

Marco Di Vaio On The Back Shoulder

While Di Vaio doesn't actually touch the ball on this goal V. LA, it's where he starts from and how he moves that is crucial.  First, in still images, see how he is behind the defender as his teammate slips the ball to the wide Montreal player:

Watch it in real time:

Di Vaio did score on this one...and the same sort of movement can be seen again.

In real time...see how Di Vaio's running creates a lovely 3 v 2 for a moment at the top of the 18...and his hard work is rewarded with an easy tap-in goal: