The Christmas Tree

The World cup has been the tournament of 4-2-3-1 which Spain adopted against Germany and stopped trying to squeeze Fernando Torres and David Villa into the same side, fiddled with the line of three, pulling Xavi back and pushing Andres Iniesta and Pedro forward so it almost becomes 4-2-1-3, which seems to be the route club football is taking.
Argentina did have a creative, deep-lying midfielder in their squad, but Maradona seduced by the firepower on show in his all new Tevez-Messi-Higuain attack, elected to leave Veron on the bench for the quarterfinal massacre at the hands of Germany. By selecting Tevez instead of Veron, Maradona left Mascherrano completely isolated against 3 germans in the center of midfield.
It is very difficult to establish control of the game without a composed player operating in central areas who is capable of picking a pass and either slowing or raising the tempo when necessary.
Deploying 2 destroyers leaves a team bereft of that control in the middle of the pitch and unhealthily dependent on their forwards for inspiration. Deploying just one nominally defensive midfielder against a well equiped 4-2-3-1 as both England and Argentina can testify, often can be a sure fire shortcut to humiliation.

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FIFA Ranking

World Cup champion Spain stayed at the top of FIFA's world rankings on Wednesday, and Germany and England have risen after back-to-back wins in European Championship qualifiers.

The new rankings have France, which lost a home Euro 2012 qualifier to Belarus, dropping six places to No. 27 - its worst position since the rankings were introduced in 1993.

Spain's 4-1 loss to Argentina in a friendly last week meant its lead narrowed over the second-place Netherlands. Germany is No. 3, and Brazil dropped to No. 4.

Argentina stayed at No. 5, with England now sixth ahead of Uruguay. Portugal, African champion Egypt and Chile.

FIFA updated the standings, which weigh results over a four-year cycle, using 159 international matches played over five weeks. Euro 2012 and 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers carried the most points.

Norway and Slovakia each used a pair of wins to jump to No. 14 and No. 16, respectively - the Slovaks' best ever - and Turkey rose seven places to No. 21.

The United States remains at No. 18 and World Cup quarterfinalist Ghana climbed three to No. 20.

Switzerland, Australia and Russia dropped out of the top 20. The Australians remain the top Asian confederation nation at No. 24.

Rank Team Points Confederation
1 Spain
2 Netherlands
3 Germany
4 Brazil
5 Argentina
6 England
7 Uruguay
8 Portugal
9 Egypt
10 Chile

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Wow! Great Weekend

Legacy Park, Lee's Summit - September 3-6 2010
Finalists Boys U13 DII
Maybe one day, we will play our age group and win a tournament. I chose Fall Brawl because I thought that would be a good tournament for us. Of course, the club asked us to play up because they told me that it would be too easy for us to play U12. It was too late for me to find another tournament so we ended up to play U13 boys and 11 vs 11.
That was the first time, we played on a big field. We didn't have any expectations because we have only 11 players. We had 2 guest players from KC Legends.
So nothing is easy in life! We started with a tie, a win and a lost but we endep up in the final! Of course, we ran off juice. Having only 2 subs, playing up, we craked down at the last 5mm of the game but I am very proud of my little boys! They played "Beautiful"

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Are Formations a top priority?

Soccer, just like anything else goes through phases, evolving and changing over time. One clear aspect is the debate over formations and systems of play used in modern day soccer. Have you found yourself asking the question, "should I play a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3? I know I have but at the end of day that is not the top priority.

There are a tons of books, videos and coaching courses geared toward understanding the details, nuances of various systems and formations. It is important to know the difference, their strengths and weaknesses at the highest level. Should it be a top priority for young soccer development?

Regardless of being on defense or offense, soccer players need to adjust constantly ot the situation around them. Where is the ball? Where are my teammates? Where are the opponents? How can I help? All are constant questions and anwers that need addressing every second of every game. This requires constant focus, awareness, endurance, communication and effort.

It is not as easy as it sounds.

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Teaching the love of the Game

Coaches occupy multiple roles in children's lives as sport participants. Coaches must be excellent instructors so that youths learn and improve skills, increase knowledge of strategies and tactics and achieve their goals. Coaches also can inspire children to maintain motivation for participating in sports.

We need to get all involved:
Coaches, parents, peers (teammates, close friends) => perceived competence => Enjoyment & Motivation.

I want to thanks the Owen for the party on Saturday. I will continue to motivate athletes by teaching them self-regulated learning strategies, which allow children to depend on themselves, not only adult.

The major reasons children play sports is to develop and demonstrate physical competence, experience positive social interactions with adults and peers and have fun and enjoyable times. We all need to embrace the love of the game.

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