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ZenFooty Blog Archive - April Can a "Star Player" limit the performance of a good team?Published on Sat 04/26/2008 | 10 total comments ZenMaster says YES!! One player does not make a whole team!! (Or as Mrs. Henrietta used to put it back in the 'ville: "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show"). Take a look at Arsenal without Henry. Are they playing better? Yes. How about Real Madrid without Beckham? You bet! And what about Barcelona without Ronadinho? Arguably yes!! Why is this the case? I'll tell you why. Playing through a single star makes a team gradually predictable and limits the opportunity for support players to shine. It also wears out the star player. This has a bad effect on the star player's performance (as he is now the one everyone guards) and it makes the entire team more predictable and stale. Quality soccer is about variety in the attack and multiple weapons to disarm your opponent. You have to be able to reload from anywhere, with anyone, and from any position. This is why the Brazilian world cup teams are so fun to watch!! If your team has only one weapon, it will soon be shut down. If not within a game, then certainly by the end of a season! Use the supporting players in important roles!!!! Preserve the effectiveness your star!! What say you? « comments » The Bumpy Road from Park District to Travel or Club Soccer Published on Mon 04/21/2008 | 31 total comments When you combine the costs, commuting, and competition, travel soccer is a huge jump from in-house or park district programs. It really catches parents by surprise!! As a parent, I went through this the hard way. The Park District program in my town was $50 per season. When I put my daughter into her first travel program it was $700 per season. Ouch!! When I first looked at the bill, I thought the decimal point was in the wrong place. And there was still the uniform to buy and some tournaments to pay for. And then there was the training, two nights a week and a night of skills. What's this? Are they pros or something? It gets better...if you missed a practice you didn't start in the game!! Now you need to know that the team she was on really stunk!! Oh, and the away games were up to 90 minutes away!! The drives made me long for park district soccer. If only the competition was better in the in-house programs. So why travel? I'll tell you why. Because if you are serious about the game, that is where to find the other serious players, coaches, and parents to commiserate with you! What say you? « comments » 3v3 Tournaments - Do these silly mini-games make any sense at all? Published on Fri 04/18/2008 | 27 total comments Does it make sense? "You're darn tooten" as my mom Henrietta would say (which I think was a nice way of saying something else)!! ZenMaster says "YES" with a capital Z!! The entire game of soccer can be explained in 3v3. These mini-games emphasize the 1st, 2nd and 3rd attacking and defending roles in soccer. BAM, there's the whole game in a nutshell. A player, in any game at any given time, is in one of these three roles. So in playing 3v3, they are building the understanding that can be applied anywhere on the big pitch. What's more, players get tons of touches on the ball to build their skill, learn the concepts of shape, and get a great workout (no place to hide on the small field). When you take all of these positive factors and drop them into a tournament format, you have got a great recipe for fun, competition and player development. These events also have a little "Carnival" feel to them with teams coming in tie-dyed shirts, one-time uniforms, hi-top converse, bandanas, and odd shorts. Don't let the vagabond look fool ya'....there are skills behind dem rags!! I flat out love it! What say you? Have any of you guys had experience with 3v3? « comments » Foreign club academies in the USA: Will they get players to the Pros? Published on Mon 04/14/2008 | 23 total comments I now see foreign club "Academies" colonizing in America from West Ham, Inter Milan, Everton, Villa, and Manchester United. Do these academies truly promise our children a fair chance at playing at the top level in Europe or are they simply money making tactics to leverage the name of major European clubs on US soil? If top coaching, players, AND scouting talent are resident in the academies and if the academies provide early (international) exposure ensuring competitive play for the youngest players, then I believe that there is a viable chance that the very best players will get a shot. However, if the players are not matched up against the best European and world talent of the same age, their game will NOT be raised enough to compete on the world stage. Playing only in the US against only US players is simply not the answer. The players need more regular exposure to the very best competition! « comments » Slave Trade of South American Players Published on Thu 04/10/2008 | 23 total comments The English Premiership, Series A, and La Liga are all buying up the South American talent from "Brokers" who have bought the rights to these players from their native clubs and resell those rights to the European teams. Because the South American Teams need the money, they are willing to sell the rights of the players to the brokers to sustain the club. This drains the talent pool in the South American leagues. These are not just average players either. A large portion are in the top leagues and above that, play in the Champions League a tournament of the best teams in Europe. Is it fair to pull away a country's natural resources or is it simply world capitalism? What say you? « comments » |
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