the real football

Nothing like a cup match for excitement at the stadium. Atletico were down 0-3 after the first leg, so they needed to score goals, as well as keep Recreativo out of the scoring. Well, Atletico got their three goals, and then were gifted an own goal to make it 4-0, and it looked like they were through. The crowd were celebrating, all was well in the south of Madrid. Then Recreativo scored. The away goal meant that Atletico now needed to score a FIFTH goal, or be eliminated from the Copa del Rey. They had 20 minutes to do it. Moments later, their DM, Asunscao, is sent off. Despondent is not a strong enough word to describe the feelings of the locals, who came out for a 10:00 pm kickoff to will their team toward survival in the cup. Now they need a goal, and must do it with ten men. Atletico have the will, and go on the attack. A few minutes later, a ball is played in to Aguero, who is ruthlessly kicked from behind as he receives the ball. He survives the challenge, with the ball, and moves to take on the defender between him and the goal. Atletico’s best striker (apologies to Diego Forlan, but I think Kun is better) is 1v1 to goal, looking for the winner. Wait, the whistle blows! The referee has called the foul, and not given the advantage. Kun screams at the referee, and the fans are horrified, because they clearly believed that their striker had a good chance to beat his defender and secure the team’s passage to the next round. After much “discussion” with the official, Reyes, Forlan, and Simao gather near the ball. Forlan moves away. Well, the rest you can see in the video that my older son shot. (We were pretty pleased with our seats for this one, too, btw!) Nothing like a cup match for excitement at the stadium. Atletico were down 0-3 after the first leg, so they needed to score goals, as well as keep Recreativo out of the scoring. Well, Atletico got their three goals, and then were gifted an own goal to make it 4-0, and it looked like they were through. The crowd were celebrating, all was well in the south of Madrid. Then Recreativo scored. The away goal meant that Atletico now needed to score a FIFTH goal, or be eliminated from the Copa del Rey. They had 20 minutes to do it. Moments later, their DM, Asunscao, is sent off. Despondent is not a strong enough word to describe the feelings of the locals, who came out for a 10:00 pm kickoff to will their team toward survival in the cup. Now they need a goal, and must do it with ten men. Atletico have the will, and go on the attack. A few minutes later, a ball is played in to Aguero, who is ruthlessly kicked from behind as he receives the ball. He survives the challenge, with the ball, and moves to take on the defender between him and the goal. Atletico’s best striker (apologies to Diego Forlan, but I think Kun is better) is 1v1 to goal, looking for the winner. Wait, the whistle blows! The referee has called the foul, and not given the advantage. Kun screams at the referee, and the fans are horrified, because they clearly believed that their striker had a good chance to beat his defender and secure the team’s passage to the next round. After much “discussion” with the official, Reyes, Forlan, and Simao gather near the ball. Forlan moves away. Well, the rest you can see in the video that my older son shot. (We were pretty pleased with our seats for this one, too, btw!)

mta 93B at Creighton University in Omaha

Front row:  Kevin Gjersvig, David Zalk, Adam Mohomed, Ben Cherrey, Miles Stockman-Willis, Dylan Xiong

Back row: Coach Jim Niemann, Nick Forsgren, Cole Erickson, Eric Miller, Gerald Ben, Maliq Hunsberger, Devin Tomson-Moylan, Ryan Onwukwe, Atli Einarsson, John Pitsenbarger, Coach Eric Singer.

Not pictured: Aniekan Akpan, Andrew Rorick, Ebenezer Mengitsu, Jenny Wah

November 16, 2009

The Minnesota Thunder Academy 93B Blue team kicked off their year with a whirlwind trip to Omaha, NE, for a couple of friendly matches this past weekend.  After only a couple of training sessions, the 93B headed to Creighton University in Omaha for matches against the Omaha FC U17B and the KC Wizards U18B.

The first match kicked off at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, and saw the MTA 93B battle against the 2009 state cup winners from Omaha FC.  The first half saw some good moments for each team, including a few opportunities at goal, but the half ended scoreless.  While MTA connected more passes, OFC showed that they could be dangerous on the counter.

The second half started with MTA continuing to have a bit more of the ball, but soon OFC found some space to counter down their left flank, served the ball across the box for a good finish by their RM.  Not much the keeper could do on a well struck ball from the edge of the six.

The goal boosted the confidence of the local team, but MTA was not prepared to allow the score to go unchallenged.  About ten minutes later, after several nice runs of possession by the 93B, OFC cleared a cross out to the MTA left flank, and fullback David Zalk latched onto it and unleashed a 30 yard strike into the far upper corner.

Just as the goal for OFC helped their confidence, the MTA 93B found a boost of their own from the Zalk goal.  The ball started moving a little more crisply, and several very good chances were created from the run of play.  Two of these movements led to goals for the MN boys.

Goal number three came after a nice movement by MTA ended in a turnover.  Not ready to give up on the turnover, Nick Forsgren immediately stole the ball back, beat a defender, and smashed a 30 yarder just inside the far post.

While the first and third goals for MTA came from distance, the Thunder showed that they could also score from in close.  After pressure from the forwards forced a turnover near midfield, Adam Mohomed and Dylan Xiong quickly combined down the right flank, for Xiong to serve a ball to Ben Cherrey.  Cherrey was under pressure, but got a shot away that was deflected to Gerald Ben, who calmly beat the keeper for the final goal of the match.

Just a little over thirteen hours after completing their first match, the bar was raised: up next, the Kansas City Wizards U18B.  This Wizards team competes in the US Soccer Development Academy.  Much like the MTA team, the Wizards players are just getting started after their high school season.

Of course, the 93B knew they had to be wary of the older team from Kansas City.  However, it could be seen straight away that MTA was not going to just let KC play – about 15 seconds into the match the Thunder had their first good look at goal.  A nice, quick buildup down the left flank was well defended by the Wizards as MTA tried to get a look at the goal.  Not to be ignored, MTA quickly played across the top of the box, and found their right back, Adam Mohomed, who just missed the goal wide to the near post.

Although the first half did not see any goals, it did see each team create a handful of good chances.  Although each team is just getting started for the year, both were organized defensively enough to make it hard on the other to conisistently get a good look at goal.

The second half saw the short bench for the weekend take its toll on MTA.  While there were still good moments going forward, the tables had turned and the Thunder found themselves defending more than the Wizards.  The 93B were up to the task, until a handball in the box gave KC the goal they needed.  MTA played with good ideas, but too often their technique on the ball broke down because of fatigue, and the Wizards were more than willing to press the issue.  Other than the one moment, the Thunder were able to withstand the attacks, but could not quite convert their few chances at the other end.

After the match, the Creighton University staff took the teams on a tour of the stadium, their brand new athletic complex, and team locker room.

Next up for the MTA 93B is a friendly with Shattuck-St. Mary’s on December 5th, the College Cup Showcase at the NCAA final four in Raleigh, NC on December 11-13, and the Shattuck-St. Mary’s College Showcase on the weekend of December 19th.

For anyone interested in video of the matches, you can start with this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ4cltxKHfI , and look for links to the other parts of the game under the username jniemann.

Certainly the goal that the US scored in stoppage time to tie Costa Rica last night was big for US Soccer, but check out the video/audio below to learn of the excitement created for the country of Honduras! This is not able to be embedded, so just copy and paste the link below to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tL-Wfs1ZjU

Well, this is predominantly a soccer site, so I guess I should get back to a little bit of soccer.

This weekend, my U18 team had the chance to play our local pro team, the Minnesota Thunder. The Thunder play in USL division 1, while the U18s play in the US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional League, Premier Division.

Thanks to Per Edwards for filming this for us!

There were interesting moments in this game, and you can see some in the first half highlights video above. It was a bit lethargic from the pros at times, but you could see them spring to life a bit after the kids got a goal to tie the game.

Unfortunately, I will only have a few second half highlights, from very late in the game, available. I will try to get those up soon. There was some very good play, including a nice goal for the young guys, while the pros got the winner about 15 minutes from time, making it a 3-2 final score.

Meanwhile, I am going to bore you with a little possession charting. I took a look at the video from the first half, to check on a few things. Below you will find the raw numbers, but here are a few key points from the first half:

• Halftime Score: 2-1 pro team
• Final Score: 3-2 pro team
• Pro – 247 completed passes
• U18 – 151 completed passes
• Pro – 36 possessions of 3 or more passes
• U18 – 22 possessions of 3 or more passes
• Pro – 1 corner, scored
• U18 – 0 corners
• Pro – 15 shots, 3 from penalty area, including both goals.  Three shots from 40+, several other weak shots from outside box
• U18 – one shot, one goal
• both keepers cut out a handful of serves and through balls, only a couple for each looked dangerous
• Pro – 48 possessions of 0 passes
• U18 – 56 possessions of 0 passes
• Goal1 – poor clearance gave away unecessary corner kick to pro team.  Poor organization by U18s – weakest player in zone put in back post area.  Good identification and execution by pros – ball served to back post, knocked down in front, only marginally challenged on goal.  1-0 Thunder pro
• Goal 2 – three consecutive zero possessions by pros, U18s connect 1, then 2, then 3 passes, final ball well timed and weighted onto a good run, clean finish, tie game
• Goal 3 – U18s a little frazzled, many zero possessions, pros put together 9 pass movement, untracked player runs from midfield, nice finish just inside box

I added a number of notes on the possessions, maybe should have added more.  An alarming trend came in the U18 inability to garner clean possession after getting themselves a goal.  Surely the pros were a bit more lively after giving away a good goal, but there were many opportunities to just get the ball and keep it for the U18s, and they were unable.  Very good movement on which the pros restored their lead before the half.

The most alarming trend, however, was the difference in how each team cleaned up loose and 50/50 balls.  My recollection was that the pros were significantly better at this.  However, while the numbers showed that they did outperform the U18s in number of zero possessions, it was not as drastic as I recalled.  I would imagine neither group is particularly pleased with this part of the game – I can tell you that my side is not.

(It should be noted that I was rather harsh on the zero possession evaluation.  If a player had a legitimate play on the ball, and did not connect with a teammate, it is a zero.  This means clearances, 50/50 balls for the player who got the ball, everything.  The judgment was harsh because, for both of these teams, the standards that their opponents will present will also be harsh.)

All in all, a good experience for the U18s, and hopefully a good training game for the pros.  For the U18s, it was our first time outside for the year, and our third friendly of the season.  For the pros, they have been in camp for a couple of weeks, and played a handful of friendlies against MLS, college, and other youth teams.  Good luck to the Thunder, and get out to see them play if you get a chance!

here are the stats, for those who are truly bored!

Well, ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Milan may be close to making a deal with LA Galaxy of MLS for David Beckham. The Galaxy have valued Beckham higher than Milan have been willing to part with to this point – will the Rossaneri improve their offer enough to seal the deal by sometime next week?

It is interesting that Milan have improved their offer, after Beckham’s mediocre performance in the weekend derby with Inter. While he has made a positive impact in most of the matches he has played for Milan, Beckham’s performance in the derby, and that he looked to pick up a slight knock in the match, left me wondering whether Milan would still want him in their side.

There is no doubt that David Beckham brings quality work and service from both set pieces and in the run of play. However, his abilities to defend at the level required in Serie A – especially since he is primarily on the field at the expense of Gennaro Gattuso – may not add up to a stonger unit on the field for AC Milan. It seems to me that with the likes of Kaka, Pato, Pirlo, Ronaldinho, et al, that the Rossaneri have good punch in the attack, and must be careful not to risk losing some of the grit that a player like Gattuso brings them.

With Maldini, at age 40, being the class of their center backs, and their commitment to allow Zambrotta and Jankulovski the freedom to attack, Milan need solid work out of at least a couple of their midfielders when the opponents have the ball. Certainly Ambrosini provides some of that, and Pirlo reads the game well enough to intercept his share of passes, I am not sure that there is the clear ball winner in their midfield that will allow them to take a serious run at Inter, or even at the UEFA Cup.

With a deal looking more certain, I guess we are likely to find out. I suspect that, if the deal is completed for Beckham to move permanently to Milan, that we might see Ronaldinho sacrificed at least at times to allow the insertion of Gattuso on a more regular basis.

Welcome to my world, one in which the “thinking man’s sport” is king. Call it what you will, Soccer, Football, Futebol, Futbol, Voetbal, Fussball, Calcio, etc… but it is the world’s greatest game for a reason – it truly is the best player’s sport in the world!

Sure, coaches get to name the team, decide on the system for the day, set the strategy or game plan.  After that, though, it is a game that is more left to the players than any other major team sport on the planet.  Not the right players on the field, coach?  Too bad, you only get to make three player changes, and you better be careful – no exceptions to this rule for injury.

Over time, I will regale/bore you with thoughts, stories, news, and opinions about the game of soccer in all of its forms.  I have been a lifelong fan of the game, played it from an early age, and have been fortunate enough to have the role of a coach at various levels of youth soccer over the past 20+ years.  Hopefully I will provide entertainment and maybe even a bit of useful knowledge for you here at the real football.