Fourth of July weekend is a time for fireworks and family. Many cities include a bit of soccer and in my book that makes the day complete. Living in Los Angeles, I was able to see two games live this weekend. I want to remind all of you that seeing a game live is the best.
I know on TV you get the replays coupled with the warmth and comforts of home. But, from a soccer aspect you get to see the whole game, on-the-ball action and the off-the-ball work. So, as a soccer aficionado as I am sure you are, the only way to watch is live.
Possession is an important part of the game. Keeping the ball gives you a chance to score and is also the best form of defense. All teams need to respect the ball and not give it away casually. But, if you only play across the field in what I will call East-West soccer not much gets accomplished. The game needs a mix of long passes and short passes. A ball played forward and then laid back and then played forward again is effective soccer.
This weekend I saw a little bit of everything. Chivas USA played with great energy in their 1-0 loss against the Chicago Fire. Their transition was very good and they made the field small. They deserved a better result. However, at key moments when plays needed to be made the players were unable to complete it. Seeing Francisco Gomez play central defense was an experiment that worked well for coach Hans Westerhof. Gomez is a good passer and played enough defense with awareness to do his job. I wonder if he will give this another go.
Chivas and Chicago played long passes to get in behind the defense. This type of soccer we shall call North-South soccer. Often times this type of play gets a bad rap because it gets confused with kick and rush. Kick and rush is where the attacking team plays the ball behind the defense and then tries to press the opponent to get the ball back. It is a long ball not a long pass.
There is an art to long passing, like Arsenal's Ashley Cole to Thierry Henry versus Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The pass needs to be accurate and the ball needs to be hit with the right pace and trajectory. It is a skill.
There must also be a well-timed run and a player with skills making the run who can control the ball. That is also a skill. It is a good run and then a good ball, not hit the ball long and then the forward tries to run it down.
The object is to keep possession and try to turn the defense toward their goal. Then as you support the ball, defenders are poorly positioned and you can create scoring chances. This needs to be a part of a teams attack but not the only part.
The Los Angeles-New England game had a lot of East-West soccer. New England was missing Pat Noonan, Clint Dempsey, Steve Ralston and Avery John due to national team obligations. In addition, they had a Taylor Twellman who looked to be at no more than 60-70 percent. Normally, Taylor is all over the field, but you could tell that sprinting was not recommended on this day. Usually, the Revolution have a very good mix of short and long, but much of that running comes from Noonan, Twellman and Dempsey.
Los Angeles was missing Landon Donovan and Michael Umaña (national teams) as well as Chris Albright, Peter Vagenas, and Jovan Kirovski (injuries for the final three). When Donovan plays the Galaxy are more direct, although often it is too direct. Albright helps them get out of the back and Vagenas has gotten forward after the long pass to provide the link up.
However, on this Fourth of July both teams played a very controlled East-West game for most of the evening. Only at the end did they truly open up and then two goals resulted in the 1-1 final.
So, what is the point of my rambling?
Good teams can mix-up their games. They have an ability to hold the ball and breakdown an opponent's defense, even playing in front of a packed defense. They also can play long passes, not kick and chase, but long passes to well-timed runs. The best teams in the world do this: Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona and even Brazil and Argentina.
Remember long passing is a skill that is often neglected in the game development of our young players. Can you drive the ball? Chip it? Bend it? Hit it with back spin or drop it into the path of your teammate? Too often we view it as a negative when we see someone kick it long.
There has to be a mix. Chicago versus Chivas USA had it, while the Galaxy-Revolution match did not. The fans need a mix for the game to be entertaining. That is what the Premiership is all about these days and why it is so popular.
Sigi Schmid coached the U.S. U-20 national team in the World Youth Championship. He is one of the winningest coaches in MLS history, having led the Los Angeles Galaxy to four honors in his five-plus years at the helm, including the 2002 MLS Cup championship. Send comments to Sigi at sigischmid@hotmail.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
