12 Games in 7 Days

By the end of this evening I will have watched 12 high school soccer matches in the last 7 days.  The reasons vary from making follow up calls with teams I have conducted camp for, to watching players from my spring team play, to advanced scouting, to scouting for a recruiting service to watching my son and his cousins play.  My wife, in true "Soccer Mom" spirit often accompanies me to these games.

The experience is generally an enjoyable one, but I do admit to becoming frustrated now and again as I watch a disorganized team sabotage its own efforts through disconcerted play.  I watch as a team consistently gets strung out over 50 - 60 yards and is unable to support one another on attack or when defending. Great individual effort on teams like this, but very little collective team effort.  Frustration sits in amongst players and coaches alike... and rightfully so.

I watched a recent high school match where the back line never advanced beyond 25 yards from their own goal. Not because they were bunkered in defending either. The rest of their team could often be found in the teams attacking third 50+ yards away yet here sat the backs in their defending third? 

Another team never allowed their center backs closer than 10 yards from the center line.  Wing defenders pushed up to the center line and a defensive mid was stationed centrally about the center line. The "attackers" often played 5 v 9 while the opponent kept one forward slightly withdrawn in front of the wing defenders / DM to patrol the 20-25 yard "hole" which she had to herself.

Then there is the ever popular "kick and run" method of attack that sees a speedy forward "played through" only to find herself 1 v 4 + GK and expected to score for her team.  I am quite serious about this.  Talk about playing on hope and a prayer or trying to catch lightning in a bottle!

It is discouraging and frustrating for me to watch this type of soccer at the high school level. I find myself attempting to discern the reasoning behind deploying resources in such a manner.  Apparently wishing to be secure in the back is a motivating factor?  Then I find myself wondering why increase the work load of the midfielders so significantly? Some of these teams are asking midfielders to control 50-60 yards without adequate support?  Or the poor forward played through who finds her advance stopped by multiple defenders and has no one available to pass to to relieve pressure?

Trust

I sometimes think a reliance on the super star forward to quite literally do all the work sends the message that others are not trusted to play all facets of the game.  Or that a defense held deep on its own side of the  field is because the midfielders cannot be trusted to pressure the ball in front of them?  Regardless of actual reason it seems trust, or lack thereof, is an over riding factor in the rather odd deployment of resources I am witnessing. Somewhere along the line these teams have forgotten:

Together
Everyone
Achieves
More!