Help for the Soccer Weary

University play is in full swing across the US of A. NCAA, NAIA, NCCAA, it is all good. Well, we hope it is ... better.

MLS Defenses often...stink.

This is a simple one to explain. The player who makes the impressive breakaway will NOT score a goal. He has no angle. He needs help. The defense leaves the offensive support wide open in the middle. I make an obvious point to say that an offensive player 6 feet in front of the goal should usually be covered goal-side like police on a drunk driving: Only bad things will happen if you don't!

Boys and girls: Don't copy this defense. They are weak. I know, I know. They are "professionals". Professional in MLS defense does not mean competent.

UC Santa Barbara does it again

From Soccer America:

UC Santa Barbara became the first team to draw two crowds of 10,000 or more in a season when the Gauchos attracted 11,242 fans -- the sixth largest crowd in NCAA regular-season history -- for their 2-0 win over Duke.

The soccer attendance story of 2010 rolls forward again. Tennessee has football, Kentucky has basketball, but CA has soccer.

Defenses the World Over Feeling Generous: Encourage Being Scored On

The first 30 seconds of the video show that "professional" doesn't equate with "I know what I'm doing." The ball is played into the box and then incorrectly played right back to that player. Perhaps the defender thought it was a practice day and they were supposed to just give "passive defense." Then, the ball moves to a man who isn't covered for at least ten yards even though the play is dangerously close to goal. He shoots the ball. Yet another defender, perhaps seeing that his own goalie will have an easy time with it, deflects the ball into the corner of his own net. You think I'm exaggerating. Roll tape.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a Perfect Record

#1 Ranked and revered Akron men's team was only able to manage a 2-2 draw against #19 Ohio State. This means, oh my, Akron isn't invincible. Here is Akron's video summary of the match along with a game report.

Textbook: How to Give Away Goals

Here you will immediately notice a Chicago Fire player (in red, of course!) completely unmolested and easily able to receive a pass. Both players are in the offensive half. This is professional soccer? There are ways to mark up these guys to cut down the number of successful forward passes. I have heard the arguments for giving quick offenders space for fear they run by you freely and then are a massive threat. Isn't this pro soccer? Isn't everyone fast? and, Aren't defender able to rotate over and cover that stray offensive player that gets by someone? Yes, yes and yes. San Jose just looks lazy here.  It should be very difficult to receive the ball while facing forward in the offensive half, not easy as it is pictured here. Defenders are there to contest, molest, harass, and generally be complete pains in the neck for the offense every second of the game.

This was a key game for a San Jose side that is on the bubble to advance in the playoffs. This weak effort shows that they aren't up to muster at this late point in the season. No surprise that they went down to an embarrassing home loss that night.

15,000+ all in one night, not for the whole season

Not too long ago, 15,000 fans would have been the SEASON attendance total, not just for one game. Times are changing quickly, with attendance up nation wide and two of the top five most-attended regular season NCAA soccer matches of the modern era occurring just in the last 2 weeks. I should add also that they both were played in California, not in Maryland or Connecticut or North Carolina, or even in St. Louis.

UCSB defeated UCLA 2-0. By no means a crushing win, so the story becomes the event itself. Out of nowhere, soccer this fall is capturing the attention of money-restricted fans with attendance numbers way up in California as well as back in the traditional soccer-center of the mid-atlantic.

I asked my soccer-neutral wife what she thought of the attendance-record-smashing year and she commented that "People must like soccer." I thought for a moment. Yes, it probably is really that simple.

4,700 See an Impressive #1 Akron Down a Solid Tulsa Team

Both teams undefeated going in. Akron clarifies who the better team really is. And 4,700 saw it all. I believe that is the story this year. Soccer is an inexpensive couple of hours, and if your team is doing well, it is a good entertainment value. Who knew that economic downturns were good for the minor sports? Now we know. Here is the whole story in numbers.

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Soccer Box Score (Final)

2010 University of Akron Men's Soccer

#2 Tulsa vs #1 AKRON (Sep 24, 2010 at Akron, Ohio)

Goals by period 1 2 Total

Tulsa 0 0 0

AKRON 2 2 4

Tulsa (6-1-0) vs.

AKRON (6-0-0)

Date: Sep 24, 2010 • Attendance: 4,744

Weather: high 70s clear, w: sw 16 gusts to 29

Two to Tango, but Three to Score

This is a pretty three person combination from recent MLS play. If the defense made any mistake it was giving too much space to players when the whole play was very close to the goal. With that space, the offense makes the defense look like they are just working around cones on the practice field, not actual human defenders.

BTW, vuvuzelas have crossed the pond.

8,700 fans for a NCAA soccer match? Of course

A time traveller from the year 1994 arriving in San Luis Obispo in 2010 would incorrectly extrapolate the '94 World Cup soccer interest in the USA and assume that 8,700 fans must be totally normal and a logical progression from the WC excitement. 8,700 fans for a college soccer match makes it the 10th largest crowd (Soccer America) ever for NCAA soccer. So, what to make of it?

Well, 8,700 is news precisely because it isn't the norm. The last 16 years have seen a slow and steady rise in the MLS, but it still is only the 6th or 7th most popular pro sport in the USA, depending on what one measures. But people who live in SLO aren't the sort that cares to live in NYC and root for the Yankees. They probably wouldn't have gone to the game is their team consistently lost, but thrills come in many different colored packages. SLO residents consider themselves better than the average townies. Heck, they can get 5,000+ to show up at a farmer's market every Thursday evening.

The weather was perfect. The Cal Poly Mustangs have gone a coon's age without a single goal against at home. Soccer isn't $80 (or even $35) a ticket, so the whole family can go. The Spanos stadium upgrades a couple years ago have created an intimate sports arena with great site lines. If you build it, sell it at a reasonable price, on a nice night, with the reasonable hope of a winning feeling at the end, they will come. Even, or maybe because it is 3,000 miles from Gotham City.

Fresno Pacific Downs Holy Names 2-1 (OT)

Paul Islas put the Sunbirds up 1-0 in the first half. As their leading scorer, Islas is a force up front. He could use more support in the midfield (Gabriel Ramirez wherefore art thou!), but with the stellar work of Shawn Grieco that caused Holy Names nothing but grief all day long, FPU has scoring ability above many teams at this level.

FPU's slow start may have just turned a corner.

Bakersfield?

Soccer America Men's Top 25
(Sept. 14 rankings)
TEAM (RECORD) LAST WEEK
1. Akron (3-0-0) 1
2. Virginia (2-0-1) 2
3. North Carolina (2-1-0) 3
4. Tulsa (4-0-0) 4
5. Boston College (2-0-1) 5
6. Duke (1-0-2) 7
7. Connecticut (3-0-1) 6
8. Monmouth (4-0-0) 8
9. Ohio State (4-0-0) 9
10. Louisville (3-0-1) 11
11. Maryland (1-1-1) 12
12. Wake Forest (1-1-1) 14
13. Harvard (2-0-1) 15
14. Creighton (4-0-0) NR
15. Michigan State (3-1-0) 17
16. Portland (2-0-2) 18
17. Cal State Bakersfield (3-0-0) 20
18. UCLA (3-1-0) 23
19. St. John's (3-1-0) 24
20. UC Irvine (5-0-0) 25
21. SMU (5-0-0) NR
22. Butler (4-0-0) NR
23. New Mexico (2-1-1) 22
24. Notre Dame (2-1-1) NR
25. Penn (4-0-0) NR
25. William & Mary (3-0-0) NR
(Records are for games played through Sept. 12.)

This is Pro Soccer?

In the video, go directly to minute 3:45 to see some very bad defense on a direct kick.

Defenders: don't move out of the wall until AFTER the ball has passed you.

Why Goals are Scored: #4

Goals are scored, sometimes, because perfect timing allows for a huge advantage. At minute 3:30 of the video San Jose gets a play that New England thinks is a pass to a player offside. He wasn't offside because the passer (Johnson) sent the ball at the perfect moment to create an easy play. This can be practiced.

Why Goals are Scored: #3

On offense, if you can keep control long enough in the offensive end, you WILL find an opening.

Why Goals Are Missed : #3

Sometimes, good defense is why goals are missed.
In the video, you can skip ahead to minute 3:30. San Jose's defense makes a poorly thought out pass and only a great defensive recovery prevents an otherwise sure goal. Worth a look.

Why Goals Are Missed : #2

Casey Keller gets the announcers' respect here, but the shot would have been stopped by any quality keeper from high school on up. There was no angle. The ball should have been sent across the field or back. Some overtly "good opportunities" are in fact not so. Better soccer is to live in reality and wait to shoot until an actual good opportunity presents itself.

One on One

The audio commentary is very instructive to the defense here (surprisingly).

For Offense: How about using the rest of your team?

Why Goals are Scored: #2

For Defenders: The keeper is usually quite right, as he is here, to not be at fault for the goal being scored. The key defender in the middle neither kept track of the incoming Mansally, nor got the ball. He should have be on the man. He was just field decoration.

For Offense: The key to success here is the the man on the outside heading the ball to himself to keep it in play. Right there, the defense knew they were in big trouble.

Why Goals Are Missed : #1

For Offense: Get used to working within a big crowd. The offensive player here gets lost in a mess of people and sends a head ball way off line. The mind must always control itself before it can tell the body what to do.