Soccer Tactics that Beat the "Best" Team that had a Bragging Coach Want to become a great soccer coach? Check out SoccerHelp Premium and Coach Doug's Site for U4, U5 and U6 Coaches. There is a "no questions asked" money back guarantee. Over 15,000 soccer coaches have become Members. Subscriptions are as low as $11.95 for Coach Doug and $17.99 for Premium.
3 other coaches thanked him for beating the arrogant coach
Soccer Formation and Style of Play He Used
Importance of Defending the Soccer Goal Front See photos of our 29 kinds of iron on Motivational Soccer Patches
(Below is a letter from a great U10 Coach and my reply.) Hi SoccerHelp, My Girls Rec U10 team has had a phenomenal season. During the season we only lost 2 games, both of them blowouts to vastly superior teams. We had our end of season tournament this weekend and my girls came in 4th place. We play from a round of 16 down to a champion. For most of the season I played a K-2-1-2-1. It was effective for us. In the round of 16 we won 3-0. For our quarter final we played what I considered the best team in the league, a team that had beat us 5-0 previously in the season. They had 4 very good players on the team, that could dribble and strike the ball well. They were also well coached in passing. For this game I switched to a K-1-2-1-2. I put my bravest girls at stopper and sweeper and had the 2 defenders ready to play 2nd defender to clean up any passes or balls kicked passed the stopper. If the opposing forwards got passed my stopper and defenders they were told to sag back and cover the Sweeper. The only player allowed to defend any wider than the goal box was the Stopper to shut down crosses. I constantly emphasized "don't get pulled wide, defend the front of the goal" and "don't get thrown over." The coach of the opposing team had told several people he would be up at half-time 5-0. Well half-time came around and the score was 2-0 in our favor. Both goals coming from the forwards winning cleared balls and playing them into space behind a high-line defense. We ended up giving up two goals in the second half and played two additional periods at the end. The girl's continued to defend the front of the goal, and gave up nothing in overtime. We ended up advancing 4-3 on the shootout (something we practiced the week before the tournament just in case). The vindication of beating such a good team was great for the girls, and moved them into the final four. In the semi final game we played the same strategy against a superior team and held them to 1-0 for most of the game, but ended up giving up two goals at the end of the game. For the consolation 3rd-4th place game we played an all out attack to just let the girls try to score since the result between 3rd and 4th would not make a big difference. We ended the season with every player on the team having at least one goal. The key thing is that by using the tactics on Soccerhelp my girls were able to knock out what most considered the best team in the league, something 3 other coaches thanked me for. So I am passing that thanks on to Soccerhelp. Coach M., Premium Member since 2006
My Reply-- Hi Coach M, Thanks for sharing this story. I love this kind of story. It reminds me of some of the bragging, arrogant coaches I used to have to play. There's no sweeter victory than to beat a coach who is bragging about how easy it's going to be to beat your team. It's says a lot that 3 other coaches thanked you for beating him. Thanks for the credit to SoccerHelp -- I'm glad that we were able to help, but it's also clear that you're an excellent coach with an solid grasp of strategy and motivation. A lot of the info on Premium reminds coaches that good fundamentals and a solid defense are hard to beat. What you did was to take away the easy goals, played smart, motivated your players, and your opponent wasn't good enough to beat you. It sounds as if you are in a very tough league. Congratulations on your success and thanks again for writing. David at SoccerHelpCopyright SoccerHelp.com, All Rights Reserved