U14 Girls Spring Season

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Fc vs ssc

Haha so much for Fc portland being good stealth just took it to them today. They are a far cry from where Lisa had them!!

Stealth congrats on coming such a long way and playing the game the way it's meant to be played......Rosie has done a great job with them!

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Haha so much for Fc portland being good stealth just took it to them today. They are a far cry from where Lisa had them!!

Stealth congrats on coming such a long way and playing the game the way it's meant to be played......Rosie has done a great job with them!

What is going on with that FC team anyway? Didnt they add some players too?

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You have to be kidding me and I am sorry if that toe-poking daughter of yours is the one I am talking about. In case you don't quite understand, tell me the last time a truly top team in the world used the "long ball" (or should I say "stretching the defense"?) to be effective?

The real point that you still can't argue is the following...A player that has been taught to boot the ball can't play possession but a player who can play possession can boot the ball when called upon. I am sorry if this doesn't quite make your little world more understandable, but it's the truth so if your coach is telling your players to not play the ball on the ground or to feet, then he/she is doing you a disservice.

Only on this Oregon board would someone be defending boot ball so passionately. And, by the way, if you are relying on your GK to stop it, well, good luck with that. Laughable...

Sorry pal, I agree w the other guy. You sound like you are arguing the obvious. The buzz word of the year is possession. Yes we ALL get it. Possession soccer is where it's at. It's not rocket science, it's extraordinarily simple. So please step down from your high horse because you tell us nothing new. The fact of the matter, is that a team that can mix in a long ball, or a perfectly placed thru ball is actually taking advantage of opportunities given to them by the defense. I can even appreciate a toe punch if it's right for the moment. And yes, Barcelona does that too.

SOOOOO tired of the possession nazi police. We get it.

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Struggling

What is going on with that FC team anyway? Didnt they add some players too?

FC as a club is struggling on the women's side

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Fc ssc

I have no idea but they came in second to last place during the fall league. Still have good players but lack offense to be a competitor.

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Maybe if you and your daughter were taught the right way to play you would appreciate POSSESSION soccer a bit more.... POSSESSION POSSESSION HAHA

Say it again!!!!!!

POSSESSION
POSSESSION
POSSESSION

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What is going on with that FC team anyway? Didnt they add some players too?

Quit responding to your own post....

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Possession

Boot ball vs possession. Which is better?

When posed with this question I say POSSESSION.

But then again, I am just smart like that.

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Haha so much for Fc portland being good stealth just took it to them today. They are a far cry from where Lisa had them!!

Stealth congrats on coming such a long way and playing the game the way it's meant to be played......Rosie has done a great job with them!

Will definitely be a tough out in State Cup and should meet Onyx in Finals

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Quit responding to your own post....

HUH ? Why would I do that? It does seem that the other poster is pretty happy that FC lost, but I have no beef with FC. I do know they added some players yet their game does not seem to have improved. Maybe there are injuries? New coach adjustments? Spring league?

I was only curious

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Boot ball vs possession. Which is better?

When posed with this question I say POSSESSION.

But then again, I am just smart like that.

I agree with this, however,there is such thing as too much focus on possession and not enough creativity..This is what I see with FC. The girls side especially.

They all play the same.

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You have to be kidding me and I am sorry if that toe-poking daughter of yours is the one I am talking about. In case you don't quite understand, tell me the last time a truly top team in the world used the "long ball" (or should I say "stretching the defense"?) to be effective?

Chelsea, 2012 Champions League....

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Response to the "possession guy" and the original poster

To the “sorry that if your toe-poking daughter of yours” poster, your verbose and condescending rants demonstrate a complete lack of nuance regarding “possession” and “bootball” [a derisive term I generally ignore as crass and simple minded]. Your posts demand a response.

You act as though you invented the thing and your dear daughter is the one player on the field with the technical gifts alone to unlock its mysteries. I assume that your daughter plays on a very good team in comparison to the teams played (I congratulate your daughter); otherwise, you wouldn't be acting as though possession soccer is the only method of play worthy of mention and that any other style of soccer is beneath your contempt.

But here is the thing: your daughter’s team only can play possession because of the comparative quality of teams played. Were your daughter’s team to play a much higher quality team, they would not play possession soccer because the other team would not allow your daughter’s team to play that way. Then it would be the other team’s parents calling your daughter the toe-poking bootball player, unless they had class and a sophisticated view of youth sports generally and soccer specifically. Since only a team from Oregon/SW Washington in a decade dominates teams from much larger populated areas of the country, we can safely assume that while your child plays the “right” soccer in Oregon, she would most certainly play the “wrong” soccer elsewhere. That is, unless your daughter's team insisted on playing possession and refused to adjust its tactics for the sake of playing "correctly" as opposed to adjusting to steal a win.

In other words, possession soccer is a comparative style. Teams of equal skill theoretically should have equal possession, and then both teams play “possession soccer.” A team of much higher technical quality should play possession soccer as they should possess the ball in greater amount. A far less skilled them would not be capable to play true “possession soccer” by definition since they would hardly possess the ball sufficiently to take advantage of their limited opportunities. Inevitably, the less technical team is forced to play a style it would not otherwise choose to play.

There is always a far better team. Therefore, every team must adapt their style to meet a technically superior foe. Nobody grades a team for artistic merit—soccer is not figure skating. It is the scoreboard that matters at the end of the game.

This is where I address the original poster of this thread.

“Possession” and “bootball” are very poor generic terms for tactical styles. No team goes out strictly with the intent to play “bootball” if we assume that to mean kick the ball far and leave it to 50/50 scenarios. Passing the ball intentionally to another player is a technical skill, as is the skill of receiving a pass. Stringing passes together with the intent of breaking down a defense is a tactic. Almost every team 9 years old and older has spells where it plays “possession.” If “bootball” were to mean playing long passes to open space to take advantage of the other team’s shape or lack of comparative athletic ability, that also is a tactic. Almost every team has spells were it plays “bootball.”

What people really discuss are the quantitative merits of both tactics because shorter passes enjoy higher efficiency rates than longer passes. Balls played on the ground have higher efficiency rates than balls played in the air. It’s so obvious that younger kids after a few seasons figure out that just kicking a ball has no purpose. Even a parent coach that never plays the game understands that passing is important.

However, as a tactic attempting to play possession soccer may not be the best option, which is counter intuitive because higher efficiency should suggest possession is superior to playing long balls to space. But the superior tactic is the tactic that is most likely to result in a win against a specific opponent. For the more technical team, possession likely is the better option. For the less technical team, this may not be true because actual time of possession is less and thus opportunities fewer.

One of the many reasons soccer is the beautiful game is that less technical teams often beat superior teams. They beat superior teams by adjusting their tactics while the superior team is incapable of adjusting its tactics. Why would a possession team give up playing possession if given the choice? So, there may be a tactical advantage in electing to play compact on defense, being patient, forcing the better team to spend energy trying to work the ball through tight spaces, and then looking for counter-attacks by playing a long ball into space. If that wins the game, you can call it “bootball” but I call it playing smart.

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The easy answer is to watch the World Cup and Euro Cup. There is a reason England doesn't come close to winning anything. There is a reason why it is the same few countries winning year after year. Possession soccer is superior to direct long ball soccer at higher levels.

It works at lower levels because bootball requires less skill and a team can rely on fewer athletic and quality players. It is also easier to coach. This is why we see so much of it in youth soccer. Lazy coaching and parents want their children to win.

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Will definitely be a tough out in State Cup and should meet Onyx in Finals

You guys are ambitious