TOP TEN 08’ BOYS TEAMS

Balotelli45 wrote:

FCForça wrote:If anyone saw Manchester City vs. Solar McKinney in Iber Cup in the Spring... Solar lost 3-2, however, both teams played beautifully.  City was all lateral passes, looking for opportunities, diagonal balls and making full use of the pitch... while Solar lived up to their competitors, hung in the entire game and were very impressive.

After that game, I turned around to the next field and watched two other "top" teams play in pretty much the semifinals with most current DA kids and it was ugly long ball fest.  Yes, ugly long-ball won D1 for the '07's last year. The '08s, just by expansion of '07 DA, has to be the most poached there has been and therefore, a lot of mediocrity for the most part.  This year looks to be another rat race to DA and teams that sacrifice smart soccer for long balls for wins will eventually get caught up to.

Not to name any names... but of last year's top teams, one lost their heart and sole Striker, another lost their Striker, Winger and CM, yet another, their two footed Striker and the best team in the country completely jumped ship.  

I say this out of a little bias, but best 5 D2 and some outside classic league, when given time and competition, will prove to be on the same level as the Allegiance's, Evolution's, Juliao's, and the various other Solar/Texans/FC Dallas teams.

Don't forget most of the kids on the City team were 09's...

TxRMC wrote:Seed is not hating, just keeping it real.  I agree the majority of CL 08 (that's all I watch) play long ball.  There are a few that don't, but most still do and that is ok at this age.  Ball control is risky, defenders get rattled from pressure then make mistakes giving up goals ect ect.

soccerfanatic2008 wrote:

TxRMC wrote:Seed is not hating, just keeping it real.  I agree the majority of CL 08 (that's all I watch) play long ball.  There are a few that don't, but most still do and that is ok at this age.  Ball control is risky, defenders get rattled from pressure then make mistakes giving up goals ect ect.

I agree. I have witnessed games where even Allegiance, who many think is the top possession ball control team, get beat when the defenders are pressured. That pressure usually results in a turn over in their defensive third.

Kickball was bound to happen at this age now that the field is bigger than the 7v7 fields they used to play on. At the 9v9 level, the advantage of speed really comes into play, and if a coach has a fast kid, most coaches will naturally play that kid at forward and just launch the ball to him as much as possible. Im all for a well placed through ball, but in most cases, I am seeing just a big boot from the defender. It teaches ugly soccer, but as Seed mentioned, it gets some results, which in turn gets parents to open up their wallets.

MurderWasTheCase wrote:

soccerfanatic2008 wrote:

TxRMC wrote:Seed is not hating, just keeping it real.  I agree the majority of CL 08 (that's all I watch) play long ball.  There are a few that don't, but most still do and that is ok at this age.  Ball control is risky, defenders get rattled from pressure then make mistakes giving up goals ect ect.

I agree. I have witnessed games where even Allegiance, who many think is the top possession ball control team, get beat when the defenders are pressured. That pressure usually results in a turn over in their defensive third.

Kickball was bound to happen at this age now that the field is bigger than the 7v7 fields they used to play on. At the 9v9 level, the advantage of speed really comes into play, and if a coach has a fast kid, most coaches will naturally play that kid at forward and just launch the ball to him as much as possible. Im all for a well placed through ball, but in most cases, I am seeing just a big boot from the defender. It teaches ugly soccer, but as Seed mentioned, it gets some results, which in turn gets parents to open up their wallets.

Why is it ugly?  There are times for possession, long ball, counter attack etc.  Its all part of the game.  

Seed wrote:Y'all are exactly right, with the ages of these boys there is a lot of growth physically as well as mentally, so today's kick ball team might produce USMNT's next star. The main point that I was making is not to trade current success for future bad habits. There is a decent amount of really good coach's in North Texas, ones that will sacrifice glory for development, holding their kids accountable to playing sound soccer. I have always been impressed with how much Pedro gets out of his teams. I known kids that have left other clubs being lower half players and he gets them to produce, you can see real development. I know that he videos most of his '07 and '08 games so I'm sure the kids are getting a holistic view of their progress.

With regards to picks this weekend - Miyagi was reading Biff's Almanac before posting and has the right answers. Congrats Miyagi!

Saying a prayer they play this weekend.  

Seed wrote:Y'all are exactly right, with the ages of these boys there is a lot of growth physically as well as mentally, so today's kick ball team might produce USMNT's next star. The main point that I was making is not to trade current success for future bad habits. There is a decent amount of really good coach's in North Texas, ones that will sacrifice glory for development, holding their kids accountable to playing sound soccer. I have always been impressed with how much Pedro gets out of his teams. I known kids that have left other clubs being lower half players and he gets them to produce, you can see real development. I know that he videos most of his '07 and '08 games so I'm sure the kids are getting a holistic view of their progress.

With regards to picks this weekend - Miyagi was reading Biff's Almanac before posting and has the right answers. Congrats Miyagi!

Saying a prayer they play this weekend.