By Alex Trukan Brazil has been always known for its creative and unpredictable attacking play. The type of the players in the team naturally fit into more flexible tactics with less structure and patterns. This is due to flair and freedom Brazilian players possess. Attacking flexibility with this type of players is harder to defend
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett FIFA 2014 World Cup, Brazil Tuesday, 8 July, 2014 Germany 7 v 1 France In what will go down as one of the most incredible matches in World Cup history, this ridiculous score line was an entirely fair reflection of Germany’s dominance. While Brazilians still talk about
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
In the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, Croatia played against hosts Brazil, and were tipped to struggle against one of the favourites for the tournament. Croatia can always feel confident against any team boasting a midfield of new Barcelona signing Ivan Rakitic, Real Madrid playmaker Luka Modric, and Inter Milan attacking midfielder Mateo Kovacic, they have a slight defensive imbalance as despite all 3 being able to play as a playmaker or a number 10, none of the 3 are natural holding or defensive midfielders, and in this game it showed with the distances and angles of defensive support and lack of speed to reshape in defensive transition, particularly from Modric and Rakitic.
Brazil’s opening goal – Rakitic and Modric are too far apart as the ball breaks loose
Brazil and Croatia are battling for a loose ball in midfield, Croatia should win it but don’t which leaves the midfield open as Rakitic shifts wider to intercept/press Alves. In doing so, this leaves
Continue readingThe 4-2-3-1 formation has become the system of choice for many of the worlds top professional and national teams like Real Madrid, Manchester United and Brazil. As coaches at every level have watched these top teams play they have looked for ways to implement the system with their college, high school and youth teams.
The first step in introducing a new way of playing s to break the system down and identify the most important components. The was done very well by
Continue readingI continue to run one practice per week outdoor with my older teams during the winter months when weather permits. This means that we are often training when the it’s pretty cold. On very cold days I organize small-sided games to keep the players moving and loose. They get a lot more out of playing
Continue readingI continue to run one practice per week outdoor with my older teams during the winter months when weather permits. This means that we are often training when the it's pretty cold. On very cold days I organize small-sided games to keep the players moving and loose. They get a lot more out of playing games than they would if I tried to coach specific concepts.
Playing small-sided game should not be a matter of dividing up into two teams and throwing the ball out. My favorite small-sided games are those that
Continue readingOne of the problems with many teams attacks is players become static. Midfielders stay behind the forwards, forwards stand and wait for the ball to be passed etc. This activity works on movement, penetration, anticipation and combination in getting to goal. Start with three gates, each 3 yards apart around 25 yards from goal. There
Continue readingBrazilians learn the game by playing the game. In many countries training sessions are focused around drills and exercises that isolate techniques and tactics. Brazilian coaches spend most of their time creating playing environments with small-sided games that put an emphasis on the specific areas of the game but also train the player ‘globally’. One
Continue readingSAO PAULO - Brazilian football legend Ronaldo, who helped his country to two World Cup trophies and is still the tournament’s top scorer, retired yesterday, Brazilian media reported. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo (known as ‘El Fenomeno’ during his prime), had held out hopes of one last World
Continue readingToday is an article by guest blogger,Vinicius Dos Santos. Vinicius is the author of our best selling book and DVD, the Brazilian Box Midfield. Speaking from the heart to US Soccer on how to win the World Cup The joy of the task of playing the game of soccer is its own reward. The performance
Continue readingOkay, I must admit, the England v USA game went pretty much as I expected. England playing poorly, USA playing better than many give them credit for and England finding a way to self destruct. As I said last week, England seem to only have one world class player (in form, which rules out Gerrard)
Continue readingI'm getting World Cup fever. Not sure why, England always seem to find a way to disappoint. Here are some personal memories of the World Cups I have enjoyed. I was born in 1962, so I have no memories of England's win in 1966 and 1970 was the first World Cup I remember. 1970 -
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