Barcelona's Bielsa influence, stepping back from the high line, the falsehood of the false nine and Markarián's mettle

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 As Franco Ferrari (the former head of Italian football’s technical HQ Coverciano) says, “In Italy we just look to the result, we don’t care how we obtained it, it’s all about the result…it’s not a question of playing well or building a base for the future, you have to win.”

Enrique says, “When Roma got to know me, they got to know me as an offensive coach who likes to attack, who likes good football. The important thing is that the fans come to watch us, that they enjoy themselves. It’s a very attractive way of playing. We will play on the attack. I don’t consider football any other way. We are moving towards a complete change of ideas and identity…I haven’t come here to bring the Barcelona model, but something that is similar to it.”

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Relaxing on a terrace a block from the White House in Washington, D.C., sipping a glass of white wine on a balmy Saturday night this past May, Frank de Boer was happy. Now 41, the one-time Ajax, Barcelona and Netherlands defender with the laser-guided long ball looked much the same as in his playing days -- the piercing blue eyes, the short blond hair that threatened to recede but never did. These days, he's the head coach of Ajax, the club that took in him and his twin brother, Ronald, when they were just 14. De Boer had just masterminded Ajax's first Dutch league title in seven years, its longest drought since 1947-57, overcoming a raging power struggle for club leadership, the sale of his best player (Luis Suarez), locker-room unrest and a double-digit point deficit since taking over this past December.

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JURGEN KLINSMANN: The keys for soccer development are for children to enjoy kicking a ball and enjoy playing soccer types of games. It does not take a soccer field or an organized team training to do this. But we may need to help our children learn what they can do on their own or with a few friends to enjoy kicking a ball and playing soccer.

In other words, youth soccer training should include lots of fun -- “you can do this on your own” -- activities, including showing examples of how to have soccer-related fun in a backyard, the driveway, the schoolyard, a park, against a wall, or anywhere there is a small amount of space and a ball -- any kind of ball.

In the USA, basketball is part of the culture. So young basketball players grow up learning how to play types of basketball games -- like 1-on-1, 21, H-O-R-S-E --- on their own and with small groups. We need to help our young soccer players to be able to do the same thing -- play on their own or with their friends or with their parents wherever they are with whatever ball is available.

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When a team begins to struggle in a game, it's often because, in coaching parlance, there is too much distance 'between lines'. Most professional footballers can pass a ball from one end of the park to another, but there is little point in doing this if it simply isolates the player receiving the pass. The lines become too stretched, and the cohesion of the team falls apart. This almost always happens when one team has pinned the other into its own half, as Madrid did to Malaga in the first half, and suffocates them with constant pressure, with or without the ball. Madrid have learned something from Barcelona, and are beginning to recover the ball more quickly, hunting in packs.

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Seven reasons explain the radical improvement:

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Bundesliga (DFL) and the German Football Association (DFB) extend their cooperation with Double PASS

One of the Bundesliga’s key success factors is that the League manages to develop and improve their own home grown players, according to Christian Seifert, the league’s CEO. This is no coincidence, but the result of a dedicated long term vision focused on investing in quality youth development. At the moment, 36 clubs in Bundesliga 1. and 2. have invested around 78 million Euros in their youth academies (Leistungszentrum). An investment that, according to Mr. Seifert, has clearly payed off when you take in to account that 15% of the players active in the Bundeliga are no older than 23. Even more convincing is the fact that Germany’s youth internationals have performed very well at international level during the past few years, with the U17, U19 and U21 becoming European Champions. These magnificent results saw Germany be rewarded with the Maurice Burlaz Trophy, a prestigious award handed out by the UEFA referring to work with home grown youth.

However, this is only the beginning according to Mr. Seifert as these Leistungszentren will play an even more important part in the further development of German football. Crucial for this development is the  ‘Foot PASS Deutschland Project’, a 'Zertifizierungsprojekt' run by Double PASS in German youth academies. According to Mr. Seifert, this project has not only put these centers in the spotlight, thereby creating discussion and progress, but also systematically professionalized the manner in which these academies work. It’s crucial to base evaluations on objective and relevant facts, thereby allowing correct and specific support, and that is exactly what the Foot PASS PRoject does. The results of the Foot PASS evaluations are not only used to offer this support, but also form a base for the distribution of UEFA Champion League funds  intended for youth academies between clubs.

On June 1st, the new Foot PASS evaluation instrument was presented at a Bundesliga workshop in Frankfurt at which the different academy directors were present, sounding the prolonging of the cooperation between Foot PASS and the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) and Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL) for the next 3 years.

By Elliott Almond

The Earthquakes unveiled plans Thursday to start a youth development program in East San Jose that could begin to funnel the area's top soccer talent through its doors for potential college and pro careers.
The partnership with the Evergreen United Education Foundation initially will include a pool of 13,500 children involved in after-school programs mixing soccer with academic tutoring.

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Conclusion:
There is a difference between knowing and doing. We tend to take an easy path, without realizing the negative consequences of it, in the long term. This is human nature. And this is where the great high performing athletes / teams and good performing athletes / teams separate. Good is the enemy of great, as good gives us a false sense of security.

We must do the things right for our young and upcoming athletes, as they are our future.