Improving a players ability to juggle will also improve; balance, ability to read the flight of the ball, ability to control the ball out of air, ability to accurately strike a ball, ability to properly weight the strike of a pass, ability to time a strike, properly header the ball, use different surfaces of the body to control the ball and the ability to simply make the ball do what they want it to do. I believe that these are all things that make a difference between a good and bad player, so, all my players will learn to juggle!

When teaching your players to juggle, start as easy as possible. Have them strike the ball up in the air so that it falls straight back into their hands. This is the first step to juggling and no joke, I spend the good portion of my first season with U8′s having them perfect just that. Coaching points should be; point their toe forward, shoe laces straight up, bend at the knees, slight forward upper body posture, soft touch on the ball so that it does not clear your head.

I will follow up soon with more a in depth break down of each stage of juggling a player should go through to master the skill. Until next time!

Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed in yet another great clasico. This was the 9th clasico in as many months, and in my opinion was the most fantastic!!!

Real Madrid came out with an attacking lineup featuring Ronaldo, Higuain, Kaka, Alonso, and Ozil. It’s been very rare that Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid’s coach) has used this combination of offensive fire power. Real Madrid pressed high up the field and forced Barcelona to play to perfection if they were to win with their possession game. The pressure was relentless and it almost paid dividends when Real Madrid created a flurry of goal scoring opportunities early on.

Watching this game, it’s obvious that Real Madrid is the true contender of a team that can possibly overtake the great Barca machine. Are they ready now? No!!! But if Real continues to play with this positive approach, time will only make them more dangerous.

What I just don’t understand is why Mourinho doesn’t commit 100% to this approach? Why did it take real Madrid being down 2-1 on aggregate and visiting Barcelona for the coach to decide his team can play with such confidence? In the first leg at Madrid, Mourinho fielded a midfield that included a center back and two defensive midfielder. Is it that Mourinho felt he had nothing to lose in the second leg, so he might as well try and attack? The funny thing is when he felt less pressure and decided to unleash his superstar team to attack and press, they finally looked like a team considered to be Barca’s arch-rival.

I hope this serves as a learning experience for Madrid and we begin to see them consistently playing such the protagonists. If so, we might actually see Mourinho get the best of Pep sooner than later.

On a side note, Mesut Ozil is a legend in the making!

The coordination, speed and skill he exhibits during the match are out of this world. Literally, he is doing things in this game with the grace an technique of a very good professional player. If you ever see a kid exhibiting this type of talent, take the video recorder out.

My favorite moment in the video is at the end when Messi’s team was celebrating their 7-1 victory, he notices an opponent fall to the ground crying. Messi immediately runs over and helps the boy to his feet and shows a stroke of genius when it comes to sportsmanship.

Show this video to you players and then show them a video of present day Messi. This will allow their imaginations to run wild with possibility and hopefully inspire them to run out into the street and play more soccer!

In this time where the holidays are around I am in Argentina with my family – looking for gifts for my friend’s children or my nephews and thinking, “what do I give them?” I want to give them something that is related with the time we are leaving in, but how do I do that knowing that technology is on top of everything? The kids want a Wii or an Xbox but I want to give them something they can use in sports. Like many parents, I don’t want them sit for hours in front of the TV and not move their bodies. Of course I would love it that they played futbol, but that is not necessary, or always possible.

When I was young I was dreaming of getting a soccer ball or a new pair of cleats for Navidad. I understand that the times have changed, and I am not against technology, but I really would love for the kids to go to the club and play futbol or some other sport to keep them active and engaged with others.

So for not wanting the passion for sports to die, I decided to give to my nephews a membership to a club in Argentina for a year so they can play with their friends, or create new ones. It was so important for me when I was young to be enrolled in that club that not only did I create myself as a futbol player, but also as a person. When I didn’t practice futbol with my team I was playing basketball, volleyball or many other games such as Quemado (Dutch ball). All those activities gave me a lot of coordination and agility that I used to play futbol later for my team.

So I hope that everyone is enjoying their vacation and time with their family like I am. And I hope that in whatever gifts were given this year, that there are still kids out there dreaming of a soccer ball, a baseball bat, a tennis racquet or a new pair of running shoes because I believe these activities are instrumental to the future we are developing for our children and grandchildren.

Fleliz Navidad y Feliz Ano Nuevo.

Hasta luego!

Receiving is an essential part of a players makeup. When a ball is passed, redirected, or blindly kicked in your direction; do you have the ability to control the ball in a manner that allows you to make a positive play?

The key to receiving or also known as “trapping” is to place the ball in a space that allows you to avoid defensive pressure and make a positive play on the game. When you play pass with a friend or teammate you usually simply stop the ball in front of you when receiving. This is the most basic of all receiving techniques. This type of receiving should be the first technique you teach your youngest players when you decide to venture here. Start by teaching them to stop a ball dead from every passing angle, all passing weights, ball heights, and with EVERY part of their foot and body. I want my U9 players to be able to deal with a ball falling straight down to them with their chest, thigh, and multiple surfaces of their foot. I also want them to deal with a pass on the ground with every surface of their foot. This type of diversity when it come to the most simple of receiving techniques will allow you to later teach receiving the ball into different spaces as to avoid pressure with much more effectiveness.

Key areas that players should be comfortable receiving with:
Inside foot, outside foot, sole of the foot, top of the foot, thigh, chest, head.

Key variations of passes they should be comfortable receiving:
Ball falling horizontally, ball in the air traveling vertically, bouncing ball, ball kicked straight to them from all angles, ball kicked into space away from them at all angles, slow passes, fast passes, ball from the air that are spinning.

Make them very good and comfortable stopping a ball with their entire body and they will surely learn more quickly how to escape pressure and maintain possession.

The goal that I am highlighting this week was scored by Robin Van Persie. He is from Holland, also referred to as the Netherlands. He is a fantastic player that comes from a fantastic soccer crazy country. The Dutch believe it or not are responsible for the grass-root development of the style and system that FC Barcelona plays. It is because of such rare talents as Van Persie that a country so small can be considered such a soccer giant.

Now to the goal! I will not bore you with details about how brilliant his run off the ball is, or the amazing touch and weight of the pass. Instead, I will talk strictly mechanics and technique on the finish.

First, Van Persie’s ability to judge the space and time in which the pass would arrive is incredible. All youth coaches should be working on time and space orientation with young players. This is your ability to time a pass into space for a player running onto the ball and also your ability to time your shot or trap in relation to how fast the ball is traveling and to what space it is traveling to.

Second, his focus on the ball is brilliant. If you watch the goal, he never once takes his eyes off the ball until it is in the back of the net.

Lastly, his strike on the ball is perfect. He strikes it left footed, keeping his ankle locked, toe pointed down, and follows through so he lands on his striking foot. Absolutely textbook.

This is a goal every kid who loves this game dreams of scoring, me included. It’s plays like this that make you realize why the world is so soccer hungry!

Thank you for reading.

-Coach Mikey

I see kids on the street every day with a ball at their feet. Playing 1 v 1 or just juggling, passing the ball to each other. It reminds me of where I grew up — on the streets of Buenos Aires — playing futbol with my friends every day. I believe it is where I learned most of the futbol tricks. I am not surprised when I see these kids playing at 11 o’clock at night at the beach and on the sand and I think, these kids (without knowing it) are working on everything a futbol player needs: reaction, balance, equilibrium, strength and of course technique. Let’s not forget about how important technique is. I believe that it is impossible to appreciate the beauty of this sport without really knowing about the technique involved.  That’s why this country creates players like Romario, Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho, Pato, Neymar and so many more – all with amazing power and pure technique at the same time – the perfect combination for a futbol player.

So many times we hear people talking highly about a certain player because how fast or strong he or she is, but yet they are not paying attention to their technical skills. Athleticism is so important, but as we always say we have to prioritize and focus on technique, especially at the early ages. This is the time when coaches need to be patient and teach the technical skills, but also incorporate the passion for the sport. You can’t argue with the natural passion that these youth display from the South American countries like Brazil and Argentina and so many more. That passion will carry them far in life – both on and off the futbol field.

When Corinthians won the Brasileirao Championship, I saw people on the street with flags singing and celebrating their win. One week late, on a weekday in December, in a small city in the country of Brazil, the kids continue to fill the streets and the beaches with their friends and the ball. They might not be celebrating the victory still, but they are celebrating their passion for futbol that inspires them every day.

I feel great watching all the passion that exists within these young kids. I hope we, as coaches, can transfer some of this feeling to our kids in USA so they enjoy and celebrate futbol more. Hasta luego!!!

Futsal is a teacher of the game in and of itself. It’s boundaries, field size, and ball attributes make it so players must learn to play quickly, skillfully, and intelligently. Blindly smash the ball and it immediately goes out of bounds. Take a bad first touch and the defender’s pressure on you will be overwhelming in the blink of an eye. Carelessly make inaccurate passes and you might just give the opposing team a wonderful opportunity to shoot on goal.

The game is played by every 2-10 year old all over South America and Europe. Basically every Brazilian national team player credits playing this game at an early age to developing their divine touch on the ball. There’s just no arguing with that!

The best part about Futsal, the game is the teacher. Put 10 kids on the court and throw in the ball. If you want your players to develop naturally and have a blast doing it, do them a favor and go sign up for your local Futsal league. If your city doesn’t have a Futsal league, start one!!! You will be doing the community a great service.

In my ongoing quest into the most beneficial forms of physical preparation of futbol players I solicited the advice of a good friend Enrique Miguel. Enrique works as a physical trainer at Bresia’s futbol club in Italy, and was also Roberto Baggio’s personal trainer for years, so I appreciate his experience on this topic. He helped me understand how the use of resistance training, such as using a 30lb chute that opens as you begin running, or as we call it “chaleco de fuerza” in Spanish, is proving to be more damaging than beneficial. New to the training ground are softer, gentler, methods that are helping with futbol’s success around the world.

What is now being suggested, perhaps because of the successes of teams like Barcelona, is the elimination of these resistance-style and more forceful training techniques as part of the team’s training regime. And not just in futbol, but also in the training programs of other athletes in other sports as well.

According to information on the web today, and such articles as found on www.runners.es, Hipopresivas techniques are being used to replace the traditional abdominal exercises (such as your basic sit up) to build up your core and increase strength, balance and stability of the body, without the potential abdominal, spine and back problems.  The new technique, allows futbol players to be better prepared on the field without the potential harm caused by the traditional training methods we’ve been taught over the years.

Reprocessing Soft Fitness, or RSF, is one type of program that includes more than 150 different exercises. Hipopresivas techniques achieve a flatter abdomen to re-educate intra-abdominal pressure and prevent the internal organs from pushing forward. They also increase the vascular response of the pelvic floor in your lower extremities.

What Dr. Oliva and Coach Menotti have been talking about for more than 40 years, and Paco Seirul (Barcelona’s trainer for over 20 years) has improved and implemented, it seems has now been “scientifically” accepted and being put into practice more globally.

I believe that there are a lot of teams in the world, including those in the Argentinean league, which are still training with the standard resistance method. That’s why I believe eternally on Cefar’s training method because their focus is to make strong, fast and coordinated players, and all of the training is with the ball, therefore you don’t loose focus on the technique.

In my opinion, if this type of training was included in youth soccer training today, instead of hours at the gym pushing players on weight machines, we would have more coordinated players that can use the techniques learned to play soccer how it was intended – to look spectacular! Hasta luego.

Many coaches at the early age groups teach the normal moves; the Cruyff, the pull back, the scissor, the step over, and etc… This does not cut it!

Today, I will touch base on 5-key dribbling elements youth players should get plenty of repetition of during practice besides just the basic moves:

1) Simple body fakes – The best tool to beat a defender 1v1 is often a simple shift in balance by the dribbler. This is the first movement you should work on, with and without the ball. The use of a latter is perfect to illustrate the movement without the ball before your young players attempt it with the ball.

2) Moves in combination – the next step is to make sure your players are practicing the basic moves in combination. Can your player do a pullback and then immediately a step over?

3) Cutting – It is essential that your players become very, very comfortable cutting the ball at 90 degrees and 180 degrees with both the outside and inside of both their feet.

4) Apply dribbling to different spaces – your player should get many repetition’s dribbling the ball at different distances. Tighter, quick dribbles when you approach a crowded area, a longer more explosive touch when beating an opponent.

5) Timing – Player should get many repetition incorporating a move or fake in relation to a defender (which can start out being a cone, then progress to an actual defender). This will help players understand the distance and timing in which a certain dribble and or move must be made as to not crash with your opponent.

In later blogs I will discuss dribbling in a more in depth format. As I previously stated, it’s one of the three fundamental pillars of being a soccer player and it’s the first that must be practiced.