TFC Blue Cup Summary

Sorry it took so long to post and it may be just a bit too long. But here goes.

Preface

I am pretty confident that if you ask every player what our focus has been since the beginning of the season it would be two things. Pace of play and possession. These are two things tactically and technically that require a great deal of continuous repetition.

I attribute a great deal of our success as a team over the years to the amount of preparation (practice time) and the numbers of repetitions that we are able get in as a team. (Thank you parents)

The three weeks leading up to this tournament had its opportunities with getting quality practice sessions in. Illness, injuries (Paige), weather and conflicts with school events made it pretty difficult. So my first concern going into this tournament was the lack of full team practice sessions.

My second concern was the lack this fall of an on going competitive schedule. When I look at our schedule each year I try to build on our level of competition through the season in order to create some momentum towards the end. Aside from Plano and the Hurricane Cup we didn’t have many really competitive formats that tested the girls this fall.

In the competitive formats that we did have we played well but not as consistent as we should have each game. When you play the less competitive teams you can get away with a few lapses during the game, but when you play really good teams you have to be consistent from beginning to end, with minimal mistakes. I think everyone remembers the TSC White meltdown.

Now contrary to what I said above, when we scrimmaged the 93 Comets a few weeks ago I was really pleased with how well the girls played. I thought we had played one of the most complete matches we had played in a while. That 3-2 win really created some strong momentum and confidence. In the practices leading up to that match, pace of play really became our priority. Our movement with and with out the ball really showed how much it had improved in this scrimmage.

I could also sense during the indoor matches against the older age groups that the girls were gaining momentum and confidence. I think Jakob Nilsson said it best after one of the matches against the U18s when he said our girls were playing a very chippy or feisty style game. I could tell then that our game was starting to peak.

So my final concern was hoping that they could continue to peak and not have any let downs before or during the tournament.

TFC Blue Cup Tournament:

Pool Play Summary

TFC Blue 2-0 Win

Solar Blue 1-0 Win

Dallas Texans White 0-0 Tie

I don’t think the scores during pool play really indicate how well the girls played to include the tie that we had.

In our first match against TFC Blue I think we surprised them. I don’t think they were expecting us to come out at the pace we did. They had a really good keeper and the girls put her to work. I think we must have taken about 10-12 shots in the first half and the goalie made some really good saves. Sara got our first goal off a corner kick from AD midway through the half and Tayler followed up with our second on a nice give n go combination from Ellen shortly after.

During the second half the girls played with the same intensity and with the wind to our backs in the second half, TFC only mounted a few penetrations into our half of the field. Defensively our defenders played a much smarter game. TFC had two really strong outside attackers who had good speed and knew how to work the ball. They were able to get past our defenders one on one a few times but the defenders did a much better job of stepping across and picking up the penetration with the center defender coming across and the defender who got beat dropping back into second defender position vs. trying to race the attacker back. They also started using the keepers more to help clear the ball.

Overall I thought a pretty strong showing for an early game on the road.

In our second match the girls played just as well. We had a few opportunities in the first half but again a really athletic goalie. The girls had her diving all over the place. Ellen, AD and Madison took some really quality shots but she was able to knock those shots away time and time again.

At half time the coach from the other team realized they were having difficulties getting possession of the ball and decided to try something we had not seen before. He put everyone but one player back on defense and as they were able to win the ball they tried to send a long ball so that their one player could go one on one to the goal. She had speed with decent skills so I think they had used this tactic before. We were able to corral her when they were able to get a send in and our midfield won a majority of the balls that kept them from really putting in a solid threat, but with all those defenders it was tough to really create a good opening for us as well.

With about 10 minutes left in the game we were awarded a free kick about 30 yards out after a foul. Tayler put a good ball up but the goalie was there to knock it down. However, Lauren Cowgur followed and as the ball hit the ground she was able to catch the rebound with a header into the goal. That turned out to be the game winner for us and really secure our spot into the semis.

A few things about this game showed we really need to sharpen up our set plays again. The lack of repetition did show here. We didn’t execute well on corners or free kicks during this tournament.

In our final pool game against the Dallas Texans White we once again faced an opponent who packed in the defense. This team needed a win to move on and we needed no less than a tie to win the bracket. So they were coming out to play and once again another team who tried to play the long ball and let their fast forwards win one v one match ups. We didn’t put in any goals this match but we had our chances. Meagan, Kate and Donut helped us put some good pressure on the goal with over laps and give n goes and our outside mid fielders were making some really good rungs. I really thought we should have had a few goals in this match but we just couldn’t find the back of the net. We had some good openings and were able to get 1v1 situations with the goalie, but we kicked the ball directly back to the goalie each time.

Over all a decent match for us but a good call out on the need to continue to work on finishing. The Tie allowed us to win the bracket and kept them from moving on as the wild card.

ASG West Gold Semi Finals match 3-1 win.

This team won the Memphis Spring Elite Tournament last April. We almost saw them in the finals there but we lost the PK shoot out to the other Dallas team in the semi finals and never got a chance to play them. This team has played in and won competitive tournaments like this one.

We started out really flat the first 10 minutes or so in this game. ASG was playing as the faster team when the game started and had the momentum going. I was getting on several players due to the lack of effort that was impacting our over all team play.

In the previous three games we had only given up 1 corner kick in total. In the first 10 minutes vs. ASG we had given up at least three and on their third corner we finally gave up the first and only goal of the tournament. Initially it looked like we were going to be able to clear the ball, it almost seemed like slow motion as the ball moved past everyone and the last attacker was able to get a clean shot and put it in the goal.

The forwards for ASG were very fast and worked very well with each other. They had some good give n go plays and our middle defenders and center mid fields were really being put to the test. They also had some really good speed on the outside and were able to get some deep runs. Our outside defenders got beat a few times and then started backing off the high pressure that we normally play with, thus giving up too much ground to ASG. To about the 20 minute mark of the first half ASG was the better team.

One of our tactics through this tournament was to go into the wind the first half of every game in order to get that added pressure during the second half when the other team was a bit winded. To this point it hadn’t hurt us but in this math we gave up our first goal and the other team was really putting the pressure on us. I had hoped just to hold them off the rest of the half, settle down and try to get something going when we had the wind to our backs.

The girls, however, had something else in mind and around the 25-minute mark Tayler took the ball deep into the corner and sent a cross towards the goal. Madison was in the right place as the backside trailer and caught the ball on her left foot in mid air for a nice goal. That got us a little momentum as about 5 minutes later Sara weaved in and got our second goal to give us 2-1 lead at half.

At half time I think the girls knew although we had the lead that they didn’t play one of their better halves of soccer. I think they expected me to really get on them at half time as they came in with their heads hanging and for the first time in the tournament the bench was quiet.

Instead of getting on them, which I guess I could have easily done, I told them this was why we were here. I told them I love playing these types of games and they should too. We were being pushed very hard and we were being challenged by a very good team and that they were stepping up to the challenge.

I told our outside defenders to step up and take on those fast attackers and not to give up so much ground. Yes they got beat a couple times but they can’t back down. We needed them and the inside defenders and mid fielders to play a more aggressive second half. They all stepped up to the challenge and played a much better second half of the game.

The second half game plan was to give the girls 20 minutes with our attacking formation or until we got a goal, I was then going to pull back a forward and go with an extra defender and move to a defensive heavy formation and to play for the win the last 20 minutes.

Right about the 20-minute mark I had the extra defender on the line ready to sub in for a forward when Tayler was able to get past the back defensive row and put in a goal in the corner to give us a 3-1 lead. I then went to a 1-4-4-1 to give us more defensive numbers in the back and instructed the girls to clear the ball long. The girls played a sound defensive game the last 20 minutes and we found ourselves in the finals I think to a lot of people’s surprise.

Finals Dallas Sting Royal 2-0 win.

We last played the Sting at the Plano Labor Day Tournament and lost 1-0 in pool play. We knew going into the game it was going to be good match.

I told the girls before this game that they had played pretty well to this point but the one thing our game was lacking was emotion. We had something to prove to this team and they had to do it on the field.

The other coach had the same game plan with the wind that we had and for the first time in the tournament we had the wind in the first half. The wind was also picking up so it was going to be a difference maker in this game especially at the end. For about the first 15 minutes of the game it was back and forth with no real attacks by either team. In our normal set I have Tayler playing a low forward, which helps us win balls in the middle but who ever is playing that spot also has to drag behind the high forward to help us get numbers on the attack.

Periodically we have teams that mark players during games in this one the other coach had marked Tayler with two players. Aside from having two players on Tayler it also put extra players for them in the midfield so I switched Ellen and Tayler and put Tayler up to the high forward, which pulled those marking players to the back line. I don’t think the other coach caught on to the switch until the second half.

By doing this I knew it would give us numbers back in the mid field but without knowing, it also opened up our low forward spot. Tayler and Ellen were able to start working give n goes in the middle and as soon as Tayler would touch the ball on top they would converge on her leaving Ellen wide open to the goal. The challenge would be if Tayler could get her the ball. Ellen had a couple openings but couldn’t get a clean shot to the goalie. Finally at about the half way point of the first half they hooked up on a good give n go and Ellen finally put a bullet in the back corner that this goalie wasn’t going to stop. This gave us a 1-0 lead at half time.

The first 5 minutes of the second half Sting came out pretty strong and with the wind to their backs, we knew we were still in a dogfight. They putting enough pressure on us that I had to go right away to our defensive formation to help us battle against them and the wind. At about 25 minutes into the second half Tayler got past the last line on a through ball and beat the goalie one on one to give us a 2-0 lead. Two more times she had similar chances against the goalie but put it right back to her. I guess she needed a closer game. We were able to do this because the other coach moved a defender forward to help get numbers on the goal leaving him short in back after we scored the second goal. Our mid fielders and defenders were able to keep possession through this and gave us through balls that kept the pressure on and sealed our 2-0 win.

My overall summary of the tournament is that I see good progress on our focus items. Which has been pace of play and possession. The girls are moving well, passing well and recognizing different game situations and finding different ways to react to them and they are doing it as a team. The overall team consistency has improved as well. Tactically we still need to work on our outside mid fielders rotating on getting heels to the outside line when the ball rotates to their side. A few times we got bunched up due to not doing this. Defensively we need to keep working on our cover defense and using the second defender and goalie when we are under high pressure outside the 18. Our keepers are playing a much smarter game but we still need to work on knowing when to send and when to roll out to a defender.

Technically it was a pretty sound tournament. A few times the first touch got rough but that was due to the girls trying to not settle the ball at their feet when they are under pressure. They are doing a great job of knowing when to dribble out of pressure to make a good pass and when to first touch a pass. A few times when they were penetrating they took too many touches without shooting or dropping the ball off but I thought the control was very good.

I also want them to know when they should hold the ball at their feet and when to keep it moving so that the defense does not have time react and set up. There are times when we need to do this in order to freeze the defender to set up an over lap or under lap so we will need to continue to work on the different game situations and when to one or the other.

I'll be sending January practice times out in the next few days and a few other notes as well.

Good Tournament.

Doug