~Soccer Thread~

[Hoss]

OT...but do we have any futbal-tactics gurus in here?

My daughter is going to be playing left defender (fullback? Whatever) in a 3-3-4 alignment this fall, in her first year of 11v11...supposedly an aggressive version, if that matters. If anybody can describe the responsibilities of that position, I'd be interested to hear it. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica, 1D) 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Heading into June...

.
Eastern Conference 

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
1	Atlanta United FC	26	2		13	8	3	2	27	17	10		4-2-1		4-1-1
2	Columbus Crew SC	25	1.79		14	7	3	4	18	10	8		5-1-1		2-2-3
3	New York City FC	24	1.85		13	7	3	3	26	19	7		5-0-0		2-3-3
4	New York Red Bulls	22	2		11	7	3	1	26	12	14		4-1-1		3-2-0
5	Orlando City SC	19	1.58		12	6	5	1	22	20	2		4-3-1		2-2-0
6	New England Revolution	19	1.46		13	5	4	4	22	19	3		4-2-2		1-2-2
7	Philadelphia Union	18	1.38		13	5	5	3	15	16	-1		4-1-2		1-4-1
8	Chicago Fire	14	1.08		13	4	7	2	18	24	-6		2-4-1		2-3-1
9	Toronto FC	10	0.91		11	3	7	1	14	20	-6		3-3-1		0-4-0
10	Montreal Impact	9	0.69		13	3	10	0	14	29	-15		2-3-0		1-7-0
11	D.C. United	9	0.9		10	2	5	3	14	18	-4		1-0-1		1-5-2

.

Western Conference 

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
1	Sporting Kansas City	25	1.92		13	7	2	4	24	13	11		4-1-2		3-1-2
2	FC Dallas	23	1.92		12	6	1	5	20	13	7		3-0-4		3-1-1
3	Los Angeles Football Club	21	1.75		12	6	3	3	24	19	5		2-0-3		4-3-0
4	Portland Timbers	20	1.82		11	6	3	2	19	17	2		4-0-0		2-3-2
5	Real Salt Lake	19	1.46		13	6	6	1	17	26	-9		5-1-0		1-5-1
6	Houston Dynamo	18	1.5		12	5	4	3	27	20	7		4-2-0		1-2-3
7	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	17	1.21		14	4	5	5	19	27	-8		2-1-4		2-4-1
8	LA Galaxy	16	1.23		13	5	7	1	18	22	-4		3-4-0		2-3-1
9	Minnesota United FC	16	1.23		13	5	7	1	16	22	-6		4-2-1		1-5-0
10	San Jose Earthquakes	9	0.75		12	2	7	3	18	23	-5		1-3-1		1-4-2
11	Seattle Sounders FC	8	0.8		10	2	6	2	7	12	-5		1-3-1		1-3-1
12	Colorado Rapids	8	0.73		11	2	7	2	13	20	-7		2-3-1		0-4-1

.

[rolltidefan]

OT...but do we have any futbal-tactics gurus in here?

My daughter is going to be playing left defender (fullback? Whatever) in a 3-3-4 alignment this fall, in her first year of 11v11...supposedly an aggressive version, if that matters. If anybody can describe the responsibilities of that position, I'd be interested to hear it.

wiki does a decent job of basic descriptions. read both the fullback and wingback sections. it's a fairly demanding position with both offensive and defensive responsibilities, especially if it's an aggressive version, makes me think they'll be wanting her involved in the attack q good bit.

wiki link

this one is similar

and another one
this last one has some names of greats associated with the position. maybe you can google some of their highlights or something.

there are a couple decent videos on youtube about positions and roles as well.

[Hoss]

Thanks for the info! Sounds like it will be quite a challenge…we’ll definitely need to polish up her dribbling, but her inexperience will probably continue to be the biggest hurdle. She is a little behind most of the others in the mental part of the game, because she came into it late. The speed and size she has though, so that’s a good place to start. Has a real knack for passing too, and we have been scheduling private lessons to work on defender technique.

I think we both will be happier with this new shape because it will mandate that she play up front, and get her chances to shoot and make assists, in lieu of being the “failsafe” on defense. She was constantly playing as the last defender in the old shape because she didn’t trust the other two not to get beat (and who were then nowhere to be found if SHE got beat). That conservative mindset put her at loggerheads with the coach at times, and kept her from playing much offense...I really had to work on her to start being more aggressive, and push up when the ball was on her side. Now she won’t have choice, from the sound of it.

[Entropy]

Interesting that your coach wants to use such an aggressive formation.   Do you know if that is due to his style or is it a reflection of the players on the team?

[Hoss]

IDK that its unusual in that regard. I don’t recall seeing many opponents who played with a heavy defensive lean…that’s probably not something that is going to be attractive to younger kids.

Scoring has been a problem this year however, so if I had to hazard a guess as to the thinking behind this change, scoring more goals would be it. IDK that its an issue so much with his “fast break” offense as it has been the girls outgrowing the 9v9 field; its just become darn difficult to run past people. On the larger 11v11 pitch, his offensive approach might well be effective again.

Conversely though, we may be switching from a very effective defensive alignment to one that breaks more often for the same reason. We’ll see. One of her friends is moving up from the developmental team to play an inside defender spot, and she’s really good; great instincts, and a bruiser. She cleans up mistakes very well. If they can find a decent outside defender on the other side, we could be fine.

It sounds like it will be more entertaining to watch, regardless.  

[TyphonInc]

Heading into June...

Columbus ranked 2nd looks nice, but since we played so many cold March games, everyone else has 2 games to catch up. The points per game looks like a better ranking and has the Crew listed in 4th.

[Brutus Buckeye]

The Crew win the final installment of the Trillium Cup, by virtue of a road win and a home draw vs Toronto. 

[TyphonInc]

The Crew win the final installment of the Trillium Cup, by virtue of a road win and a home draw vs Toronto.

Go Crew. 12k showed up today.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Apparently Columbus has a women's team. I had no idea.

http://www.columbuseaglesfc.com/wp/

I was on a bike ride tonight, and they were playing a game in front of a bunch of crazy Crew fans banging on their drums and chanting endlessly.

Far out.

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup

The Bracket is set

Louisville got the first USL over MLS Cupset, knocking off the New England Revolution. 
DC United edged USL N Carolina FC in a shoot out, and will get Philly in the round of 16. 
The rest of the games are tonight. The Crew draw their biggest rival, the Chicago Fire, at home. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

I'm bummed. I was hoping that the Crew would have one more crack at FC Cincinnati after last year's Cupset. But alas. They'd both have to win their round 4 game in order to lock horns with each other...
.

...and they both lost. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Oh yeah, those games are all on June 6th.

Also on June 6th the Canadian Championship gets underway.

 the top semi-pro team from each Ontario and Quebec will play a round.

So the June 6th game is Oakville(ONT) vs Blainville(QUE), with a second leg on June 13th.  

Essentially a play-in round for the play-in round.


Bracket

Blainville beat Oakville 2-1 in the first leg in Quebec. The second leg will be in Ontario June 13th.