video

Video Analysis

Unlocking Success: The Benefits of the Team Tactical Analysis.

This article was writen by Raul Tieffenberg Rush Soccer’s Performance Analysis Manager

As the beautiful game of soccer continues to evolve, coaches need to adapt and use all available resources . In today’s competitive environment, video analysis can differentiate clubs. A Team Tactical Analysis will complement and reinforce training ground concepts, stimulating a player’s game IQ.

A methodical approach to dissecting different moments of the game, Team Tactical Analysis will not only identify team and individual strengths and weaknesses, but also gather information to plan training sessions.

Understanding Tactical Analysis

A Tactical analysis involves the study of various aspects of the team, including individual player performances, team tactics, dynamics and behaviors. By analyzing these elements, coaches gain valuable insights and tools to implement in future training sessions and help in the players development. TA is a powerful resource in a coaches repertoire and a useful method to aide in player’s decision-making process and reading of the game.

The Benefits

1. Enhanced Preparation: Tactical analysis allows coaches to thoroughly prepare their teams for the season or upcoming matches. If you can get opposition games it allows to know beforehand the opponents’ playing styles and reduce uncertainty with formations and key players.

2. Improved Decision-Making: During matches, quick and informed decision-making can often be the difference between victory and defeat. By continuously analyzing in-game situations and adjusting tactics accordingly, coaches can effectively respond to evolving dynamics on the field, maximizing their team’s chances of success.

3. Player Development: Tactical analysis isn’t just about strategy; it’s also a powerful tool for player development. By providing detailed feedback based on performances, coaches can help players identify areas for improvement and refine their skills, strength skills and ultimately fostering individual growth and collective team cohesion.

4. Adaptability: Soccer is a dynamic sport, with the flow of the game constantly changing. Through tactical analysis, coaches can identify new team’s patterns and trends, allowing them to adapt their. Sometimes we need to allow natural modifications to our game coming from the games. Actions the team naturally adopted and need to be stimulated. This ability to remain flexible and proactive is essential for staying ahead in today’s competitiveness.

Practical Implementation

Implementing tactical analysis into coaching practices requires a structured approach. With todays advanced technology and features we have access to tons of information. As we have access to VEO’s footage we can quickly get on to your games. Rush not only can help with TA and IDP’s, but we can help you implement methodologies to apply new features from VEO or other software.

Here are some practical steps coaches can take:

1. Data Collection: Gather/Read comprehensive data on individual player performances, team statistics, and opponent analysis. This may include match footage, statistical reports, and performance metrics.

2. Tactical Analysis Implementation: Utilize tactical analysis to boost your training sessions. Specific training based on evidence is a very strong tool for player development and success.

3. Collaborative Review: Involve players in the analysis process by conducting regular team meetings to review match footage, discuss tactical concepts, and solicit feedback. This promotes a collaborative learning environment and encourages players to actively participate in their own development.

4. Continuous Learning: TA is also a great educational tool. Your games are analyzed with a developed eye from our analyst and trained with different and new styles of play from professional coaches. Stay updated and open to innovations in soccer tactics.

A Team Tactical Analysis is not just a luxury for elite soccer teams; it’s a fundamental component of successful coaching at all levels of the game. As the game continues to evolve, so too must our methods of coaching – and tactical analysis is an important tool to staying ahead of the curve.

Did you know that Rush Soccer has it’s own Video Analysis Department? Visit our site and find out more!

March 25, 2024

Coaching · News

What Is The Rush Way 6-3-1 Philosophy And Why It Matters

This post was written by Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

There are phrases that we continuously repeat as grassroots / youth coaches. Two that I hear constantly are:

It is very different to coach youth than to coach adults / performance stages.
Our job is to develop players, not to win games.

Both statements are correct and relate to each other. However, it is my impression that a large population of coaches actually can’t really explain or visualize the difference and the impact of such fundamental cornerstones.

It is very different to coach youth than to coach adults / performance stages. Ok, but how? And why?

Beyond the obvious biological factors, I think the answer is already suggested in the statement. It is very different because we have different objectives! If you were working with a professional team, the objective is to win, but if you’re working with a youth team, the objective is to develop players, and that has deep consequences in the way you organize and prioritize things. In the post Do We Want To Perform Or To Learn? Is There A Difference?, we deepen in the difference between performance and learning and offer parents some tips on how a club that aims to develop players behaves in comparison to a club that’s geared towards simply trying to win on Saturday.

Once again, I think we all repeat this and it seems obvious, but many struggle to actually perceive concrete differences in how training and club dynamics are approached based on it. Let me ask you some questions below to exemplify. Try to answer them by thinking “What would I do if winning on Saturday is the goal, and what would I do if developing players is the goal?”.

How would you manage playing time?
What’s your job as the coach during a game? What are you there for as the coach or what should you focus your attention on?
What league level should my team play?
Should I allow players to play up?

As said before, your responses to these questions and consequently (and hopefully) the way you apply these in your local environment mark the difference between a club that aims to develop players and a club that’s geared towards performance.

Let’s go one by one now:

Playing time:

Winning Focus: Play the best player.
Development Focus: Equal playing time along the season.

The coach’s role during games:

Winning Focus: Purely to help my team win the game.
Development Focus: To help the team while observing if learning from topics trained is taking place in competition.

League level:

Winning Focus: The one in which we can challenge for the title.
Development Focus: The one that provides the right level of challenge for the players.

Playing Up:

Winning Focus: No, we need our best players to win on Saturday.
Development Focus: Play up, the player comes first, even if that’s detrimental to the team. We need to place him/her in the environment that will make him/her grow the most and the fastest.

Now you see, to say that we are here to develop players has deep implications in how we coach and the decisions that we make. The problem typically comes from thinking that this is developing vs winning when it’s actually not. It would be ridiculous to expect or encourage a player to not focus on winning or try to ‘ease their competitiveness’. Players are competitive, and we like that, in fact we encourage them to be and we see it as a key psychological trait of a Rush player, we want them to always want to win! But as a coach or a director it is on you to look at the big picture and make decisions that go beyond the immediate result. Games are purely another learning instance in your week. A test in which we should try to identify if the topics trained are transferring to the real game. Is the player getting better? In your rondo 5v2 on Tuesday he/she was doing it really right, but is he/she being able to do it in the real game? That simple question can guide your thinking. In other words, if the players are developing, if they’re improving. The more they improve, the more they’ll win naturally. Winning, just like losing and tying, should sustain a balance as we’ll explain later.

Let me tell you one more thing if you’re still not convinced about this:

Gonzalo ‘Pipita’ Higuain is one of the most successful strikers of the last decade, he has been named to the Serie A Team of the Year three times, UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season twice and Juventus Player of the Year twice. He also holds the record for most goals scored in a single Serie A season with 36, among many, many other trophies and individual awards. Now, do you know how many leagues he won during his teenage years as a youth player of River Plate? None.

Do you know how many leagues Messi, or Ronaldo, or Neymar, or Mbappe won growing up? You probably don’t know. Neither do I, and you know why both you and I and most people don’t know it? Because it doesn’t matter. The world is full of youth soccer champions that never broke into the pros.

I frequently exemplify the topic with this almost absurd, extreme example. I ask coaches to picture themselves working at Real Madrid and talking to Carlo Ancelotti, the head coach, who’s in need of a center back and wants to give first priority to a player from ‘la cantera’ (the youth divisions), so you as the head of youth development send an 18 year old player to practice with Carlo and the first team on Wednesday. Carlo comes back furious at you after training, openly yelling that the center back you sent is, as a footballer, pretty much a disgrace. Carlo goes: “This guy was a disaster, he missed 90% of the passes playing out of the back, all he does on the ball is boot it forward and hope for the best! He’ll never play professionally like that!”, to what you respond: “Carlo, what happens is that he grew up playing on a team that we thought was not as technical as others, but we had a very fast forward, an early developer, now he’s not that fast anymore in comparison to others, so from 13 to 17 we had that team fold back and play long as soon as possible, we knew that eventually the fast forward was going to score one like that, but Carlo, hey, this guy’s team won the league at U14, 15’s, and 16’s!”.

Does it sound and look familiar to what we frequently see at the fields on Saturday? That’s how ridiculous youth divisions can be.

Rush Soccer is a club that aims to develop players and so The Rush Way 6-3-1 philosophy is one of the tools we use to ensure and measure this. ‘6-3-1’ represents a target record for our teams over a sample of 10 games: 6 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie, so if you’re wondering right now if we want our players to lose, the answer is yes, but don’t misunderstand it please. We would never encourage our players to lose, nor start scoring ‘own goals’ because we’ve been winning too much (to state what should be obvious). The value of the 6-3-1 philosophy, in my opinion, relies over three factors:

The 6-3-1 philosophy offers a benchmark of the level of competition. It is fundamental to understand, as a coach, that if your team has lost 9 out of the last 10 games, you have a problem. Now, if you’ve won 9 out of the last 10 games, you also have a big problem because the level of challenge is too low. We need to find stronger competition.
It places the focus in the long run. If there’s one obstacle we need to sort out as youth coaches (and frequently parents) is our own ego. This is not about us, it’s about helping the players develop and succeed. We are part of a 12 years process in which all of us, the coaching staff, need to work together for the success of these players. When one of them strives at the end of the road, we all win.
It highlights the importance of experiencing the joy of winning as well as the sadness of losing. These experiences are important to develop growth mindsets!

A few years ago I got together with Tim Schulz, the President of Rush Soccer and the person that conceptualized the 6-3-1 philosophy. In the podcast below, he expresses his opinion on the 6-3-1 philosophy.

“I think it’s what a youth coach should try to accomplish. 70 games aligned with the 6-3-1 philosophy. Now, coaches think ‘how do i do it? My team is bad and I’m struggling to help them win’ and the answer is go search for lower level competition, have them play against a recreational team if that gets them a win under their belts, and vice versa, if you’ve just won 10 games in a row I’ll think you’re not really good coach either, find stronger competition, these kids need to be challenged and learn how to lose”.
Tim Schulz.

Do you apply the 6-3-1 in your club and team? Do you actively assess and measure team records?

December 11, 2023

Webinars

Starting Your Season The Right Way: Tips & Tricks From The Rush Soccer Development Department

Chris P. and Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Developmental Director & Sporting Project Director, share this enriching discussion in which Pablo takes Chris through two of our exclusive tools: The Rush Coaching Manual and the Rush Soccer Development website, while they discuss key aspects to start season with the right foot.

Start your season with the right foot and make the most out of the services Rush Soccer Development offers you. That’s what this article and webinar is about and why we asked Chris P. and Pablo T. to get together.

Understand our curriculum in further depth. Learn to use our season planner, and maybe most importantly, learn to be effective at planning these cycles of training!

RUSH SOCCER’S CURRICULUM & THE SEASON PLANNER

“My obsession has always been to present a curriculum that reflects who we are in everything that we do, that’s why developing it was (and is) such a big, important project, because we want a reason in every little element as to how and why they fit the big picture” – Introduced Pablo.

“It’s great that by responding to seven questions you can plan an entire season. However, the recommendation would be to plan 6-8 weeks cycles and then reassess: What’s working? What’s not? That’s why it matters to do this with the curriculum in hand. One of the worst mistakes we can make is to stop thinking because we have this tool. It’s on the club, director, and coach to periodize this to make it fit to your specific team and players. We can’t anticipate that part, there’s no one-size-fits-all”, Pablo commented in reference to the season planner feature through The Rush Coaching Manual.

“We can always assess the plan if it is not going well -Chris P. added-, reflect and reevaluate and adjust accordingly to the children. Is it transferring from training to the game? Repeating sessions (topics) to reinforce and reminding players. We have to account for what children forget”.

“Planning and adapting to your team and player needs is crucial. Have ‘checkpoints’ in the process. One of my favorite practices is to include activities in my sessions that I run for several minutes with little to no interventions. What I look for here is to present activities that might not be too familiar to the players and that require the application of the concepts previously seen to be effective at them. This way, I get to see if the players are retrieving concepts presented in other instances to solve the new situation. That’s what learning is about“.
Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

TOP TIPS TO START SEASON WITH THE RIGHT FOOT.

Start with the end in mind and define what success will look like: It is frequently a good starting point to project how you would want the end of the season to feel like. This is something you can share with the players. I always do. Have them reflect on it. Oftentimes, their first response will relate to performance (“we won the championship” or similar). I normally respond that we would all like that but it is unfortunately not entirely under our control, so I rather focus on those aspects that I can actually manage, like our effort. This can be a good way to set an ‘anchor’ on your team’s culture and encourage adopting a growth mindset from the first day.
Communicate clearly with the team and ‘the team behind the team’ (Parents): It is instrumental to understand that the learning process crumbles if the message is not replicated at home. Parents want to help their children, but that doesn’t mean they know exactly how. You might be surprised of how supportive the families can be, even if the immediate results are adverse, when they’re aware of the overall plan. A plan in which the possibility of ‘failure’ (in terms of losing at least) was considered as well, naturalizing it. Now, it is on the coach to take the time to explain it.
Have a plan: In line with the paragraph above, lack of communication and/or planning can be stress generators along the season. Don’t act randomly or always based on the last match. Plan ahead, have a base structure. A good plan incorporates flexibility too. By experience, I’ve learnt that is best to have a yearly plan to frame the process but only focus on the details of the next 6-8 weeks, especially when it comes to training. Why? Because you need checkpoints, and because life happens and sometimes you need to readjust. That’s normal, but the base plan sustains the direction. And as said before, it will definitely help you communicate better.

Have a great season, coach!

September 5, 2023

Goalkeeping · News

Coaching The Individual Goalkeeper

This article was written by Sean Connors, Rush Soccer’s Global Goalkeeping Director.

“T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Achieves More!”.

“There is no I in Team!”.

However, there is only one player on the field for each team that can use their hands.

Everyone can recognize that the goalkeeper position is unique to the game of soccer. The uniform is different. The equipment is different. Clearly the rules are different, and what it takes to be successful in the position is different to that of every other player on the field.

To be the best goalkeeper coach you have to balance the individual needs of each goalkeeper on a team, or the individual needs within a training group. There is no “one size fits all” approach that will give you as much success as being aware that each goalkeeper is different and needs to be treated as such.

Recently I had the chance to speak with Goalkeeping Director Mike Kappas from Virginia Rush, and Goalkeeping Director Matt Stueckle from Washington Rush where we spoke about this exact situation.

“Making an individual connection starts when the GKs arrive at training. Taking time to greet each GK, handshake/fist bump, and checking in to see how they are doing. How is school? How is your family? How were your games this weekend?”.
Mike Kappas – GK Director at Virginia Rush.

These individual meetings allow Mike to get a read on how they are doing at that exact moment and gaige what they need from the training session. Learning the needs of the player encompasses both emotional and physical needs. Maybe the GK did poorly at school, or took a bit of an injury from the weekend.

Coaches must make these types of connections to best know how to meet the needs of their players.

“Within a training session the coach must be aware of individual struggles. It might be with a certain technique, or making a save from a particular position on the field. What if during the session the GK is in the same position over and over again trying to get reps to improve but the ball keeps going in the net? The risk is it can reach a point where mentally it is crushing the player making them think they are terrible and can’t stop the ball”.
Matt Stueckle – GK Director at Washington Rush.

In these cases what can a coach do?

Coach to the individual! Try to change how you are teaching them. Can you demonstrate the technique differently? Can you change the language used? Have a fellow GK try to explain it to them. In some cases the GK needs to be pushed further and can handle being challenged. Other GKs will need to move on from the situation and come back to it at another time.

Get to know the Goalkeepers and work to teach them at their level! The better you can address each individual the more success they will have.

March 29, 2023

News · Players

Train @ Home Leaderboards: Let’s Hear It From The Winners!

After 12 weeks, the Fifth Edition of the Train @ Home Program had some wonderful players that made it to the Top of our Leaderboards. Let’s hear what they have to say about this amazing resource. Go Rush!

The Winter Edition of the Train @ Home is over. Hundreds of Rush Players worked really hard to get Better, Fitter, Smarter, Tougher & Braver through our five Training Tracks. This Edition was the first one with the Leaderboards, through which each player could check his/her improvement algonside other Rush players.

THIS IS THE FINAL TOP 10 ON THE T@H LEADERBOARD

Mallory Meighan, the pride of WI West Rush, was the overal winner, with the incredible mark of 458 points. She won the Smarter and Tougher Tracks, and finished second on the Better, Fitter and Braver Tracks. Absolutely amazing!

Second place was for the wonderful Amelia Rasmussen, from Twin Cities Rush. Amelia won the Better, Fitter and Braver Track! We interviewed her to know how she felt throughout the program. A big thank you to Heidi, Amelia’s mum, who helped her through the interview, which you can watch below:

“I started doing the winter Train @ Home Program to get extra touches on the ball, I quickly got more and more involved. I also learned by doing the Tougher Track, that soccer is not all physical. There’s also mental aspects”.
Amelia Rasmussen – Twin Cities Rush.

Amelia also explained how, without being a Goalkeeper, she won the GK Track: “I did some of Goalie trainings, as at my age we all still have to rotate into that position. It was great to get extra tips, so I can feel more confident when it’s my turn”.

Third place was for the one and only Jakob Shevitz, from WA Rush. Jakob has been one of the more consistent players throughout these five Editions, and we were delighted to see him reaching this position. He also had some things to say:

“I learned a lot these 12 weeks about soccer and all aspects of the game. I like how by working all the Tracks I can train my brain and body as a whole athlete. This is helpful because you can’t just work your body or your brain, you need to put it all together and work on both”.
Jakob Shevitz – Washington Rush.

Mallory, Amelia and Jakob are perfect examples of what being a Rush Player means. They worked hard, and the improvement is undeniable. We are truly proud of them and all of you!

Stay tuned, because we will have a Spring Edition! Go Rush!

March 17, 2022

Goalkeeping · News

Coaching The Individual Goalkeeper

This article was written by Sean Connors, Rush Soccer’s Global Goalkeeping Director.

“T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Achieves More!”.

“There is no I in Team!”.

However, there is only one player on the field for each team that can use their hands.

“Making an individual connection starts when the GKs arrive at training. Taking time to greet each GK, handshake/fist bump, and checking in to see how they are doing. How is school? How is your family? How were your games this weekend?”.
Mike Kappas – GK Director at Virginia Rush.

Coaches must make these types of connections to best know how to meet the needs of their players.

“Within a training session the coach must be aware of individual struggles. It might be with a certain technique, or making a save from a particular position on the field. What if during the session the GK is in the same position over and over again trying to get reps to improve but the ball keeps going in the net? The risk is it can reach a point where mentally it is crushing the player making them think they are terrible and can’t stop the ball”.
Matt Stueckle – GK Director at Washington Rush.

In these cases what can a coach do?

Get to know the Goalkeepers and work to teach them at their level! The better you can address each individual the more success they will have.

March 15, 2022

Futsal · News

Pivot, The Art Of Playing With Back To Goal

This article was written by Chris Rue, Rush Soccer’s Futsal Manager.

“The ball must stick when we find you.” – An accurate phrase often shouted to an aspiring forward. How many times in a match is a vertical penetrating pass to the striker incorrectly handled, leading to a transitional moment to defense? When the vertical pass is played, visual cues are given for teammates to make penetrating runs accordingly. Then, possession is lost and defensive transition sprints occur.
This leads to a lack of confidence in the striker’s abilities and ultimately the lack of desire to make those necessary penetrating support runs. On the other hand, when the ball sticks to the forward, territorial advantage is gained, attacking possibilities emerge, penetrating runs are rewarded, and chances can be created.

There are countless times on a futsal court where we see the requirements of receiving a ball, under pressure, with back to goal; but no such position does it occur as often than with the pivot (pronounced Pee Vo). The role of the pivot is demanding. This position is the most advanced player in the diamond formation. The main role, in attack, is to provide forward passing angles for teammates. Upon receiving the penetrating pass, the pivot must control the ball, anticipate a first-time pass to an off the ball runner, hold possession for a delayed runner or use their own craft and guile to turn and shoot. The pivot’s ability to make the ball stick enhances a team’s chances to score in futsal.

The physical requirements needed in this position cannot be emphasized enough, however, cleverness is the important trait. Receiving a pass with a defender draped on your back is a difficult task. Anticipating space and finding angles for the entry pass is the first obstacle. Keeping yourself between the ball and defender is the next. Now, proper technique must be applied on the first touch to secure possession. These are all difficult skills to master; but the ability to read the cues, apply the best technique and make the correct decision, all in a fraction of a moment, separates good and great players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc4xhSIVT9w

Working relentlessly with players in the pivot position, during futsal training, will pay dividends in your team’s chances to score. Regardless of position played, the skill sets required of the pivot should be understood and trained by all. At the highest levels of the game, being comfortable receiving the ball with a defender on your back is a box that must be ticked.

Learn More! Futsal Formation: The Basics.

February 9, 2022

Rush Way

Rush Way: Playing Time Using The 80-20 Rule

This article was written by Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

I’ll start with an honest comment: I totally made the following two mistakes when I started coaching.

I was starting my coaching career and I had decided after studying and hearing from more experienced professionals that I wanted to give equal playing time, so suddenly I found myself coaching games in which I was spending most of my time trying to fight the clock and make it as balanced as possible for all of my players.

I had also studied and was supportive of the idea that a developing player should not specialize positionally too early, so as my team was under the generally referenced age of 13 to start the specialization process, I was playing, within the game, many of my players in different positions.

You can imagine how chaotic and complicated it can be to try to coach a game in which you’re trying to accomplish both things simultaneously: Give equal playing time to all, and allow players to experience multiple positions. It was a mess and I had so much going on that my coaching was almost completely based on administering these two factors.

It didn’t take me long to fix the second one and say: “Ok, I do want these players to experience different positions, but that doesn’t mean they have to all do it within the same game. Let’s spread that out”, so suddenly Danny that year was playing some games as a mid and some others as a defender, and here and there as a forward. Good, we got that one sorted out.

Now for the always debated topic of playing time. I re-stated my resolution that I still support to this day: Give equal playing time. Just because Danny is a bit better today than Johnny, that doesn’t give him an automatic pass to have more developmental opportunities. What if Johnny is just a late developer? Does he deserve to get less opportunities to develop his potential just because of that? The answer is no, so the problem to solve is how we can give equal playing time without going into the craziness of my early days. The Rush Way 80-20 gave me the answer. Read it below from the Rush Way Philosophy.

Playing Time

Playing time for any individual is completely at the coach’s discretion. Rush encourages that playing time at all levels should be equal throughout the season. At the younger developmental ages, players should be exposed to as much of the game as possible. Limiting team roster size will aid in increased playing time for all players.

At the older/higher levels there will be instances when playing time will vary from game to game, but if player placement has been completed correctly, then equal playing time throughout the year should be achieved. For instance, of your ten field players, this could mean you play eight of your starters and play two of your weaker players, 80/20 rule. This will provide a more balanced level of play. Especially in the youth division, starters should vary throughout the season.

Simple and effective solution. If one day, because the game was like this or like that, Suzie played more than Jenny, you don’t have to feel so bad about it, maybe next game Jenny plays more. Sometimes this happens naturally and you don’t even need to plan it so much.

At the younger ages, I think the 80-20 is also great to remove the “I’m a sub feeling”. As you constantly rotate the starting team, everybody feels important.

Tim Schulz, Rush Soccer’s President & CEO, and the founder of the club, talked to us about this during a podcast interview highlighting this same last point.

However, I do think that the 80-20 loses strength as the players enter the last couple of years at the club. U17+ to use an age group as a reference. Even if I truly think and frequently tell my players that to be a starter within my team doesn not necessarily mean I consider them better, because players are different and might offer diverse skill sets and there are so many reasons why a coach might pick this or that starting team, it is true that most of the times there is a certain tendency, or a certain preference for an eleven, and at this stage I don’t want to shy up from actually talking about starters and subs, and the reason for that is that we get close to the performance stages that they aspire to (whether it is college or professionalism), and this is how it will be then, so I care about preparing them to deal with adversity if they’re not in the first eleven. To be a good sub is actually something that you can learn and I know many high level coaches that look at this because they want to know if a player, in case they’re substitutes, will still contribute to the group or will become a cultural assassin (quoting Damien Hughes on his book ‘The Barcelona Way: Unlocking The DNA Of A Winning Culture’). In fact, when we spoke to Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista, who at the time was Argentina’s U20 & U23 MNT Head Coach, he made a strong emphasis on this topic.

Beyond that aspect, I don’t want to be hypocritical. The players realize that there are teammates that I overall think are my first picks, so I don’t want to lie to them.

Lastly, this actually allows me to also coach the starters to be good starters, so I tell the group openly: If you’re in the first eleven, train hard to stay in it and know that I support you even if you have a couple bad games, don’t fear to be on the edge because you got up with the wrong foot today, and if you’re a sub, work even harder to prove me wrong and know that if you make it to the first 11, I’ll support you just like I did with the player that was starting before.

Maybe there’s a better way, but I think you stay honest, loyal, and fair to your players when you approach it like this.

In summary and to make it a simple rule of thumb, use the 80-20 until they reach U17 and from there move progressively to a more similar format to what they’ll experience at performance stages. This might be obvious, but basically we are saying: The closer you get to performance stages, the more we try to resemble the environment.

February 8, 2022

Futsal

Futsal Formations: The Basics

This article was written by Chris Rue, Rush Soccer’s Global Futsal Manager.

“Soccer is about mastering all aspects of the game and futsal does just that.”
Keith Tozer, USYF Technical Director.

Futsal is a fantastic complement to a developing soccer player as it continuously places players in difficult situations in all areas of the court. The ability for a player to recognize and adapt to this environment is paramount to their success. The coach’s understanding of their player’s strengths and weaknesses and those of the opponent is vital. The strategy and chosen formation for a particular game will play a large part in determining the success or failure of the team. Physical and technical attributes of your players should be considered when determining the formation of the team. Whether playing a 2-2, 3-1, 1-2-1, 2-1-1, 4-0 or flying GK, individual player characteristics can either enhance or detract to the desired result.

Futsal positions constantly change throughout the match; however, the standard positions are GK, Fixo (center defender), left and right Ala (wing players), and Pivot (striker) each having their own technical, tactical and physical characteristics. The most basic formation, 2-2 or square, is the easiest for a young, developing player to understand. Two players in attack and two in defense. This formation is very static without much interchange of positions, so it is easier to comprehend.

The 3-1 formation allows for the positions of Fixo, left Ala, right Ala and Pivot to be defined. This formation is another relatively easier one for young players but requires the left and right Alas to provide support in the attack and defense, which requires certain physical characteristics to achieve success.

The 1-2-1 diamond formation is a great tool for teaching the game as it provides width and depth in a fluid manner. Similar to the 3-1, this system also identifies with the standard futsal positions.

The 2-1-1 or Y formation is a more advanced system that requires a strong central player whose technical attributes and game IQ to be on point.

The 4-0 is a very difficult system to master both technically and physically, but one that players should be introduced to at an early age. It requires constant movements and positional interchanging that can lead to transitional problems when the ball is lost.

The flying GK system is typically introduced when a team is down a goal and time is running out. It adds an attacker to a team but eliminates the GK. Usually, teams will add a field player and remove the GK to truly give a power play advantage.

The beauty of futsal and why it is the ideal soccer development tool, is that in order to be successful, players need to be able to interchange and play all positions. As Zlatan says, “I can play in the 11 positions because a good player can play anywhere.” There is no hiding in the 5v5 game model. The fundamental ideas are to defend without the ball and attack with the ball. The transition moments occur often and are extremely fast. Defensive sins, like ball watching, are punished immediately and attacking brilliance is rewarded just as fast. Whichever system you choose will have its strengths and weaknesses but should ultimately be determined by your players technical abilities, tactical understanding and physical attributes as well as the oppositions’.

January 10, 2022

Futsal · News · Players

Toe Poke, A Finishing Art

This article was written by Chris Rue, Rush Soccer’s Futsal Manager.

Scoring and denying goals are the main missions during a match. So much time is spent on the training ground in the buildup phase to create chances and deservedly so, but how often are sessions void of individual guidance in techniques to put the ball in the net?

Scoring goals is extremely difficult and an artform that few possess which is why these players are coveted the world over. Master finishers have an innate understanding of where to be and what technique to apply in order to score. One of the more recent finishing trends that has been employed is the near post, top corner blast by the keeper’s ear. For a long time, strikers have been taught to go across the GK to the far post, but this new technique has become quite effective. Sergio Aguero highlights will give prime examples. The premise is to surprise the keeper. The modern GK is big and agile. When they can see and read the ball strike, the save is imminent unless a deflection has occurred.

Almost a forgotten technique, and one that futsal players are adept at, is the toe poke. The surprise element of this technique cannot be overstated. The speed at which this can be applied is why it is so effective. Minimal back lift does not allow the GK to get set and typically catches them off guard. Romario, from Brazil, was a master of the toe poke. He had the ability to move to his left and quickly apply a right foot poke to slip the ball past the keeper. He used it with such regularity and effectiveness in his professional career, surely, he had massive repetitions using this technique on the futsal court in his developing years.

During your next training session, introduce the toe poke finish and work on the intricacies of the technique and when to apply it. Encourage it in your futsal sessions. The rewards of teaching this will pay massive dividends in your team’s ability to, as former announcer Tommy Smyth would say, “bulge the old onion bag”.