Cristiano Ronaldo vs Rafael Nadal
It seems everyone wears bright shoes these days. They seem to make you a better player ;-)
Neymar Scores Another 3
This was last night in Santos. Neymar has now scored 95 goals for Santos, the 4th highest scorer after Pele.
1st goal: why did Neymar score this goal? The first player put pressure on the defender so he was forced to pass back, Neymar anticipated the ball. Anticipation: stealing balls, being always ready, reading the game, playing without the ball.
2nd goal: defenders badly positioned (nobody between player and goal) did not prevent the cross
3:40: a miss: why defenders should never be squared to the ball, and look at Neymar's scissors
5:30: Just a little touch and a red card. Why?
Pk: foot pointed to the right, at the last minute he switches to the left.
8:10: The wall position, and a shot with the outside of the foot
9:40: Another pk: why yellow card this time?
Push This Fridge Button: Pizza Arrives At Your Door
It's real, push the button, it sends a Bluetooth signal to your cell phone, and pizza is delivered to your door.
Available only in Dubai - for now.
What does this have to do with soccer? You can always order pizza after playing soccer.
Fitness Targets for April and May
Some of our players are running the 10K at the end of May, others are not, however, all players must work on their fitness. Being fit in competitive soccer is not optional.
Below are some targets you can follow in preparation for the season.
Several players have been running and preparing and coming for running sessions, and some are already way beyond these targets. Please do submit your runs using the online fitness system.
Players: you are no longer made of rubber. Please do not forget to do your stretches and strengthening exercises to the Achilles tendon and calf muscles to avoid injuries. Otherwise you risk a nasty injury, possibly season-ending, as your coach can attest from last year. You do not want to end up in hospital either.
Contest Winners
The winners of the Barcelona vs Milan contest are: Gabriel (or his dad?) and Jorge who predicted a draw, although with the wrong scores, with Jorge closer at his predicted 1-1. As a prize, both will receive a Brazilian chocolate.
Justin takes the 'Funny Boy, Nice Try' trophy, with a '0-0' submission at 16:36:55. ;-)
Thanks for entering! There will be more next week!
Raul
Fitness Run March 27
Great conditions for running, and -438 calories. Anyone else for running?
(click to enlarge)
The zigzag at the end was to complete 6K.
Homework and Contest
Our players have some optional homework for tomorrow after school
Watch Barcelona vs Milan tomorrow Wednesday 2:30PM on TV. These are some of the best teams and players in the world. If possible, record and watch later, or watch live at 2:30PM on Sportsnet (we think), ch. 27 (Rogers), when you get home from school.
Pay attention on:
- how the teams defend: ball anticipation, support from other defenders
- how they keep possession, passing the ball back and sideways
- where do the players stand on corner kicks and free kicks?
- how did the goals happen? what allowed a goal to happen, striker's skills or defender's failure, or else?
- why did offsides occur?
- watch how the goalie initiates plays (disregard long punts)
- watch how the goalie comes out of the net in order to provide outlet for a pass or as last defender, particularly Valdes
- what do the fullbacks do when the central defender has the ball in front of his goal?
- what does Xavi do in the midfield when he DOES NOT have the ball?
- Watch defender Danny Alves going forward
- Barcelona plays a possession game: Watch what Barcelona does after losing possession.
- and don’t try to imitate the Messi guy, he is a Playstation character superimposed on the real match as a marketing gimmick, does he really exist?
Contest for the kids and parents: Guess the winner, score, and scorers of Barcelona vs Milan (deadline: Tuesday 2:30PM). Enter Contest
Barcelona:
1, Spain, GK, Víctor Valdés
2, Brazil DF, Daniel Alves
3, Spain, DF, Gerard Piqué
4, Spain, MF, Cesc Fàbregas
5, Spain, DF, Carles Puyol (captain)
6, Spain, MF, Xavi Hernández (vice-captain)
7, Spain, FW, David Villa
8, Spain, MF, Andrés Iniesta
9, Chile, FW, Alexis Sánchez
10, Argentina, FW, Lionel Messi
11, Spain, MF, Thiago Alcântara
13, Spain, GK, José Manuel Pinto
14, Argentina, MF, Javier Mascherano
15, Mali, MF, Seydou Keita
16, Spain, MF, Sergio Busquets
17, Spain, FW, Pedro Rodríguez
20, Netherlands, MF, Ibrahim Afellay
21, Brazil, DF, Adriano
22, France, DF, Éric Abidal
23, Spain, FW, Isaac Cuenca
24, Spain, DF, Andreu Fontàs
AC Milan:
1, Italy, GK. Marco Amelia
4, Netherlands, MF, Mark van Bommel
5, France, DF, Philippe Mexès
7, Brazil, FW, Alexandre Pato
8, Italy, MF, Gennaro Gattuso (vice-captain)
9, Italy, FW, Filippo Inzaghi
10, Netherlands, MF, Clarence Seedorf
11, Sweden, FW, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
13, Italy, DF, Alessandro Nesta
14, Ghana, MF, Sulley Muntari
15, Algeria, DF, Djamel Mesbah
16, France MF, Mathieu Flamini
18, Italy, MF, Alberto Aquilani
19, Italy, DF, Gianluca Zambrotta
20, Italy, DF, Ignazio Abate
21, Argentina, FW, Maxi López
22, Italy, MF, Antonio Nocerino
23, Italy, MF, Massimo Ambrosini (captain)
24, Sierra Leone, MF, Rodney Strasser
25, Italy, DF, Daniele Bonera
27, Ghana, MF, Kevin-Prince Boateng
28, Netherlands MF, Urby Emanuelson
30, Italy, GK Flavio Roma
32, Italy, GK Christian Abbiati
33, Brazil, DF, Thiago Silva
37, Germany MF, Alexander Merkel
52, Italy, DF, Mattia De Sciglio
57, Italy, MF, Mattia Valoti
70, Brazil, FW, Robinho
76, Colombia DF, Mario Yepes
77, Italy, DF, Luca Antonini
92, Italy, FW, Stephan El Shaarawy
99, Italy, FW, Antonio Cassano
Tournaments
We need to confirm our participation in the Icebreaker tournament, as well as the Soccer Fest tournament. Could you kindly let us know whether your son will attend BOTH days of either tournament (a player may NOT attend partially, i.e., a single day). If we have 15+ players we will pay and register.
Could you kindly reply using this form (deadline: this Friday):
Practice March 24
Today was a super player's birthday!
The singing was not so super so it won't be posted :-(
Maradona's Nightmare
You may have to be Brazilian or Argentinean to understand this one.
Hat tip to Maciej.
Winter Soccer
A fantastic day for soccer and a new earliest soccer day record.
The coach wore a GPS watch, this is what he did, clearly showing his preferred playing position. Total distance run was 3.4Km.
It would be very interesting to see what each player does!
Heart rate during the last 45 minutes:
Defenders Going Forward To Support The Attack
"El Loco" Bielsa Transforms Another Team
Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reports today on Bielsa, who now coaches Atletico de Bilbao, and has now transformed yet another team.
Bielsa refuses to grant exclusive interviews, but answers every singe question in the press conferences. If the talk turns to the intricacies of the beautiful game, a three- or even four-hour press conference is not out of the question.
A fanatic of football videos that he adds to his collection, Bielsa checks pitch measurements by pacing them out before deciding on a particular formation. He also allocates separate training times for different parts of his squad. Former Argentine national team captain Roberto Ayala and defender under Bielsa stated "Sometimes we wouldn't see any of the strikers, because he'd have them training at a different time, and it was the same with the midfielders. He's an innovator, and one of the people who I've learned most from during my career"
The passion of a coach for soccer and offensive plays constructed based on the first touch of the ball has gripped the team, and then an entire city. And now the fans of Athletic Bilbao have fun when they see the team in action shaped by Marcelo "El Loco" Bielsa.
Under his command, the "lions" - as Atletico's players have always been known, gained refinement. They continue to be brave fighters, but have learned to rely on technical quality as the best argument to dominate the opponents - whether the game is at home or away.
Last week Manchester United can attest to that. That match was the highlight of the season. Athletic involved the Red Devils from the first to the last minute and did not stop attacking with six or seven men, not even after turning the game around and making 2-1. They did so playing with the ball on the ground and using short passes, as does the Barcelona of Pep Guardiola - who has Bielsa as a model of coach and will be his opponent in the final of the Copa del Rey on May 25.
But it took a lot of work - and patience - for the team to reach the current level. The first victory in the Spanish league only came in the seventh round, after four defeats and two draws. Bielsa hammered his concepts into practice, but players could not assimilate the idea of changing their game which was based on the direct link defense with attack with a more elaborate one in which everyone should offer himself as an option to receive the pass.
WITH THE SAME CAST OF PLAYERS
The fervor with which Bielsa defends his ideas and the clarity of his arguments gradually changed the minds of players. And when they "bought" a bold proposal of the technical results and good performances began to appear.
The cast is practically the same as last season until, under the command of Joaquin Caparros, played "the English" style, with long balls and the big guy Llorente as a reference within the area. The only novelty is Ander Herrera, who belonged to Zaragoza. This only increases the merit of Bielsa, because he did not ask for a lot of hiring to change the profile of the team. He bet on the kids he found (the average age is 23.8 years) could play as he wanted and began the transformation.
Llorente is still a great definer, but now participates in most of the maneuvers. The softly Muniain, 19, went from promise to reality and with his skill and speed is a danger on the left. The defensive midfielder Javi Martinez, who was a substitute in Spain's conquest of the World 2010, was moved into the back four and is now coveted by big clubs in Europe. But no one grew more than one season to another than Iturraspe.
With Caparrós he was little used, and was low when Bielsa arrived. Now he is the indisputable owner of the position and symbolizes the 'participatory' soccer that the coach preaches. He very good at tackling and protecting the back four (his performance in Manchester was exquisite) and learned to play with one or two taps on the output of the ball.
Very pleased with the performance of the team, the president has tried to Bielsa Josu Urrutia to discuss the renewal of his contract. When he arrived in Bilbao, after refusing an offer from Inter, the Argentine was keen to sign for one year. He said it was a good run for the board to evaluate your work and decide whether you would like to extend the bond. The deadline is not over, but nobody in town think the team without him.
Practice March 10
The moon this morning at 6:20AM was exactly where the sun sets on the western sky, creating the illusion of an early morning sunset.
(click to enlarge)
Video:
The New Maracana
This is the new Maracana Stadium being rebuilt for the final of WC2014 in Rio. There are currently 5,200 workers on site.
Neymar and Messi Give Amazing Shows
Yesterday Messi and Neymar scored 8 between the two of them in important international competitions.
Messi: 5 against Leverkusen for the UEFA Cup, three of them very pretty. Watch
Neymar: 3 against Inter for the Libertadores Cup. Check out his very impressive last 2 goals, running all the way from the center line and behind!
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