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Neil Megson's B90 Coaching Blog from Germany Super Y Select team plays agianst Czech
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Opening Cermonies Crossfire Premier Alex Klien and team captain with Southern Bavarian All Star Team Captain. Simply a beautiful facility.
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(July 15, 2007) "Here’s an update of the trip so far. Arrived in Zenting on Tuesday the 10th, the team and myself are tired and looking forward to a good night sleep. Next morning on the 11th, we had breakfast and head off for a training session. It’s overcast and 70 degrees; on the way to practice we can now see how beautiful the Bavarian countryside is.
It’s like driving in a post card. Our first game is this evening against Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic 1st division club. We are surprised to be told instead of playing their U17 team, we will be playing their U19 team that are all paid professionals. Their two youngest players are 16 and are members of the Czech Republic U17 National Team. This is going to be a tough challenge.
After our first practice session, I knew that the team from the Super Y League was going to be very strong. I knew 3 players from the BU18 Crossfire Premier James team, Alex, Anthony and Fernando are some of the best players in WA State. Also on the rip is my assistant coach, Scott Cannon, the SYL ODP & Select Teams Coordinator, Sean Trask, the translator, Brian Klein. All of the other players are at the same level.
The game is to be played at 6:00PM. We knew going into the game from last year’s games and results that they would be very good in the air and excellent at set players. We would have to concentrate extra in these areas. We kicked-off and were immediately put under pressure. Viktoria Plzen plays a 4-4-2 with very good effect. With the team having never played together, we looked disorganized and jet lagged. After 4 minutes, Plzen scored from a header on their first set play that was a corner kick. So much for the extra concentration…
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My Crossfire teams and the others who’ve seen me coach would know how I would react. Not happy. Up off the bench I am asking questions, demanding answers, and reminding them who we are and what we represent. Soccer teams that come and play in Europe are looked down upon and have to earn respect. For the next 10-15 minutes we are under immense pressure, still struggling to contain their size, speed and technical ability. To cope with their 4-4-2 I decided to play a 3-4-3. Many of the players had never played some of the positions I asked them to play before. After 30 minutes the front three forwards were really starting to work together defensively and making it really hard for their back four to do anything with the ball except hit hopeful long balls that we dealt easily with. With growing confidence we gradually took control over the game with about seven minutes before halftime. In the last five minutes we had them pinned in their own half, their coach and players all arguing with each other, Halftime 1-0.
The team was in great spirits at halftime, we had weathered the storm and come off at halftime in control of the game. At half time the players were told that the midfield had to defensively get tighter and become more patient and make better decisions when supporting the front three lead by Fernando. Alex Klein, who had played under right, was brought back to the middle to tighten the midfield defensively. Anthony was doing an outstanding job as sweeper as usual. Coach must have had a few strong words with his team as again they came out on full power and put us under pressure again. This time however, with the Super-Y team playing with a lot more confidence we were able to win the ball back, keep it and again take over the game.
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From about the 60th minute to the 90th minute we created numerous chances including two 1 on 1, a few chances from 20-25 yards, one strike beat the keeper but skimmed over the bar and the other two shots produced excellent saves by the keeper. The other struck hard but right down the middle and held by the keeper. Cross after cross produced countless goalmouth scrambles that forced into some brave defending as they threw their bodies to block shot after shot.
Final minute we threw everyone forward which opened us up to the counter attack, which Victoria Plzen punished us in thee last minute. Final score Victoria Plzen 2 and Super –Y League 0. After the game I told the players to be disappointed with the result but happy with their performance, At the after game party, we were told by the Victoria Plzen coach and agents how very impressive our younger boys had played. The agent who represents many of the players who played for Victoria Plzen will be coming back to Zenting to watch us play against the lower Bavarian Select team in two days.
I’ll send another update when we get to the next venue...
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Team captains with the leading officals for the German Soccer Association in the ceremonies before the game. Everyone wore suits. ...forgot to pack mine. Can you believe that?
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Update 7/16)
2ND GAME Vs Lower Bavarian Select
We arrived back to our Bavarian Village hotel at 1:00AM. After breakfast the next morning, we headed off for practice at 10:00AM. We put them thru a long warm-up consisting of jogging and stretching, then we moved on to shadow play focusing on team shape offensively and defensively. We again went over set plays and corners. The game had been advertised heavily and was the first event to kick-off a 3-day Jakobi Fest for the town Zenting. The weather had cleared up making the countryside even more astonishing than normal.
Kick-off was set for 6:00PM and we arrived at 4:45PM full of confidence. Just like the other stadium the Zenting pitch was in unbelievable condition. The weather at kick off was 75 degrees and sunny. The players are well prepared and we remind them that the Bavarian team will come out flying in the first 10 minutes so keep things tight and play conservatively until the game calms down.
Bavaria kicked off and kept the ball at the back for 5 or 6 passes then they thumped it down the field. The ball bounced between one of our central defenders and the keeper. Each player thought the other had it, but the first player to react was the Bavarian center forward who got in between both and toed it past our keeper. Bavaria 1 – Super Y 0. We gave up another goal in the 1st minute and the first time we touched the ball was to retrieve it out of our own net. Great start, coaches were not happy…all of our pre-game confidence was gone plus the Bavarian team can smell weakness.
For all of the Bavarian team’s work-rate, they were nowhere near technically as good as our team. They played a lot of long balls that we dealt with very well. As the first half continued, we were having long periods of possession and created 2 excellent opportunities which produced 2 wonderful saves from the 20-year old keeper for BU17 Bavarian team. Coach Scott Cannon tracked how many times their midfield was able to pass the ball through our midfield and how many times we created a turnover or intercepted a through ball. The numbers were way in their favor (25-3), telling us we’re having so much possession when they thump the ball downfield, but we need to put more pressure on their back four and midfield to win possession closer to their goal. The first half ended Lower Bavaria 1 – Super Y 0
To start the second half, Alex Klein was moved back to central midfield to add some bite. Fernandoo Monge was moved up to the front forward and Anthony Arena stayed at sweeper where he had not put a foot wrong. Straight from the second half kick off, we had them under pressure. Everything we went over at half time was working. No matter what the Bavarians did they could keep the ball and we had possession all over the field. In the span of 15 minutes, from the 50th to the 65th, Crossfire’s Fernando Monge scored twice and had the assist for the other. The rest of the game was keep away and a shooting gallery. Final score was Lower Bavaria 1 – Super Y 3. Once again, the agents and management were impressed and tell us they will be at our next game.
Day 5 was a day off for practice and sight seeing.
Day 6 we will play Unterhaching, which is a 2nd Division team, in Munich.
Update 7/20 -
GAME 3 Vs Unterhaching (3-0 win)
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Scott & myself knew we were well prepared for game 3. Unterhaching plays in the 2nd Bundesliga in Germany and they are known for developing quality youth players. The Unterhaching team looked quick, strong and very disciplined during their training and warm-ups. Our main goal at the start of the game was to keep the ball out of our net for the first 10 minutes. Right from the opening kick-off we were playing with confidence and took control of the game. We had Unterhaching pinned in their half and possession was 80-20% in our favor. It didn’t take long for Fernando to take the ball in midfield, slip thru two defenders and put the ball past the keeper to put us up 1-nil. The rest of the game was similar to the first 10 minutes in that we controlled every aspect of the game, and we were clearly the more skillful team. It was our best performance to date and the final result was Super Y 1990 Select 3-0Unterhaching 1990. |
Our days off consisted of sightseeing in Munich and our players having a fantastic time in a beautiful naturally made water park, which included some European bathing suits (or lack thereof). We are staying at Unterhaching Sportschule and it is one of the best sports complexes Scott and I have every seen. Our next four games, our goal is to compete and make our opponents work for success.
GAME 4 Vs 1860 Munich (0-3 loss)
1860 looked and warmed-up like a professional team. Their professional team is playing in the 2nd Bundesliga and has two American players on their squad in Josh Wolf and Greg Berhalter. Their youth team competes in the 1st Bundesliga in the youth division and does quite well. We were also told that their entire team is in residency and are paid professionals. It was clear to us that this was going to be our first real test. Right from the start, we had to work very hard and concentrate 100% in order to keep them at bay. Our 3-4-3 high-pressure system that had worked so well in our first 3 games was broken down easily by, in my opinion, the 2 best central defenders I had ever seen. It took us 15-20 minutes into the game before our players started figuring out how to deal with this level of play. Unfortunately, they scored a goal during that period. After we caught up to the speed of play, our team starting attacking like they had before, but the level of goalkeeping stopped us from getting on the score sheet. We hadn’t mentioned this before, but Scott and myself were appalled at the amount of diving, play acting and poor refereeing during the games. Scott actually spoke with one of the Bavarian head coaches and he told us that they dive in order to get calls and to protect their long-term careers. This became increasingly frustrating during the 1860 game. After 3 or 4 1860 players leaving the field after an “injury” then returning a few minutes later, Anthony was sent off for scraping on the floor with one of their players. The way we saw it, the 1860 player was holding Anthony down awhile Anthony was trying to get away from him. The referees claimed that Anthony punched the player 3 times and knocked him unconscious! Needless to say, the 1860 player that was supposed to be unconscious came back to life immediately after Anthony received his red card! The player never left the field, asked for a trainer and got up after the red card without any apparent effects of Anthony’s wrath. 1860’s coach’s name was Alex, and after our disagreement, we will not be receiving any Christmas cards from their staff! ☺ Even though we were down to 10 men, we created several good chances to tie the game, but were caught on the counter. Overall we played very well against a team that finished mid-table in the youth Bundesliga (top league in all of Germany) and the score did not reflect the game.
GAME 5 Vs 1990 Bavarian Select Team (amateurs players) (0-1 loss) Last year’s result for our Super Y National Select 1990’s against this team was 7-0. Our goal was to improve on this result. We kicked-off and dominated the first 10 minutes but wasted 3 of 4 glorious chances, but the wheels fell off the bus for the following 30 minutes. The sun opened up making the temperature very hot, we melted, they took control thru a lot of possession and we gave up a very sloppy goal. The ball fell between two defenders and our goalkeeper and none of them took charge, so the Bavarian striker took advantage of our miscommunication. At halftime, Scott and I realized the players were down, tired, unmotivated and looked like rented mules. They felt sorry for themselves, it was hot and humid, but we motivated them by saying you are representing America and not just the Super Y League! We reminded them that this wasn’t just another youth soccer game, but we were playing against the very best youth players in Bavaria! They responded to our request brilliantly, passed the ball quicker, moved the ball quicker and we generally played terrific soccer for the final 40 minutes. Unfortunately, we could not find the back of the net. The final score was 0-1.
Our next game should prove to be a learning experience. Scott and I watched a massive, fast and highly skilled team pick apart the Bavarian 1990 A Team 5-1 earlier today. This same team won the German Youth National Cup last year and is highly regarded throughout the country.
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