Rafa Silva was born in Barreiro 23 years ago, on May 17, 1993. He is the biggest signing for the national champions in Portugal, for the 2016/2017 season. Here you can find a brief profile analysis for the new SL Benfica signing. Rafa is a high quality player. Excellent in 1-on-1 […]
From a failed Serie B loan to a millionaire transfer in less than one year. It’s hard to understand the meteoric rise of Roberto Gagliardini. How can a player be valued so fast in such a short period of time? What’s so special about him? That’s what we’ll try to […]
Recently elected for the best 11 born after 1997 by the italian periodic “Gazzetta dello Sport”, Amadou Diawara, 19 years old, plays an important role in the Napoli midfield. Coming from Bologna, the African born in Guinea Conakry has already 19 games this season in Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League. […]
Soccer is full of individual skills, as each player has it’s own specific characteristics that fit in the game model, idealized by the coach. In this context, it’s possible to find players that play in identical positions but with distinct profiles. Luis Suaréz and Diego Costa have three common characteristics […]
Motivation for success Success! Word that means “Being successful at something”! In sporting terms, I think we can divide success in four different roads: Those who make a sports career with dedication as good athletes of their favorite sport, but without titles or financial gains; Those with talent, but that […]
The game model The game model is nothing more than a set of relationships that the coach idealizes. Whether offensive or defensive, everything ends up in the relationships of the player with and without the ball. Relationships involving decisions and therefore also the individual, the player, each of the players […]
Please, let the kids play! (part 1) Each day, it becames more difficult to scouters to find talent in the age groups up to U-15, since these kids are increasingly getting equal in their abilities. The intrinsic motivation, the volitional aspects (i.e. related with their will) and work capacity which […]
During the pre-season the teams sign new players and sell others. Since some players take longer to adapt to a new reality, coaches need to know if the new players are prepared for the specific demands of their game model. Let’s look, for example, at Rashford and Lukaku from Manchester United: one had a great performance last […]
Please, let the kids play! (part 2) Due to the important role directors play in soccer and player evolution, it is crucial that they respect the different stages of players development and create the necessary conditions for coaches to properly fulfill their duties without thinking that their job is at risk just because they aren’t winning. Instead, […]
Portugal won in Denmark after 40 years. The goal was late, but the victory was well supported and deserved. But let’s get to some statistics that support this opinion. First of all, Portugal had some intensive offense. Something we didn’t see against Albania. But the most interesting fact is that […]
Pressing in modern Soccer, broadly discussed specially at a time that Offensive Transition is one of the best ways to get closer to the goal. Blocking your opponent and recover the ball has an extreme relevance and to do that we use Pressing. But what is Pressing? It’s the tactical action that “intimidates” […]
Training Session where the focus is on defensive organization and offensive transition moments. Previously to this training session every sub-moments of the defensive organization have been trained several times. This means the players already had an interesting level of acquisition. 4×4+J – 3 Lanes Time 10′ Main Goal Body direction in the contention […]
Ante Coric is one of the most highly rated players of the new Croatian generation. Formed at Dinamo Zagreb, the 19 years old prove to be a premature talent being now on the third season with the main team. At debut year he made 33 appearances, and last year 41. […]
Intro We begin with an approach to the concept of zonal defense. We compare it to other types of defense and relate it to the tactical principles of the game. Once we understand this kind of defense, we put into practice some drills that will allow you to work on this […]
This training session is planned in line with a short pass and supported style game model. The team needs to have some understanding of the game model, especially in the last 2 drills where the organization, both offensive and defensive, are the basis of the exercise. 4×4+3N – positional game Description: […]