Word Cup Soccer Day 2 --
What position would I play?
Players too timid with bouncing balls?
The main impression the two days of soccer has left me with has been that the players are amateurishly timid with balls that bounce in their direction or that sail towards them in the air. they should be able to travel a few yards with the ball in the air or on the ground after they first touch a ball that comes to them in the bounce or in the air, before they get off a shot or a pass.
What position would I play?
Today I watched as England squeaked by Paraguay 1-0, and Sweden was tied by Trinidad 0-0. Yesterday I watched Poland get upsed by Ecuador 2-0, and heard of how Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 but did not see the match.
Most every team is playing the 4-4-2 offense. The first question for me was where do I fit in in this kind of offense.
My research revealed to me, that in the 4-4-2 there tends to be: a combo of a target forward and a forward who sets up the target forward; a deep forward further away from the goal than the other forward; an "attacking midfielder"; a "poacher" forward who hangs out near the goal; a tall forward set up for aerial feats.
The question became would I fit in better as an attacking center midfielder, or as the deep forward, of the two forwards the one further away from the opposing goalie.
My guess as of today is that it would be as the attacking midfielder.
Given a formation in which there are two forwards, inevitably such will break down into a left forward, and a right forward. Since there are four halfbacks in the 4-4-2 compared to two forwards one can expect that one of the center halfbacks will be closer to a center forward than one of the forwards. My style of play, the sprinting forward while juggling the ball in the air, results in unpredictable passes off to the right and to the left, unpredictable changes of direction on the part of me the runner off to the right and to the left, therefore, it would be better for me to be like a center forward as opposed to like a left inside forward or a right inside forward. Thus one point for the thesis I am attacking midfielder not forward.
My two chief characteristics are eagerness to attempt to dribble the ball by opponents on the ground, and also while juggling the ball in the air. Juggling the ball in the air starts with getting the ball flipped up in the air. The one situation in which it is almost impossible to flip a ground ball up into the air is when it is rolling ahead of you in the same direction you are running. My guess is that the two forwards encounter the situation wherein the ball is rolling ahead of them as they chase it, more than other players do.
There are certain situations which are especially conducive to me getting the ball up in the air, off the ground.
One such situation is where I simply have enough time to roll the ball backwards with my left foot, and then flip it up with me left foot. Seems that situations where there is this kind of time, occur more for the attacking midfielder than they do for one of the two forwards.
Other such situations are when the ball rolls towards my, bouncing, rolling on the ground, or flying in the air. For me it is advantageous to initiate a flight, to have the ball coming towards me from the direction that I will be running towards when I put the ball in the air, that is, for me it is advantageous to have the ball kicked towards me, when I am facing the opponent's goal; fighter pilots used to symbolize direction by the numbers on a clock, 12 o clock straight ahead, 6 o clock straight behind, for me, the closer the origin of the ball is to 12 o clock the better, for me the closer the origin of the ball is to 6 o clock the worse, generally speaking, especially when the ball is coming towards me rolling on the ground. I estimate that I will get more of these situations where the ball is coming at me in such a way that I can flip it up into the air, when I am at attacking midfielder position than when I am at forward position.
I do not have any special skill at getting things going starting with my back facing towards the opponent's goal. I estimate there will be more of such clumsy situations if I am a forward than there will be if I am an attacking center midfielder.
I have the ability to go far fast--15 yds-- while juggling the ball in the air while sprinting. Allowing for the ball to bounce once off the ground during the sprint makes this range even greater, 20-25 yards. I estimate that if I am a forward, several of my aerial-bounce- sprints towards the goal will get to a point that is such that they would be productive if I had started the run farther back, at the attacking midfielder position--that is, the runs could end up getting to a point where the productivity becomes limited because of proximity to the opponent's end line, as a result of which any further forward movement of the ball simply results in the ball going out of bounds.
Players too timid with bouncing balls?
Regarding the games I have seen,
I get the impression the players are too influenced by the fans, coaches etc., who are less well informed and less thoughtful. Seems they are too concerned with not being accused of mistakes by such persons.
My impression is that the players are not moving the ball around enough using either ground or air dribbling before they fire off shots and passes; and they too often choose the option of a shot or a pass instead of ground or air-dribbling the ball past an opponent. When the ball approaches the players in the air or on the bounce, the players inevitably get rid of it immediately like a hot potato, in situations where I would have lofted the ball in some direction and air-dribbled it at least three yards before doing something with it.
Sweden played well today, Poland played well yesterday, they were a pleasure to watch, you could say they had bad luck--time after time, Sweden would penetrate and get a shot off at close range, time after time the Trinidad goalie would block the shot; time after time, Poland would hit the crossbar or a goal post with a blistering shot. But was it really just bad luck? I estimate, that the reason Poland and the Sweden players were doing things like hitting goalposts and crossbars and opposing goalies or simply missing with their shots, was that they were failing to move even a couple of yards before shooting or passing, failing to move either by way of air-dribbling, ball off the ground, or even ground-dribbling, ball rolling on the ground. As a result, the opposing goalies and players were able to get into position, and the positions they the attackers with the ball were able to get themselves into was not quite good enough. Part of this has to do with the fact that when a defense is dealing with people who especially when the ball bounces towards them or comes to them in the air immediately shoot or pass the ball, the defenders find such offensive players predictable and hency easy pickings.
You can see, I could see watching the FIFA world cup highlights at the conclusion of day two, how success attends a little dribbling after getting the ball, as opposed to an immediate shot or pass; just as I earlier pointed out, that failure attends this hot potato like shooting or passing as soon as you get it. Difference is that you can become aware of what leads to failure watching the games, whereas you can get aware of what leads to success watching the highlights. Problem is that simply watching the highlights you can fail to see exactly what it is that is behind the successes of the successful ones, because you do not have the failures to look at by way of comparison.
Players too timid with bouncing balls?
The main impression the two days of soccer has left me with has been that the players are amateurishly timid with balls that bounce in their direction or that sail towards them in the air. they should be able to travel a few yards with the ball in the air or on the ground after they first touch a ball that comes to them in the bounce or in the air, before they get off a shot or a pass.
What position would I play?
Today I watched as England squeaked by Paraguay 1-0, and Sweden was tied by Trinidad 0-0. Yesterday I watched Poland get upsed by Ecuador 2-0, and heard of how Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 but did not see the match.
Most every team is playing the 4-4-2 offense. The first question for me was where do I fit in in this kind of offense.
My research revealed to me, that in the 4-4-2 there tends to be: a combo of a target forward and a forward who sets up the target forward; a deep forward further away from the goal than the other forward; an "attacking midfielder"; a "poacher" forward who hangs out near the goal; a tall forward set up for aerial feats.
The question became would I fit in better as an attacking center midfielder, or as the deep forward, of the two forwards the one further away from the opposing goalie.
My guess as of today is that it would be as the attacking midfielder.
Given a formation in which there are two forwards, inevitably such will break down into a left forward, and a right forward. Since there are four halfbacks in the 4-4-2 compared to two forwards one can expect that one of the center halfbacks will be closer to a center forward than one of the forwards. My style of play, the sprinting forward while juggling the ball in the air, results in unpredictable passes off to the right and to the left, unpredictable changes of direction on the part of me the runner off to the right and to the left, therefore, it would be better for me to be like a center forward as opposed to like a left inside forward or a right inside forward. Thus one point for the thesis I am attacking midfielder not forward.
My two chief characteristics are eagerness to attempt to dribble the ball by opponents on the ground, and also while juggling the ball in the air. Juggling the ball in the air starts with getting the ball flipped up in the air. The one situation in which it is almost impossible to flip a ground ball up into the air is when it is rolling ahead of you in the same direction you are running. My guess is that the two forwards encounter the situation wherein the ball is rolling ahead of them as they chase it, more than other players do.
There are certain situations which are especially conducive to me getting the ball up in the air, off the ground.
One such situation is where I simply have enough time to roll the ball backwards with my left foot, and then flip it up with me left foot. Seems that situations where there is this kind of time, occur more for the attacking midfielder than they do for one of the two forwards.
Other such situations are when the ball rolls towards my, bouncing, rolling on the ground, or flying in the air. For me it is advantageous to initiate a flight, to have the ball coming towards me from the direction that I will be running towards when I put the ball in the air, that is, for me it is advantageous to have the ball kicked towards me, when I am facing the opponent's goal; fighter pilots used to symbolize direction by the numbers on a clock, 12 o clock straight ahead, 6 o clock straight behind, for me, the closer the origin of the ball is to 12 o clock the better, for me the closer the origin of the ball is to 6 o clock the worse, generally speaking, especially when the ball is coming towards me rolling on the ground. I estimate that I will get more of these situations where the ball is coming at me in such a way that I can flip it up into the air, when I am at attacking midfielder position than when I am at forward position.
I do not have any special skill at getting things going starting with my back facing towards the opponent's goal. I estimate there will be more of such clumsy situations if I am a forward than there will be if I am an attacking center midfielder.
I have the ability to go far fast--15 yds-- while juggling the ball in the air while sprinting. Allowing for the ball to bounce once off the ground during the sprint makes this range even greater, 20-25 yards. I estimate that if I am a forward, several of my aerial-bounce- sprints towards the goal will get to a point that is such that they would be productive if I had started the run farther back, at the attacking midfielder position--that is, the runs could end up getting to a point where the productivity becomes limited because of proximity to the opponent's end line, as a result of which any further forward movement of the ball simply results in the ball going out of bounds.
Players too timid with bouncing balls?
Regarding the games I have seen,
I get the impression the players are too influenced by the fans, coaches etc., who are less well informed and less thoughtful. Seems they are too concerned with not being accused of mistakes by such persons.
My impression is that the players are not moving the ball around enough using either ground or air dribbling before they fire off shots and passes; and they too often choose the option of a shot or a pass instead of ground or air-dribbling the ball past an opponent. When the ball approaches the players in the air or on the bounce, the players inevitably get rid of it immediately like a hot potato, in situations where I would have lofted the ball in some direction and air-dribbled it at least three yards before doing something with it.
Sweden played well today, Poland played well yesterday, they were a pleasure to watch, you could say they had bad luck--time after time, Sweden would penetrate and get a shot off at close range, time after time the Trinidad goalie would block the shot; time after time, Poland would hit the crossbar or a goal post with a blistering shot. But was it really just bad luck? I estimate, that the reason Poland and the Sweden players were doing things like hitting goalposts and crossbars and opposing goalies or simply missing with their shots, was that they were failing to move even a couple of yards before shooting or passing, failing to move either by way of air-dribbling, ball off the ground, or even ground-dribbling, ball rolling on the ground. As a result, the opposing goalies and players were able to get into position, and the positions they the attackers with the ball were able to get themselves into was not quite good enough. Part of this has to do with the fact that when a defense is dealing with people who especially when the ball bounces towards them or comes to them in the air immediately shoot or pass the ball, the defenders find such offensive players predictable and hency easy pickings.
You can see, I could see watching the FIFA world cup highlights at the conclusion of day two, how success attends a little dribbling after getting the ball, as opposed to an immediate shot or pass; just as I earlier pointed out, that failure attends this hot potato like shooting or passing as soon as you get it. Difference is that you can become aware of what leads to failure watching the games, whereas you can get aware of what leads to success watching the highlights. Problem is that simply watching the highlights you can fail to see exactly what it is that is behind the successes of the successful ones, because you do not have the failures to look at by way of comparison.
posted by David Virgil at 10:42 PM
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