Jamica
Football Coaches Assocaition -Evon Mckenzie
Match: 14th round of
KSAFA Super League- Cavaliers SC Vs Santos FC. Venue and date: Constant Spring Sports Complex, Saturday,
January 2, 2010. Weather: Sunny& Windy. Field: Grass with pockets of bare areas in both goal
areas, unpredictable bounce, dry condition & areas of heavy
grass were on the field. Coaches: Lamar Morgan- Cavaliers; Carlton Dennis- Santos
FC Formation: Cavaliers 4-1-4-1 ; Santos 5-3-1-1 Score: Cavaliers- 2 (Fabian Swaby 14th min., Donavan
Alvaranga 77th min) Santos- 0
Pre-match Comments
Santos coach Carlton Dennis
said that they were coming into the game with the knowledge that
they were the first to beat Cavaliers in the first round, and
they were prepared to do it again. “We brought in Nicholas
McCreath to pair with Fabian Nethersole up front, and are
prepared to pass the ball around some more and take our chances
whenever we get them”. “A 2 nil score line in our favor would be
good” he said.
On the other hand, Lamar Morgan
of Cavaliers said that they will be more patient today, “We are
going to knock the ball around and take our chances on the
counter break, we should dominate the mid field and that’s where
we are strong, we are just going to take it bit by bit”.
The Warm-up
Both teams pre- match
preparation was much more organized and purposeful today than
the last time I reported on their game. The drills were more
match related, the tempo and rhythm of the Cavaliers team must
have meant something to them for this shift to have taken place.
Santos on the other hand, was as impressive with a variety of
dynamic drills with very little static stretching which is good
for the windy condition. However, the worrying sign was to see
the Santos goal keepers stretching before they got into their
warm up routine. Thumbs up on the warm up, keep it up!
SANTOS ON THE BACK FOOT
Cavalier’s experienced early
trouble in the tenth minute when their leading goal scorer
Loxley Thompson was red carded for serious foul play. At this
early stage of the game, one would expect Santos to turn on the
pressure with the one man advantage. This did not happen; in
fact Cavaliers stepped up a notch and were more on the offensive
than the more skillful Santos team. Their attack on the right
flank in the early game prove to be Santos’s Achilles heel, as
they were unable to stop this type of penetration, on a regular
basis and in the 14th minute, serious indecision on the part of
the Santos’s defense and goal keeper allowed Fabian Swaby to
slot home goal number one from inside the six yard box. The goal
immediately brought Santos into action but their new signee
Nicholas McCreath could not find the net from close range.
The rate of turnover whilst
very high showed that good football can be played if we just
exercise some patience. Ten man Cavaliers fought stoutly and
were able to subdue the Santos strike force, who were obviously
tiring towards the end of the first half. Advantage to 10 man
Cavaliers
The Second Half
The early minutes began with
Santos looking like they were ready to make the one man
advantage count as they tried to mount early attacks however
this was not as a team but more individual effort from their ace
players. incidentally this did not last very long and the
seemingly tired legs of the Santos players could not support
their intention.
Cavalier
Fabian Swaby - Man of the Match
Quite surprisingly, Santos did
not correct the right side problem they had in the first half
allowing Cavaliers to continue to make havoc of the more
weakened defenders. Our man of the match, Fabian Swaby who was
very noticeable in every attack, also found the energy to give
defensive support whenever Santos could find the energy to
counter.
At this stage, both teams
decided to bring on substitutes, however the Cavaliers’ Donavan
Alvaranga made the difference. From hitting the field he was
kept running the Santos players all over the pitch, creating
many chances as he went along, and finally in the 76th minute he
latched on to a cross from the left, ran pass the defenders and
slapped it passed the advancing goal keeper to put the game out
of the reach of the very strong willed Santos. Even with the
will, their legs could not find the way.
The fitter team on the day was
able to survive and came out the winner although they too have
their fair share of extremely tired legs, this gave rise to the
second half less enterprising than the first, but overall a much
better game than I have watched all season. The final whistle
could not come too soon for the boys from the south, tired
beaten and stunned as they could not understand why they could
not repeat their first round triumph playing against ten men for
80 minutes.
How others saw it
Other coaches such as Jeffery
Maxwell, Barrington Brown and Duane Atkinson who were all
watching the game from different vantage points, expressed the
view that they were disappointed with the quality of play. As
one put it, Cavaliers were not playing the ball wide enough
throughout the game. In fact, Maxwell said that neither team
used the width of the field effectively, and that the game was
very scrappy. He further pointed out that that too many of the
Santos players did not understand their role function
Guys KEEP IT UP
Carlton Dennis said that his
team was very complacent and played as if they were playing with
10 men. “We just didn’t play good football today”. In agreeing
that the Santos players were tired, he said that “This is the
area we will have to work on in the coming week.”
Meanwhile, the more elated
Lamar Morgan said that his team played according to instructions
and that’s the reason why they won today. He shared the view
that there were more passes in this game than the previous ones
even though he thinks more needs to be done in the area of
fitness although the club had stepped up on their weights
programme.
What Next for Football?
Last year was a very trying
year, yet we started the Unbridled Views, and I am happy to
report that our readership is growing issue by issue. For those
who benefited from using the tips or make changes for the
better, I am glad that I was able to help. Some of the responses
are quite interesting, and for that I thank you.
Over the past month I have said that the fitness of the player
is a big problem and forward movements of the sport will be
hampered if we delay our effort to collectively address this
issue. In fact, a few of the coaches who agree with this view,
ask that I provide the readers with some very practical
solutions to these challenges, so here we go. If there is any
doubts lingering in your minds about dynamic conditioning, just
watch what Stephen Francis have to say about static pre
stretching before the main activity.
VIDEO number One - Asafa
Powell Training
Now, even if you really don’t
share the view that cross training can help in football , just
think of the things the baller does on the field of play eg.(
running ,sprinting and jumping ) that we can put this part about
static stretching to rest, and ask all involved in the
preparation of our footballers to follow suit.
For this to work all leaders in
the sport must get involved in what is to be done and make sure
we all move with the times and utilize what research and
technology has to offer. Let us find the way to begin working to
solve our problem commencing January 2010
The next step is leadership and
the million dollar question is, are they convinced that the
simple things can make great improvement in the quality of our
football? Realizing this enhancement, can make the product more
marketable.
Video number two, just get the
picture, now let’s begin to forge the unity necessary to get
things moving as only a solution oriented approach will get us
there
The Seven Habits
Since the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts, team should take precedence over
individual, which in football translates to "Possession" and as
video number three shows that possession can be effective when
looking for the area of penetration
Barsa 30 passes
Can Less Brings More to a
Team
Well, in this case try putting
it to the test. For all those training two times per day and/ or
two and a half hours or more per session, try these drills and
get a copy of the FIFA PDF document from the FIFA website called
The Eleven .This is a good document for coaches and trainers to
use as much as possible,
Now for the practical work
For the rest of the month try
short sprints with short recovery time to boost the aerobic
capacity of the players without working them harder than before.
An adaptation process is what we desire so don’t destroy what
you want to build because you believe in hard work. Try working
smarter not harder and make it fun as much as possible.
Two
20x10m grids three teams of three players each, one ball per
grids, two minutes per team inside the grid. The objective is
to pressure the ball without tackling the players on the
outside, all players should be moving through the exercise,
and the teams on the outside try to make splitting passes
through the center. The players on the outside have only two
touches and the ball and man should keep moving at all times,
two terms in the middle should get the team warm enough, and
remember the no tackling rule should be observed without fail,
also remember the ball on the as much as possible employing
adequate weight on the passes for speed.
Place
nine players in the grid 20x10m, to run 30m, walk 20m. In
order for them to run 30m in a 20m grid they will have to run
the full length 20m turn and run to the middle. To get 30m
from the middle to walk 20m the walk 10m to the end turn walk
10m to the middle you can work out the rest, five reps is one
set and 60- 90 seconds break between sets sprinting at 70-90%
of top speed.
The
main program for the day should then commence for 25-45 min
and conclude with cool down and static stretching, all can be
done in 90 minutes or less per session.
Until next time when we will
examine the myth about sprinting on the toes.
As usual Your Views Please.
