OK, so I sat down with some of my players today and we decided on our recruitment needs for next season. We are looking to add 12 more players to the roster and we have identified the positions.

When Blackburn Rovers won the English Premier League in 1995 (Yes the did!) the coach, Ray Harford made a massive mistake. He said that he was happy with his team and since they had just won the Premier League he did not need to add new players….what a howler!! The rest is history, it will probably be another 81 years before they win it again!

I do not want my players to sit back and be complacent. We need to strengthen in all positions since we will be losing some players in a year.

So, we now know how many players we need and in what positions. We have put together a plan to find and recruit these players and I will keep you posted.

Last season we added 15 new players when we had a record of 2-15. This year we should be able to add players more easily and of a higher standard now that we finished our conference in second place and had 5 players placed on the all conference first and second teams.

If you have any ideas regarding recruitment, please share them with us.

Let’s Talk Soccer!

What a game, what a night, what an occasion!

In front of a record crowd, our team ended their season in a heartbreaking way…it was suddenly all over.

We played the semi final of the conference tournament seeded #2 against the #3 seed. Previous encounters this season went to OT with us winning one and the other remaining a tie.

Yes, this one went to OT as well.

Unfortunately the oppostion scored the golden goal in the 95th minute from a deflected shot which trickled over the line….heartbreaking.

Here is the goal…it is painful for us to watch:

OT Goal

I was just about to make a substitution, was turned toward the ongoing player and BAM! it was over. We were shell shocked!

What an occasion though and if the season had to end, then this was the perfect way with a huge crowd, a fantastic performance and everything left on the field.

I will be recapping all the valuable lessons learned from this historic season and updating the blog regularly.

Let’s Talk Soccer!

So, how do you prepare your players for the biggest game of their lives so far?

We play in a few hours, we play the semi final of our conference tournament at home in front of the biggest crowd of our careers…..

Last night we gave them the night off from practice so that they would be rested and refreshed for today. Instead of a practice we brought them in and had a light hearted team meeting. No tactics, no strategies, no team talk.

We sat them down, asked them how they felt and asked them to share with the team answers to the following questions:

How do you feel?
What has been your high point of the season so far and why?
What has been the high point of the season for the team and why?
What lessons have you learned this season about yourself and about how to play the game?
What advice do you have for your teammates?
How are you preparing?
What are you thinking about?

The players really opened up and it was great to hear them express their feelings and their lessons learned. This exercise really calmed them down and helped them to relax. It also helped bring them closer as well, once they opened up their was less of the testostrone and more relating to each other.

We left the meeting relaxed and raring to go.

We report tonight at 5pm for a 7.30pm kick off. Yes, we will be doing the practical stuff like taping, getting changed, warming up etc. We will also has some quiet time to focus on the season so far as well as to give thoughts about tonight’s game. We will watch a dvd of goals and just have them relaxing and hanging out together. It will be lighthearted and focussed on the job at hand.

We finished the regular conference games this weekend extending our unbeaten run to 11 games. We have only conceded 6 goals in the last 10 games, so our defense deserves a lot of credit.

When I say our defense, I should really say our defensive play. We have to defend from all positions all over the pitch and the hardwork our forwards put in pressurising the opponents in our attacking third deserves as much credit as the defenders working hard in and around our penalty box.

We have kept clean sheets in our last three games using three different goalkeepers, so credit to our goalkeeping coach who works them really hard.

So, now, for the first time in our program’s history we enter post season play. We finished the conference in 2nd place earning us a home tie in the semi finals. We entertain the team that previous to this season won the conference for the last 8 years on the run. They are vastly experienced with a coach who started his coaching career at our school 36 years ago.

We will be having a conditioning practice today as well as some finishing and penalty taking practice. We are going to give them tomorrow night off and have a team meeting and watch some soccer videos. We want them refreshed and relaxed the night before the game.

We are thrilled to be in this position, yet we know this team can go further and we are looking forward to Wednesday’s game.

Sometimes you just have to win ugly. Do whatever it takes and just get the job done. In what was our worst performance of the regular season we ran out 2-0 winners away from home to qualify for Play Offs with 2 games remaining.

This was a tough game for us. We were playing on the worst field in the league, rock hard, bumpy, bone dry, uneven….a field that can quickly even out any skill imbalances between teams. Very windy, small field and against a team whose goalkeeper could punt the ball the full length of the field into our penalty area.

Their tactics were simple, route one right down the middle for their giant forwards to cause all kinds of havoc. Every free kick was lanched into our box, every punt, every goal kick every pass from their defense. It was like watching English football from the 70s!

When we had the ball it was very difficult to string any kind of passes together.

So, we had to knuckle down, keep the ball on the floor and just grind out a win. Fortunately that’s what we did.

We scored just before half time and then sealed the win with a stunning goal in the second half. We went down the wing, hit the touchline, pulled the ball back, first attacked dummied the ball for our midfielder to come running in and smash the ball in the top corner from the edge of the box.

So, the unbeaten streak is now made up of 7 wins and 2 ties. We have a game on Saturday and if we win and first place loses, then we play each other on Sunday for the Conference Championship.

Wow, this team continues to break its own records, we have now won 6 and tied 2 of our last 8 games!

We put in a very solid and professional performance this weekend running out 3-1 winners. The opposition had beaten us in the previous 24 games before this season. We tied them away from home earlier this season 0-0 after double overtime.

We stuck to our game plan, defending well throughout the field, attacked when we had the chance and scored three really nice goals.

On Monday we play away from home against the team at the top of the conference with a 10-1 record. We are in 2nd place and we are the only other team who can win the championship. If the other team wins tomorrow’s encounter they will be the Champions. We need to beat them, win our remaining two games and they need to lose their remaining two games for us to win the conference.

I know it’s a long shot, but isn’t that what sports is all about?

In another incredible performance the team extended their unbeaten record to 7 games made up of 5 wins and 2 ties.

What a game! We were tied 0-0 until the 73 minute and were awarded a penalty to go up 1-0. The opposition came back and tied the game up in the 83rd minute. We won the game in the 88th minute from a header from a deep free kick into the box.

What are we doing right? Well, first of all the players are very, very fit. We only made one substitution all game. All of the players on the field were giving their all and they were fit enough to do it for 90 minutes.

Secondly, the team chemistry is excellent with the players knowing we are doing something special and they want to be part of it. Niggling injuries have mysteriously disappeared, now we have a full roster for practices.

Thirdly the players are working very hard for themselves and their teammates. They are playing really well together.

Fourthly, confidence is high, they know they can overcome set backs and still get something out of the game.

Finally, some flashes of individual brilliance obviously helps as well, we do have a couple of game winners on our team.

All in all the players are on a roll and it is my job to help them build upon that momentum. We have 4 very tough games in the next 8 days, so it is important to keep them grounded and focussed upon the next game and the next game only.

We have a specific way of preparing for the games, we have settled upon a warm up that works, we have a specific mindset in the locker room before kick off and we all know what we need to do.

I am very proud of these players, they have completely turned this program around and that is an immense achievement.