Had a couple observations to make about soccer today.

First I watched the MLS Cup last night and found it to be a thoroughly entertaining match. No Galaxy blow out, Real Salt Lake played a smart game and managed to hand with LA even though they had some issues. It was wild to see it come down to PK”s and the man who wanted this more than anyone, Landon Donovan, missed his PK. Beckham stood there and banged his home, the substitute keeper for LA did an outstanding job of keeping a couple out but it came  down to the Donovan miss. This is a guy who doesn’t miss on kicks from the mark. Wild eh?

Secondly I worked a rec youth tournament over the weekend as a referee. I normally work D1 games and High School so it has been awhile since I have done younger rec games. There was some good soccer, some bad soccer, and lots of enthusiasm all around.

However the one thing I see at games like this is a lack of first touch control. Rec soccer gets caught up in kick it hard coaching. First touch is not taught enough and as a result many of the kids cannot do basic first touch skills. It would be great if these kids could be taught how to properly trap a ball. It would make the game so much more fun for them.

One game featured athletes against skilled players. A Hispanic based team where most of the kids could control the ball well, knew how to pass and so on, playing against the team of kids who were big, fast, or aggressive. Who won?

You guess.

Skill almost always does.

Tags: soccer, soccer dills