Momentum - Does your team control the game?

A couple of things happened last weekend that made me think more about momentum in soccer, both events were sports related... one was the British Open Golf tournament held at Carnoustie, Scotland and the second closer to home was a tournament that we played in.

Lets start with the golf... I know this is a soccer related tip but just bear with me on this ;-)

Up the 18th hole, final day of the Championship... Padraig Harrington holds a lead that he has achieved with a great back nine, momentum with him... drives are straight, iron play accurate and putts sinking from all distances... momentum definitely with Padraig.

On the other hand... Sergio Garcia who started the day with a few shots on Harrington was having a tough day on the course and had let his grip on the tournament slip. Was pressure getting to Sergio?

Anyway... up the 18th Harrington hits some terrible shots, goes in the water not once but twice... and there is a massive swing in momentum again as he and Garcia cross each other on the course... advantage Garcia again.

Garcia fought back and the drama of the finishing holes was electrifying.

The look on Padraig's face after his round was one of sheer disappointment... despite the fact that he had played very well throughout the tournament... had he blown it. Garcia on the other hand couldn't believe his luck that Harrington had dropped shots on the last hole and seized the moment.

The tournament ended with them both on the same score and having to play four more holes in a play off to decide the eventual champion... which happened to be Harrington.

But its the swing of momentum that I hope I've described above that you can tune into.

Now lets take a look at our soccer teams... do your games go through phases where you team is in control, dominating the game then for some unexplainable reason your opponents seem to be on top and your team are under the cosh?

That's exactly what our team were like last weekend playing in a tournament.

In the group stages we couldn't do anything wrong... goals were flying in! Clean sheets all the way through the group stage... four games in all, twelve goals for, none against... we were on a role.

In the tournament on the top team from each group of five went through to the semis. We had our chance and the players were up for it, well we thought so...

In the semi final our team started really positively, this is a key element of controlling momentum and I'll be writing more about that this week in the main pages of Junior Soccer Coach. But a couple of events happened on the pitch that knocked our players out of their stride...

1. One of our opponents started spitting at our players (let go by the referee...)
2. Our opponents started kicking our players after the ball had gone
3. From our free kicks, we hit the post and the bar
4. From open play we hit the post
5. Nothing seemed to be going our way!

Now the point here is that I like my players to play football, not get involved in a scrap but the physical tactics of our opponents was effecting the players... I said to them at half time, "they are kicking and spitting because they can't keep up with your footballing skills, any mug can kick but it takes a skilled player to rise above it and keep playing good football."

"Just go out there and keep your heads... keeping playing football and the goals should come!"

However, the players took to the pitch somewhat disheartened and while they still played good football they lacked the creative spark that had ignited the games to get them to the semi final.

While our opponents only managed to get into our half twice in the second half (10 minutes in duration) we had two great attempts cleared off the line. The whistle blew for final time... penalties.

Now, although our team had virtually battered our opponents it was now down to five spot kick to decide which team went through to the final. There is no other way of settling a game, than penalties but the best team doesn't always win the penalty shoot out and since our team have lot twice in finals on penalties... the momentum swing had changed and favoured our opponents.

Needless to say we were knocked out 4 - 3 on penalties.

Our team were a credit and I was very proud of them last weekend, they played with craft, guile and dignity... in the group stages they had the momentum in the semi final, while we had the majority of the possession... the momentum wasn't with us.

On the drive home, I had this momentum thing charging around in my head and thought to myself this is something we as a team need to understand more... how we capitalise when we have the momentum, how to break the other team down when they have it, so ultimately we can control the game far more effectively.

Next week in Junior Soccer Coach, I will be publishing my thoughts on momentum, key game events that determine momentum and I'll be posting some down-loadable sheets for your players so that you can help them with a checklist of what they can do on the pitch to control the game better.

Neil Travers - Junior Soccer Coach

That's it for this week... if you have any thoughts on momentum or similar stories that you want to share, why not make a post in the soccer discussion forum.

Good luck in training this week,

Neil

www.JuniorSoccerCoach.com

PS

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