Honestly, let's talk formation. 4-3-3 which is essentially what you're playing with an inverted triangle in the MF is the easiest to prep for defensively, IMO. It forces the ball through the middle and labeling the 2 FBs as defenders formationally really creates a struggle for those players convincing them they should move forward in the attack when the opportunity presents itself. And usually those defenders are defenders first. I have really come to prefer the 3-5-2 formation and you can put some dynamic players (think Dest and Antonee Robinson) in those wing MF spots knowing you've got a solid defensive back line and athletes in the wings that are going to have to play goal line to goal line. But those wings also feel more free to move forward in attack simply because now they carry a "MF" label and not a "D" label. There's a lot to the mindset of players when they're give those labels. You then switch the MF to a base triangle with a double pivot coming out and a true 10 MF in attack. It pushes the build up more onto the wings with more support in the middle and don't label the attacking 9 and 11 as left or right but let them flow side to side and overlap. It offers them more freedom and it also confuses a traditional back 4 when they start tracking different players. Simply look at Pochettino and how this formation has helped the USMNT in more recent matches. And kids have a more rigid mindset when you start labeling their positions. Just me.
This past weekend I did 11 games for the Blitz Tournament. Saturday was just a trainwreck. No real set match times, teams were told to show up and games played on the hour. 11 v 11 games were played at 25 minute halves for Saturday just to get back on schedule. U9-U12 were 20 minute halves, U8 and under were 15 minute halves. The field conditions were not great but not the worst I've ever seen and the BASC field crews did a nice job of rotating fields and games to avoid destroying them completely. Sunday was much better although still soggy and soft. I did 6 games on Sunday starting at 8am and finishing at 5:30. My daughter did 7 games yesterday starting at 8am...the last 2 being 11 v 11 finals and I was told by her center referee that she did a very good job in those games).
I did a game with Donny Carreno's U11s vs an FC Tulsa team. The pace at which this game was played was crazy. The skill level was really good and the understanding as to space was excellent. As always, Donny's teams play with exceptional technical skill. I also did a game with Joao's U9s vs an SSA Select team. And again, the skill level for this age group was stupid good. Both sides played with extreme understanding of the game, high level passing and vision, technical skill, ball movement, and the intense aggressiveness. SSA won 5-3 and most of that was Joao having a keeper who didn't want to be back there. And these SSA girls had the ability to hit some rockets from deep. Now, I do think the SSA girls were 2017s while Joao's group was mostly 2018s.
My last game yesterday was a U11 final between and FC Tulsa team and a BA Express team. I've refereed the Express team before. This game was a little ragged. End of a long day for these boys, field was chewed up. FC Tulsa scored first on a nice over the top ball that the Express defenderS (3) failed to get a foot on and clear...ball took a bounce up that the FCT chested down to his foot and one timed it far post. Express kids complained about a handball which I didn't see because I was trailing behind the pack. I know the hands weren't in an unnatural position....I asked my AR who had the angle to see that and she said she didn't see handling. We counted the goal. At half, I am pretty sure the Express kids got chewed out because they came out with some intense fire. They scored about 10 minutes in off a corner that ended up deflecting off a FCT defender in for an own goal. The game stayed knotted the rest of the game. The FCT GK was really really good. He made some really tough, testing saves...like I was impressed with his movement and his ability to get out to shots towards the post. Express had a kid who other coaches would label as "a problem". This kid was faster with the ball at his feet than most players are without the ball. He also had good technical skill and put some kids on skates, especially given the slick conditions. The area he needs to improve on is finishing. Game went both ET periods and then to PKs. Again, at this age, usually PKs end up with kids drilling the ball into the GKs gut. Not this one...these kids were adept at hammering the side netting and upper 90. I was super impressed with them. One kid skied the ball over the bar and that was the difference as Express won 5-4 in PKs. I like doing games like this. And I only had to address the parents for FCT once about talking at the opposing players. Told them they are welcome to encourage their players and say good job to the other players but other than that don't direct anything at the opposing team. An Express player tried to pick the ball up and throw in quickly when we clearly signaled FCT throw in...I let the parents know we'd take care of it and make sure the proper team threw the ball in. FCT coach asked me at half if I had to say something and I explained it. Said he would address it with parents. (I wasn't confrontational with the parents actually which is pretty impressive for me because I don't like it when parents address players from the other team in a negative way).
I was actually surprised that they got all the games in this weekend. Fields got mushy but nothing like Mohawk last June and I talked with the guy from BA who oversees field maintenance and he said they'll drop a lot of sand on them this week and they should even out in time for the weekend for BASC games.