Idk. She didn’t score for them today. She played a couple of great balls for her teammates though.
we had a lot of chances and took a lot of shots, they just didn’t work out.
⚽️⚽️⚽️…Delusional Youth Soccer Parent Thread
- Thread starter lawpoke87
- Start date
Idk. She didn’t score for them today. She played a couple of great balls for her teammates though.
we had a lot of chances and took a lot of shots, they just didn’t work out.
Finished the weekend with two hard earned wins. Saturdays game was 3-0 and today’s game was 2-1. We went down 0-1 early in the second half but came back to get the W. Girls are in great position for a playoff spot.
You’re 1-6-1 with the second worst goal differential in the league (-17). Maybe marginally better than last year ? I don’t recall what your record and goal differential was last year. Are you guys playing a lot of girls behind the ball? Defense seems better but offense looks anemic
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I assume the "Are we competitive yet" was pointed at me. I don't watch your games so I can't really give an opinion. Your scores look different than last year. The defense isn't giving up nearly as many goals. But you have only scored 3 goals in 8 leagues games. Last year you scored 16 in 15 games. You're currently in 14th place. Last year you ended in 13th. I do expect you to finish at least 13th if not 12th. You also combined the best of WSA and TSC (maybe not 100% not sure). So I wouldn't say it a huge improvement. But that's again without watching. Games are closer but I have to wonder why you can't score? Parking the bus?
im just being cheeky.
our offense is struggling to connect and score. Our defense isn’t anything crazy, they’re just a solid back 4 and our midfield is pretty good. We do need to be better offensively.
we are losing games, but not nearly in the same way as last year.
Our forwards are not selfish enough and keep waiting for perfect shots. They’re getting better at taking chances, but we aren’t there yet. These tx teams shoot with an inch of space lol
We play the same formation.
Scoring is hard. Case in point…we had two goals called back for offsides and missed several bunnies on Sunday in a game we tied 0-0. Just a horrible result for us.
Texas Cup final this weekend in Austin. We have the #1 team in the country (Real Colorado) on Saturday than either Solar or Albion on Sunday. No real reward for winning the Cup this year so it’s basically spending money and time with no reward other than competition against a couple of elite teams
Scoring is hard. Case in point…we had two goals called back for offsides and missed several bunnies on Sunday in a game we tied 0-0. Just a horrible result for us.
Texas Cup final this weekend in Austin. We have the #1 team in the country (Real Colorado) on Saturday than either Solar or Albion on Sunday. No real reward for winning the Cup this year so it’s basically spending money and time with no reward other than competition against a couple of elite teams
I feel the same way about the Cup finals, this year it should have been skipped with the reduction of Champions league spots. I would love to see a breakdown of the amount teams who won the cup finals, but would have failed to qualify for the Champions league otherwise.
If you combined teams, I would call that worse. There is no other way to sugarcoat it.
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.
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.
Update on my son's Tufts team regional. They tied Columbia 0-0, tied Rutgers 1-1 and lost to UCONN White 2-1. I watched the Columbia game and Tufts was unlucky to not score a couple in that one. They definitely carried most of the play and attack. Columbia had a couple of chances but the Tufts defense is really stout and they really rally when the attacking team finds some dangerous space with the ball.
My son said the UCONN game was tied 1-1 late when they sent EVERYONE forward for the corner knowing they had to have 3 points to move on...the ball got cleared and they weren't able to get back and defend. It is what it is. My son said they should still be in line for an at large bid to nationals because of their overall record and ranking and their performance at nationals last season. They should know next week for sure.
My son said that their group in regionals was dubbed the Group of Death by all the teams in their group and a lot of the other teams playing. He said the other Tufts team got to play Middlebury and Carnegie Mellon while the top seed in the region (Rutgers A) was scoring 11 goals on the #2 team in their bracket.
My son said the UCONN game was tied 1-1 late when they sent EVERYONE forward for the corner knowing they had to have 3 points to move on...the ball got cleared and they weren't able to get back and defend. It is what it is. My son said they should still be in line for an at large bid to nationals because of their overall record and ranking and their performance at nationals last season. They should know next week for sure.
My son said that their group in regionals was dubbed the Group of Death by all the teams in their group and a lot of the other teams playing. He said the other Tufts team got to play Middlebury and Carnegie Mellon while the top seed in the region (Rutgers A) was scoring 11 goals on the #2 team in their bracket.
We actually attack from the wings in our 4-3-3. Our OBs are physical, fast and technical girls. They play very wide and we connect passes to them as they make their runs. They are consistently crossing the ball from near the opponents end line. You obviously need confidence in the ability of your CBs and six to defend in this style. Successfully attacking the top teams in the middle of the field is just difficult. The six and CBs can fly and are plus defenders. Our weakness is we lack a true goal scorer. They are hard to find…even in Texas
Risking injury on meaningless games is just dumb imo. The games will be ultra competitive not to mention physical and played on turf. The girls play so much soccer in the fall. Adding two more high level games which don’t count for anything doesn’t make my sense to me. Heck…Real Colorado is flying to Austin for this
I'm surprised there wasn't more push back on this. The top 3 teams in our league standings and #13 are the four teams competing, not sure how we ended up playing the #3 team and the #2 and #13 got matched up.
The brackets were predetermined based on the pools. Ours is Pool 1 v Pool 3 and Pool 2 v Pool 4.
KC Showcase event planners: pick dates 5th, 6th, and 7th.
ECNLgirls everywhere: *wave arms and loudly yell* SiX SeVeN* !!!!!!!!!
How about FC Tulsa Academy "Blitz" working hard and getting fields cleared and playable and utilizing all options with the help of Mr Scheels for letting them use the turf for overflow. Well done sir!!!!
Indeed I would have lost money on Friday betting that tournament wouldn’t have been played .
I've started including in my pregame that anyone who says "6-7" on the field is getting a yellow card
Oof. So what I know about the newer TPS school turf fields is that they don't use the rubber pellets as part of the base...they use like chipped coconut husks. It makes the turf a little harder but players hate sliding on it because it tears up their skin. Not sure if Webster is that way but I know for sure Rogers is. I don't think Memorial is from what I remember but that turf field is a bit older than the one at Rogers.
Honestly, Greenwood could have probably gotten the turf at Carver MS which is actually in the Greenwood district of town. And it's nice. And Mack's wings is right there.
I’m pretty sure those are best wings in Tulsa. If anyone knows better let me know bc I’d love to try any wing place that is even a contender. Mack’s has been #1 for me since I tried them.
Yep. The hurricane gold sauce is fantastic. I usually do a mix of that and the regular Buffalo sauce. (There's a mustard based BBQ sauce I found at Reasor's once that was a reasonable and really good facsimile of the Hurricane Gold sauce). I can't remember the name but it's not one of the usual big name BBQ sauce brands.
Not local, but relevant to at least some extent:
www.espn.com
"Those teams are perennial contenders in the Champions League, which is a driving force in players' decisions. For many Americans, potentially driven by the prominence of the men's competition, the UEFA Women's Champions League is still the biggest club trophy they can win."
That's probably the crux of why Tulsa kids wanna play in OKC, OKC kids wanna play in Dallas, etc.
Why are USWNT players signing with clubs in Europe -- and can the NWSL stop it?
While NWSL execs worry about USWNT players choosing European clubs, the lure of UEFA Women's Champions League clubs isn't going away.
www.espn.com
"Those teams are perennial contenders in the Champions League, which is a driving force in players' decisions. For many Americans, potentially driven by the prominence of the men's competition, the UEFA Women's Champions League is still the biggest club trophy they can win."
That's probably the crux of why Tulsa kids wanna play in OKC, OKC kids wanna play in Dallas, etc.
The NWSL is starting a big push toward a second developmental league. Most current NWSL will participate. They are hosting eight of the best girls ECNL clubs in the country the first week of December in a pool then single elimination format. My guess is they are trying to provide an option besides college soccer for the top high school age girls. Going to be interesting to see where this leads and whether it has any significant impact on girls college soccer.
Can we talk about showcases? First our 2013's going to a "Showcase" in Florida seems ridiculous. If it wasn't at IMG Academy and we play some really good teams it would be worse.
I looked at the teams WSA was playing at the ECNL event in Phoenix and I didn't even realize ECNL had that poorly ranked teams?? What scouts are watching those teams/games.
2010's. #295,#195,#1241 RL team
2009's #217,#837,#197
07/08's #54, #264, #459
That's 1 team in the top 100......ECNL Texas is so strong this seems like a waste?? I've never been to see which games coaches are watching so I don't know. Seems like a money grab for the leagues. (All of them)
FYI......Haters......I know ECNL is still the top league. That's not the point.
I looked at the teams WSA was playing at the ECNL event in Phoenix and I didn't even realize ECNL had that poorly ranked teams?? What scouts are watching those teams/games.
2010's. #295,#195,#1241 RL team
2009's #217,#837,#197
07/08's #54, #264, #459
That's 1 team in the top 100......ECNL Texas is so strong this seems like a waste?? I've never been to see which games coaches are watching so I don't know. Seems like a money grab for the leagues. (All of them)
FYI......Haters......I know ECNL is still the top league. That's not the point.
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First…it’s dumb for any team U14 and down to go to a showcase. Nobody is watching you but mom and dad (maybe an occasional US Soccer scout). Call it what it is…spend a lot of money, travel to a nice place and play three friendlies. College scouts aren’t watching any 2013 girls as you alluded to.
WSA 2013s are basically an RL team. They are bracketed where they belong.
The biggest ECNL showcase of the year (as far as college scouts are concerned) takes place in Florida from Jan 10-12. The showcase is only for U16 and U17. I would consider this a true showcase and worth the money
Showcases are generally open to all clubs. Florida will be primarily teams from the central and eastern part of the country. Last I checked there were 83 U16 teams listed. West coast U16 and U17 teams generally attend the older Phoenix Showcase the last week of March.
Scouts will obviously focus on the games featuring the top teams. They will also come to games they have been invited to by girls they have interest in.
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Thanks as some of us with younger kids learn from people who are or have lived it.
That's great but until NWSL, WNBA, and any other professional women's leagues start paying the players a consistent starting salary that's at least 6 figures, they will always risk losing the best players to Europe. The first year salary in the WNBA is somewhere around $78,000 and that's for picks 1-4. Angel Reese has made this a big deal saying she can't afford everything even as a superstar. Top 12 NWSL players make between $500k (Sophia Smith) and $250k (Alex Morgan, now retired). When you look at those top 12 players, it's a who's who of international soccer stars. Avg. NWSL salary (2023) was $65k. Minimum salary this year is $48k and that is supposed to be increased to $82k by 2030. NWSL has instituted a salary cap per team that is at $3.3M currently.
I'm not saying they will ever get equal pay with their male counterparts in their respective sports but until you begin paying them more than what I make at a community college...and I don't have to pay an agent/rep and many of them aren't getting the big endorsement deals. I don't know what the revenue stream for NWSL is but the WNBA got a huge revenue boost from ads and TV the last couple of seasons because of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and some of the other personalities coming into the league but none of that has flowed down to the players in terms of starting salaries and other benefits.