This weekend I was able to get to Deepdale on Saturday to see Preston North End v. Ipswich. The scoreline of 1-0 was about right: Preston had the better of it but not by much. 2-0 would have been flattering to the hosts, and you couldn't have argued 1-1 was unlucky.
Watching a match live is a completely different experience than on television. PNE and Ipswich are both strugglers this year in the Championship, but the level of play is well beyond USL D-2, and in most respects above MLS as well. One of the factors limiting the development of the game in America is the geography of getting developing players to a match. In Greensburg, Pennsylvania, I am 40 miles from NCAA D1, 45 miles from USL D-2, 200 or so from MLS. Obviously, in the northwest of England we are knee-deep in Premiership and Championship soccer -- something like a twenty full-professional clubs within 50 miles.
After the match at Deepdale, I had dinner while watching Newcastle v. Liverpool on TV. Although the camera angle is quite good at St. James' Park, I kept wanting the camera to zoom out so I could see more of what is going on off the ball. So much of the meaning of a match happens so far off of the ball, that without seeing top level play live, I think it is hard for young players to really develop the sense of being in the game when they are fifty yards from the ball.
Preston and Ipswich both played similar during the match -- buildup play was out of the back to the fullbacks or occasionally the outside midfielder, who would try and find the forwards either up the line with a chip or a big diagonal ball, and then the midfield would join in on the second action. Certainly not the most elegant play in the world, but effective (and in the professional leagues results are always paramount, particularly for PNE and Ipswich where both managers are fighting for their professional lives) and entertaining. In Preston's case, also very much playing to their strengths as their right back, Billy Jones has an impressive range of passing and field awareness, and the center forward, Jon Parkin is a huge target to hit up front.
As I watched the game, I began to wonder about the differences between the English and American player. I am beginning to develop a suspicion that it's not technique, or at least not technical skill. Rather I think the difference is the application of technique -- what skill to use in what situation. That, I believe, is a function of awareness of the game beyond your feet.
To explain (or at least attempt to, I'm still formulating all of this in my head): pure technical skill is the ability to control the ball, but applied technical skill is the ability to control the ball into the appropriate space given to you by the game. A perfectly controlled first touch into the path of the defender is no good. A partially controlled first touch into space that allows for a through pass to a teammate in an attacking position on the next touch is brilliant. I remember watching the PAWest Olympic Development 1991(?) boys team train a few years back. Almost every player was technically clean and could receive a driven ball with a controlled first touch on either foot, inside, outside, laces, or even heel. The problem was they would receive inside, outside, laces, heel, right or left -- regardless of what the situation was. However in training, they had the time and space to get away with it, as rarely was the defender closing at full speed to punish the player for the incorrect technique.
And therein lies my current working theory about the limitation of American player development: we don't train hard enough. In training, our players tend to go about 80% -- we don't recognize the visual cues of the game at 100%, and we aren't punished for inappropriate technical responses. As sharp as our elite players are in a technical vacuum, in match conditions we break down into "soccer in a blender." I don't think that is because we are not technically capable, but rather we are not technically astute enough to apply what we have learned and are able to do.
In working with the Preston North End Women's team, as we get warm, I only have to say once, "okay, we should be at match speed now." With ANY American team, I spend half the training session trying to get them to go in harder. When teams here play match condition, a referee is picked. I can't ever remember needing a referee with an American team. However, here in training there will be at least one tackle that will send a player crashing to the deck, sometimes a clean hit, sometimes not.
So there is one task I have: discover a way to bring the intensity, ferocity, and will to win of the training sessions here back to my teams in the US. Watching the first team men this weekend, they weren't perturbed at the physical speed of play and stayed on point technically and tactically in a way that elite American players rarely do. I think that is an artifact of seeing that speed in training every day from a very young age.
