USA National Mens Soccer Team News

The United States Soccer Coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, has added two new players to the roster. Both are from the Seattle Sounders, midfielder Brad Evans and defender Jeff Parke. They are traveling with the roster of 20 players to play in the Open Cup championship in order to prepare for the friendlies against Venezuela and Panama. Omar Gonzalez and George John have withdrawn from the roster with permission prior to the start of the camp in order to deal with club-related matters.

On January 20, fans are invited to come and watch a training session with the USA Men's team at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The session is free and open to the public to come and enjoy watching the team practice. The next day the United States team will play in a friendly against Venezuela.

USA Womens National Soccer Team News

USA forward, Abby Wambach, was named the Associated Press 2011 Female Athlete of the Year. During the 2011 FIFA World Cup Wambach showed a great deal of leadership along with scoring many goals to help the USA team make it as far as they did in the tournament in Germany this past summer. Wambach was the first soccer player, man or woman, to receive this award which began in 1931. She scored four goals total during the 2011 World Cup games, in every game they played in she contributed one goal at least. She has scored 13 career goals in World Cup games this puts her third on the all-time World Cup scoring list. Wambach has scored a total of 125 career goals for the seasons she has been playing on the US National Team. Abby is all about being one as a team and getting through obstacles together while being role models for younger soccer players.

"We, as a team, did something that no team since Mia Hamm was able to do," Wambach told the AP. "Even the team that won the (Olympic) gold medal in 2008 wasn't able to inspire and get people excited about women's soccer. It goes to show you the impact drama can bring." -Abby Wambach

U.S.A. National Soccer Team News

The head coach of the United States Women's Professional team, Pia Sundhage, is calling on all the 29 players to go to a camp, being held on January 7 to the 15, which there she will chose who gets to have the honor of representing the USA team for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Only 20 out of the 29 players that are going to this camp will be chosen to play in this tournament in Vancouver, Canada on January 19-29.

Voting is underway for the 2011 Best of USA Soccer and Athlete of the Year awards. These awards can go to any male, female, young male, or young female soccer player for the United States team. Voting will continue until January 13. These awards date back to 1984 for the men and 1985 for the women. The Young Female and Young Male award was added in 1998. The United States Women's National team is winning overall in the ballots so far because of their great performance during the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. Some of the finalists include:

US Soccer Athlete of the Year Men's Finalists-
1. Jozy Altidore, Forward
2. Carlos Bocanegra, Defender
3. Steve Cherundolo, Defender
4. Clint Dempsey, Midfielder
5. Tim Howard, Goalkeeper

US Soccer Athlete of the Year Women's Finalists-
1. Lauren Cheney, Midfielder
2. Ali Krieger, Defender
3. Christine Rampone, Defender
4. Hope Solo, Goalkeeper
5. Abby Wambach, Forward

US Soccer Young Athlete of the Year Men's Finalists-
1. Kellyn Acosta, Defender
2. Juan Agudelo, Forward
3. Perry Kitchen, Defender
4. Marc Pelosi, Midfielder
5.Brek Shea, Midfielder

US Soccer Young Athlete of the Year Women's Finalists-
1. Morgan Andrews, Defender
2. Morgan Brian, Midfielder
3. Kelly Cobb, Forward
4. Melissa Henderson, Forward
5. Sydney Leroux, Forward

You can vote for your players and favorite soccer moments on the US Soccer offical facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/officialussoccer?sk=app_153503621416056

Throwins, Corners, Goal Kicks, and Fouls

No matter who kicked it out or whoever it rebounded off of, always assume that it is your possession. Grab the ball quickly and continue the game if the ref blows his whistle and calls you out for not having possession, just give the ball to the other team. The worst that can happen is that the ball is given to the other team. Sometimes the ref won't call it or they don't know who kicked it out so they just go with whoever grabs the ball first. No matter where you are on the field; throwins, corners, goal kicks, or free kicks, take them quickly because the team you are playing against has their back turned to you or they are setting up all their players. Either way they are distracted and the faster you are the better the chance you will have to possibly score off of this opportunity.
Throwins: Your players should check away and check too, they need to create space and try to get the player marking them distracted. If you lose the player, you will have a bunch of space to control the ball and dribble.
Corners: Have a player at the near, far, and center of the goal. Also have a player at the penalty kick and top of the box. No matter where your corner kicker kicks it there should always be a player there to take that opportunity to score.
Goal Kicks: Every player on the field should be in front of the players of the opposite team. When your keeper kicks the ball you should be the first one to it. Make sure that you have your other players open so then you can dribble to the other side of the field where there is smaller chance of the other team scoring against you.
Free Kicks/ Fouls: When you get that chance to take the kick from anywhere on the field have your whole team by the opposing team's goal. Kick the ball above everyone so they can run onto it and score. Many goals are scored from this opportunity. If you're close enough to shoot yourself, go for it. It is worth the chance.

State Cup Competition

In every state there is a tournament that is just for the soccer teams in that state. This tournament is called "State Cup". I guess it really isn't a tournament it is more of a you lose your done. There is one game a weekend and if you win that game you continue on to the next weekend. All teams can participate in this competition to see who the best team in the state is and then can continue onto the regional tournament that is competed by teams in that region that won their state cup tournament.
My team did so well during the season that we got a wild card to sit out the first round and automatically continue onto the second round. The next weekend we played a team that we have formally played in the season. Previously we beat them 9-0, we were not going to expect that same score this time. Teams show their true talent in State Cup because they want to have the privilege of calling their team "Number One". The team we played the first game started very aggressively, they ended up scoring two goals by half, we had zero. Our coach said we needed to step up our game, we all knew we could beat this team. In the second half we scored six goals, ending the game with the score six to two. That was a close one and we all knew it. We will never underestimate a team that we have previously beat every again. The next weekend would be the final game and determine who the number one team is.
The next weekend was against one of our biggest competitors. We had to play them last year in the final game, we won the year before but we were not expecting that this year. This team was very strong and very talented, they are our best competition. By half we were tied one to one. We were not about to let this team take away our title! Ten minutes before the game ended one of my teammates scored and we were up two to one. The last few minutes were all about being defensive minded, we could not let them score and go into overtime. The whistle was blow and we were excited to be called number one once again. Two years in a row we are invited to represent Iowa at the regional tournament in March. We are very excited and can't wait to see what the regional tournament brings and next year, state cup competition.

Route 1 vs. Possession Soccer

Most coaches prefer playing possession soccer. The teams that play route one tend to have no skill and the only thing they are good at is kicking the ball from one side of the field to the other.
Possession soccer is where you pass the ball constantly to get around players and down the field to the opposite goal. The teams that are very good at this contains players that are very talented in passing to a players feet and knowing where to be at the right times. The players know how to pass with only one or two touches and are very successful in doing this and with great speed. You see this type of soccer being played at all levels and I believe it is the right way to play soccer compared to what I am about to explain, that being route one soccer.
The teams that play this type of soccer have girls that can kick the ball really far, from the defenders to the forwards. These players have no other skills besides that. Once the forwards of the opposite team make a mistake by the defenders, the defense blasts the ball over the top of the midfield to the forwards that are just standing and waiting for the ball to be played to them.
If you want your team to be successful you should teach them from the start to play possession soccer. They will turn into good players and your team will be one of the better teams you play against tactically and mentally strong.

Year-round Training

During the fall club season you are going to practices three nights a week at odd hours that are in the middle of your night. The games and tournaments you attend are every weekend for three months. Most of these weekends you spend five or six hours away, leaving Friday night right after school then getting home late Sunday nights. During winter season you still have to go to practices but that is only two nights a week. Along with practices, the team is working out after school, whether that is weight lifting or running. We do this to stay in shape for the high school season and the end of club season that comes up in the spring. The spring season is spent having practices every night after school for high school soccer. Every week we have two games or sometimes the games are on the weekends instead of during the week. Club soccer has come to a halt and will start back up after high school season is over. High school soccer can be extended if you make it to state, this will take a week out of your summer break and practices will continue. Once that is done, club starts having practices three times a week again, to get ready for the last couple tournaments of the year. Once those tournaments are over we get a two to three week break to relax and try to stay in shape on our own. After that break is over tryouts for club occur and the cycle starts all over again. It is a never ending cycle until you quit.

Commitment

With any sport you are committed to go to every practice and every game. If you miss those there will be consequences. Some sports are during certain seasons and some are over the whole year. My soccer season takes up my whole year; club soccer tryouts in the summer lead into the fall season, during the winter is when we have practices to stay in shape and to keep out soccer skills up, then in the spring is when our season starts up again with club and high school. We get a slight two week break then we start up again with tryouts, then the whole cycle starts over again for as long as you want to do it. With the tournaments and games that come along in the season they are usually out of town close to where you live or they are completely out of the state you live in. With the tournaments being away from home there is the cost for hotel rooms, food, and tournament fees. This can be really expensive so your parents have to be committed to pay all of these fees. If you have younger siblings, they cannot stay at home by themselves so they will have to come along and that is more expense to you parents. To get to these places you have to use a lot of gas and that is even more expenses. Over all everyone in the family has to be committed to the season even if they are not the player. Life at this point revolves around you and your sport's schedule. If you feel bad, it is okay, if your parents weren't alright with being this committed to your sport then you wouldn't be playing it.

Family Support

I believe that no one should go through a sport or a school event without having that support from their family. It gives you confidence to try your best to succeed in anything you do. I know that I wouldn't be able to push myself in soccer if I didn't have my family there to help me. They have told me to keep my head up no matter how bad I play in a game. If I get yelled at by a player or a coach that I just take it as constructive criticism and continue on with my life. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends come to watch me in my games. Having them there to watch me makes me want to play my best. This also pushes me to show off in a way, to show that I am a good player. During the off season in soccer my parents help me work out to stay strong. My brother will go one runs with me so then my stamina can stay up. With any sport every player should have those parents that will sit back and watch the game. Occasionally they will yell and cheer when you do something spectacular. Then after tell you how you did and what they think you need to work on. My supporters put a smile on my face because I know that they are there to watch me. It helps me be more laid back and not worry about making mistakes in front of them because I know that deep down they will still come watch me no matter how bad the game turns out. Everyone should be able to experience that feeling of support.

Constantly Yelled At

During games and practices you notice that your coach yells at you a lot. Most times it is only you that he is yelling at, he makes it seem like you're doing everything wrong and that if you are so bad why should you be playing soccer. You get sad and want to cry but you know you can't because tears show a sign of weakness. The rest of the game or practice you look mad and don't talk to anyone. This can feel like the worst time in your life and that the spotlight is on you for everyone to look at and just stand there to watch. No one can speak up for you because they would get yelled at too. My coach does this to me all the time, I am a center defender so I am the eyes and ears of the field. i am in charge of the defensive line and the people in front of me. My coach yells at me because I am a leader, he needs me to shout out commands and tell what people to do on the field. He wants me to take the blame for other people's mistakes, I should take the blame because it is my job to tell them what to do. I always thought that he was out to get me and to make me feel small. In the end he was helping me, he sees the potential in me as a player and a leader. He knows I can succeed but all I needed was that push and guidance from him. It really wasn't in the way I wanted to get it but it makes me a stronger person, it makes me less emotional and that can help in the future. I really should tell him thanks for helping me all these years, he knows I am thankful by the way I take what he says and apply it in practices and games. If you do what your coach says it will help you not get yelled at as much. They are just trying to help you be a better person and a player.

Level of Play

Over the years I have noticed that the style of play your team usually does changes depending on the level of play your competitors are playing. When you are playing a horrible team you usually get more laid back and tend to make more mistakes. It is the opposite for the better teams, when you play then you tend to be more alert and not make as many mistakes or any at all. The best teams are the ones who can play the same way no matter who they play. Those teams have to top talent and work ethic to improve and stay fit. It is very embarrassing to be a very good team and when you play a team with less talent you stoop to their level. Your team should be out there proving to everyone that it doesn't matter who you play that you are a consistent team that will play their best every time. It can be hard to stay at the same level every game because you will come across those teams that are amazing and make you look like a horrible team. There are those days that you aren't having a good game and it is against a lower team. Not everyone can have a good game every game but it is all in your head, if you think your having a bad game you will have a bad game. If you think you're having a good game, you will be confident and continue playing good. If you're not playing at your potential level don't get down on yourself you're probably just off  your game, but in the next half change your mind set and the way you are playing with change in a positive way.

Soccer Season Routine

If you are on a club soccer team that requires year-round commitment your routine can be repetitive and very boring. You spend your whole day at school extremely tired and not focus from the long night you had before. This makes your day seem long and you are unable to learn what you need to learn. After school is over you start your homework, you only have a certain amount of time to work on it because in the middle of your evening you are going to have to leave for practice. In this small amount of time you also have to have something to eat and get everything ready for practice. In order to make it to practice on time you have to leave 30 minutes early, this also cuts into your time to get everything done. When practice is over you are on your way home, it feels like it takes longer to get home then to get to practice. It is very late and you still have homework to get done. When I get home from practice I am usually hungry again so I take the time to make myself something to eat along with getting my homework done. Before you go to bed you must take a shower so then you can sleep in just a little bit. When your shower is over you realize you will only get 5-6 hours of sleep and the next day you have to do it all over again. This all seems very boring and a lot to handle, but after a while you and your body get used to it and if you enjoy what you're doing it is worth it. This routine only lasts fall season after that it gets smaller and smaller since the off season is winter. As spring gets closer you will get back into the fall routine, but in the end it is making you a better person and player.

Indoor Games

Indoor games are very fast paced and are taken place on a very small field. There is a total of 12 players on the field, six from each team. As you can tell this is a small sided game compared to the 22 players that are on the field for the usual 11 vs. 11 games. Indoor games are played on very rough turf and have walls surrounding the whole field. The field is shaped into an oval, not like the usual rectangle soccer fields. During indoor games you can use the wall to get pass a player but there is a height limit in this type of environment. The ball cannot hit the ceiling or the netting surrounding the sides and top of the indoor soccer stadium. If you want to sub a player out you can do it at any time, even while the ball is in play.
Two weekends ago the high school team I am on played a club team called EIU. We ended up losing 3-0 but it was a very intense and well-played game. We could have easily scored but when your playing with new players it is hard to get the chemistry going on the first game. This last weekend we played the other half of our high school team. We won 5-3, two of those goals I scored. It was a very fun and laid back game, we don't go all out on our own players because we don't want to hurt them for the upcoming season.
You can either love or hate indoor soccer, personally I like it but not as much as outdoor. Outdoor is where the real talent is shown.

Team Meetings

Team meetings can be good or bad, it depends on the situation and what will be discussed at this meeting. Coaches will have team meetings with the parents of the players to talk about the season, the players, and anything concerning their role as a coach. Coaches will have team meetings with the players to talk about upcoming tournaments, the players, the atmosphere of the team, and anything that is getting in the way of the team being successful. Players will have team meetings with each other in order to talk about their passion (if there is passion with that player for the sport), things they need to work on off the field and on the field, coaches, parents, and anything that is being dramatic with certain players. The good meetings are the ones that are about how the team is doing and congratulating and recognizing certain players for their accomplishments. The bad meetings are the ones that end up in yelling, people being mad at each other for what one said, and talking about the drama that is hurting the team and keeping them from succeeding or improving. Also there are those meetings that you have between parents and players discussing playing time, other players, the coach, and games or tournaments coming up in the season. There are also those meetings that are supposed to happen but they never do because some people are scared about what will be said and how people will take it. My team was supposed to have a team meeting to discuss where some player stand on the commitment to the team and their attitudes towards games and tournaments we go to. As you can see, we never had it and no one will ever think about bringing it up so it is forgotten and not seen to come back into the minds of the team. Such a shame that it didn't happen, because it needed to. It is all on you whether you take a meeting in a positive way or a negative way.

"Sorry Ladies"

Those are the two words throughout my soccer career I was told not to say. You should never say sorry for other people's mistakes or mistakes of your own. You need to realize you did something wrong then correct it and improve. You could have been the nicest person in the world but if my coach heard you say sorry, he would stop the game and put you on the spot. He would ask what are you sorry for. She made the mistake not you! You rarely hear us say sorry now-a-days. Even at games, if we hurt someone on the other team we just turn around and walk away. We don't apologize because we haven't said sorry for so long that it just doesn't come to mind anymore. If someone on the other team hurts us, they say sorry but we just look up and give them the "death glare", get up, shake it off, and keep playing. When our team would motivate each other some would say "Let's go ladies!" Our coach was furious that we used the word "ladies". You could not call any of your teammates ladies, girls, or women. We had to say "Let's go team!" or "Let's go guys!" So pretty much we referred to our girl teammates as men. We have gotten used to saying these new motivational sayings, other teams still use the words ladies and girls. I think that not saying those words makes you look more intimidating. Saying girls and ladies is very girly and weak and no one will take you seriously. Every team changes so then their coach will respect them more, that's what my team did.

Dehydration

It doesn't matter if you are not thirsty or not during your game, you need to force yourself to drink because if you don't you have a high chance of getting dehydrated even if it is not hot out. My excuse to not drinking water during a game is because I don't want to get water log, water log is when you can feel the water bouncing around in your stomach and then it creates aches and pains in the lower stomach. This doesn't feel good, but you have to drink water so then worse things don't happen. One game it was really hot out and I didn't drink any water that day to keep myself hydrated. I went up to head the ball and everything went well but after i headed it I got a huge headache. Then I noticed that I was really light headed and was dizzy, but I ignored these signs and just kept playing. When the game was over I collapsed by the benches and just laid there for a couple minutes. One of my teammates was kind enough to give me a piggy-back ride to the parents because I was too dizzy and light headed to walk. On the car ride home I drank so much water that I started feeling better after a few hours. I didn't have a horrible dehydration incident but I now drink water every opportunity I can because I don't want to go through that again. Water log is way better then dehydration. The point is, that every player of some sport should stay hydrated and drink lots of fluids. If you don't you are seriously hurting yourself.

Conditioning

Soccer isn't just about knowing how to dribble, pull moves, and shoot. You have to be in shape, being able to run for 90 minutes straight. Yes, there is some resting time when you don't have the ball or it is not one your side of the field, but what is it is by you the whole game. You have to be able to not run out of breath or be tired. Physical fitness is very important in soccer, if you have a coach that finds this important, don't be surprised to run for a segment of your practice each time. If your team is really out of shape don't be surprised to run  the whole practice for a couple practices in a row. Every coach wants their players to be able to stand 90 minutes of running even if they don't play that long or at all in games. If something were to happen to one of the players and you are put in as their sub you have to complete their role for them and be able to complete it well. My coach makes us run to get our heart rates up before games but at practices we spend 30 to 40 minutes running with poles and cones. We do sharp turning runs and any situation that can occur in a game. Long sprints, short sprints, we do it all and it is worth it in the end because we are very fit and able to play the whole game if we have to. Conditioning can also help you from getting injured, the coaches teach you proper techniques so then we can have a less chance of tearing an ACL or MCL. Fewer injuries are always a good thing, who knew running was something that benefits you in the long run.

Cliques

Every team has this problem, the coach can say that cliques aren't present with the players but they are there. You have to popular players, the weird players, the players who all go to the same school, the player who doesn't go to school with anyone on the team, the "best" players, the "worst" players, the nice players, the mean players, and the new players. People can be really mean when they start making certain cliques and exclude people from them because they are "different". When I first joined the team, the one I am still with today, the girls didn't talk to me. One out of the popular group talked to me, she was very nice but she wasn't the "leader" of the group so even if she talked to me I wouldn't be in their clique. I stayed with the nice, quiet players. They accepted me for who I was and I didn't need to change for them. It kept me out of the drama too that was going on with other cliques. As the years passed and we all got better acquainted with each other, the groups started opening up and talking to everyone. I am very close to the girls that wouldn't give me that time of day when I first started. I don't hold grudges so even though they didn't talk to me I wasn't going to do that to them. Even though I was making new friends I didn't ditch the players who were with me from the start, unfortunately none of them are on the team anymore. Now that everyone is talking it is nice to make new friends and hang out outside of soccer. Everyone has a group that they prefer to hang and talk to but you should really be on talking terms with everyone even if you don't think you will be on that hangout stage anytime soon.

1 vs. 1

1 vs. 1 is when it is you and another player competing to score. One is defending the goal, the other is trying to score. The person trying to score is pulling every move they can so the defender will mess up and the attacker scores. Some people like this situation, others do not. I like 1 vs. 1 in games but in practice I hate it! In practices you know everyone there and they all know your favorite moves you like to do, so it is hard to score. It is more slowly paced and all planned out while you are waiting in line, 1 vs. 1 needs to be spontaneous and the moves just come with the situation. At practice if you get beat you don't hear the end of it from the player who won or the coach who is praising the person who scored or blocked your shot. It also gets you down if you lose, you confidence decreases and you don't play good anymore and just don't care. If you are the person who won you get really confident and sometimes cocky and then you are at risk for hurting yourself at practice because of silly mistakes. Games are better in my opinion for 1 vs. 1 situations. You don't know the person who you are up against and they don't know you so that means that neither of you know what move the person will pull to try to beat you. The moves come with the situation, they aren't planned out like they are in practice. You just do what comes to you and if it doesn't work the other players on the field on your team have you back to defend that person next. If you mess up and lose it is no big deal you just get right back in there and keep playing. If you win, good for you! Don't let it get to you now, you still have the rest of the game to play and you have to go up against that person again and they will be looking for victory.

Grass vs. Turf

Everyone has their own preference of what surface they like to play soccer on the most. You have grass and you have turf. I honestly like both, it depends on the game and what pace it is going at.
Long grass can be a pain to play on, it slows the ball down and it slow down your running. If you are on a breakaway to the goal you don't want to be slow because of the grass length, you want to be fast so you can fake out the goalie and score. When the grass is wet, it adds pace to the ball but it doesn't rain everyday where I live, so long grass isn't my preference.
Soft, short turf is the best turf to play on. It makes the ball move really fast, so fast that sometimes you can't catch up to the ball! Besides that, it doesn't cut your leg when you slide or fall. The only bad thing about this kind of turf is that it has little centimeter balls of tar everywhere. When you do fall you get tar in your shorts and in your sliders. This can be uncomfortable but it is better than getting cut up.
Hard, scratchy turf is the worst ground you could ever play on. Just like soft turf the ball moves fast, this can be nice when you're on a brakeaway to the goal but if you need to save the ball from going out of bounds you aren't fast enough to stop it. When you slide or fall on this type of ground your legs and arms get all scratched up and will produce scabs. Along with that you also get the stinging and pain from the scraping of skin and scratchy needle-like grass.
Short grass is my preference, it makes the ball move fast but not as fast as turf. This is nice because you can keep up with the ball and it doesn't slow you down. Sliding on this grass is comfy, it doesn't hurt you and sometimes you slide further then you wanted too and it makes it fun!
No matter where you play, you prefer one ground over another. You always chose the place where you look the best playing at.