I have boy/girl twins. Really tough to find a goalie for the girls and all the boys fought over it. A little older now, and all the girls want to play mid-field and forward. What they don’t know is that the worst players are usually stuck at forward, bc at least they won’t lose us a goal there. Our team often ties or loses 1-0, 2-0. We need better forwards, but we are a mid-tier team, and I think a lot of the high scoring stars are on the higher teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My girls’ teams have plenty of defenders, but we are lacking good strikers. Many ECNL/GA girls’ teams have very strong defenders. Left-footed players are not that uncommon anymore, our teams alone have 4 lefties in almost every position, except the No. 9. Some of the girls can also use both feet.

The population of left-dominant people in the world has not changed LOL.

The best player on my kid's MLS next team is a leftie who worked on his right and now is two footed. By far the best player on the team.

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of kids who want to play forward. However, forwards who can create and bury scoring chances and lead a team are very rare. I see lots of teams using a "false 9" that is really just hiding a player who can't play anywhere else.

False

We all agree its GK.

I guess the question is what's the second most unpopular job?

Anonymous wrote:GK, no question. 99% of kids do not have the balls nor the EQ to play keeper.

This! At low levels, a desperate coach will take anyone who isn’t afraid to stand in the goal. But once things get competitive, you can’t just decide to play keeper to up your odds. DS didn’t start out with any intention of being keeper when young but that’s where he landed because he had the unique skill set. He ended up really enjoying it. You have to be a bit crazy, very fearless and know how to read the field. You need good form to reduce injury. You need to know how to protect yourself from nasty collisions. It’s a dangerous position to play and I would not have encouraged it if I realized when DS first started. And contrary to popular belief, you need to be good with your feet.

Anonymous wrote:My girls’ teams have plenty of defenders, but we are lacking good strikers. Many ECNL/GA girls’ teams have very strong defenders. Left-footed players are not that uncommon anymore, our teams alone have 4 lefties in almost every position, except the No. 9. Some of the girls can also use both feet.

The population of left-dominant people in the world has not changed LOL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People must not watch professional and international soccer to realize Defenders are on every team

Folks are freaking out about their kid playing defense like it's not an important part of the game

Parents are weird and whatever, but the kids themselves often don't want to play defense. In a nutshell, you are always responsible and can't screw up or it's a goal. Offensive players make mistakes, miss shots, give the ball away and no one says boo. CB gets out of position and an attacker slips behind and scores and they are blamed.

No one wanna play defense because they don’t want the responsibility and pressure and some kids can’t handle it.

When the winger doesn't come back to help, they look worse than the wing-back

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People must not watch professional and international soccer to realize Defenders are on every team

Folks are freaking out about their kid playing defense like it's not an important part of the game

Parents are weird and whatever, but the kids themselves often don't want to play defense. In a nutshell, you are always responsible and can't screw up or it's a goal. Offensive players make mistakes, miss shots, give the ball away and no one says boo. CB gets out of position and an attacker slips behind and scores and they are blamed.

This must be about recreational levels or low level travel not being evaluated by knowledgeable coaches

Ignorant evaluators won't see all the poor technical skills and decisions made by attacking players

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People must not watch professional and international soccer to realize Defenders are on every team

Folks are freaking out about their kid playing defense like it's not an important part of the game

Parents are weird and whatever, but the kids themselves often don't want to play defense. In a nutshell, you are always responsible and can't screw up or it's a goal. Offensive players make mistakes, miss shots, give the ball away and no one says boo. CB gets out of position and an attacker slips behind and scores and they are blamed.

No one wanna play defense because they don’t want the responsibility and pressure and some kids can’t handle it.

Anonymous wrote:People must not watch professional and international soccer to realize Defenders are on every team

Folks are freaking out about their kid playing defense like it's not an important part of the game

Parents are weird and whatever, but the kids themselves often don't want to play defense. In a nutshell, you are always responsible and can't screw up or it's a goal. Offensive players make mistakes, miss shots, give the ball away and no one says boo. CB gets out of position and an attacker slips behind and scores and they are blamed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:goalie....in a nutshell let him play and the decent coach will figure out where to best play your child.

Forwards - speedsters, good 1v1
Midfielders - techies, high IQ
Backs - Size matters, aggressive play, communicators

Goalies - could not do any of the above.

Our GK in MLSNext played all of those positions in games over the years. He scored multiple goals.

I call BS, your GK isn't the fastest or best techie on his team. Keepers are important, but stop being delusional.

I maintain that GKs are asked to specialize in goal only too soon. They should play the field to build ball skills and game IQ. How else are GKs going to build passing and distribution skills under pressure? Also, I firmly belive that every player should play goal at some point in their soccer journey so they realize it's not as easy as they think.

FWIW, my DS split time in goal from U9 thru U15, including some MLS seasons, before his size caught up with him and he switched to the field.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:goalie....in a nutshell let him play and the decent coach will figure out where to best play your child.

Forwards - speedsters, good 1v1
Midfielders - techies, high IQ
Backs - Size matters, aggressive play, communicators

Goalies - could not do any of the above.

Our GK in MLSNext played all of those positions in games over the years. He scored multiple goals.

I call BS, your GK isn't the fastest or best techie on his team. Keepers are important, but stop being delusional.

People must not watch professional and international soccer to realize Defenders are on every team

Folks are freaking out about their kid playing defense like it's not an important part of the game

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree maybe 15% of people are left-footed. So you naturally only get 2 or maybe 3 left footed players per team. Midfield and forward are far more popular positions for the strongest players, so there isn't much competition for the left-back position.

My DS is pretty close to equally good with his left and right feet, and usually plays left or right back or left or right wing depending on the team. Not quite as valuable as being a true lefty, but still something a player should demonstrate or mention to the coaches at tryouts.

Yeah, my daughter is similar, she's always been almost equally strong with both feet since she was tiny.

Luckily mine was accepting of basic advice since she was tiny. If you can only use one foot that's a weakness and you can score more with both feet than you can one.

There are lots of kids who want to play forward. However, forwards who can create and bury scoring chances and lead a team are very rare. I see lots of teams using a "false 9" that is really just hiding a player who can't play anywhere else.