Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington plays with Brazilian style flair? Really?

I take it that’s sarcasm. God, I hope it is. A bunch of white Peles. Ha.

Arlington has a very high percentage of central/south american kids on most of its top teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington plays with Brazilian style flair? Really?

I take it that’s sarcasm. God, I hope it is. A bunch of white Peles. Ha.

Yes, it was sarcasm. Some people need to lighten up and not take everything so seriously.

Anonymous wrote:

What is the rigid style Alexandria pushes?


Alexandria pushes the rigid system of passing the ball to a teammate so the team keeps the ball. LOL


They used to play a system where the kids played in very set patterns. Yes it was definitely about passing - but the kids had little flexibility to create. It was very much about having a set of tightly defined rules about how you play out of the back, where kids move, exactly what their options are etc. There wasn't much taught about recognizing what the other team might be doing and changing tactics to adapt.

No idea if it's still this way or not.


It is still that way at U12 at least. My child's team is unable to adapt to handle teams that kick the ball as hard as they can across the field and run - not saying we should necessarily be able to beat them, but how about keeping our defenders further back, since we know this is coming?


Or you can pull them up to draw the offsides. My kids play at a possession club and they press high.

I addressed this in a previous comment. That's one option, sure, but not what the kids are doing (or they are doing it so ineffectively that they need to try another option).

U12 is young have patience. My younger son is at a different possession club and things have been getting better year after year as they learn and develop. They are finishing out U13 (been together since U10) and have really transformed. They are able to refocus and not get drawn into the kickball battle against teams that play that way. Some of the boys are starting to get more size too so the differences against large kickball teams and the advantage they used to have has diminished.

Anonymous wrote:Arlington plays with Brazilian style flair? Really?

I take it that’s sarcasm. God, I hope it is. A bunch of white Peles. Ha.

That’s two so far, how many more can’t see the post for what it is….

Can you make generalizations for clubs that have over 60 individual teams of different levels

Arlington plays with Brazilian style flair? Really?

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun: beautiful intricate tiki-taka style, they routinely put together 20+ pass sequence and tend to pick smaller technical kids;
Arlington: lots of Brazilian style flair with razzle dazzle moves, but unathletic and poorly organized defensively;
Alexandria, defensive power house with fast direct counter attacks and a requisite target man, they tend to avoid pattern play and short passes;
McLean: crosses and long distance shots all day, the coaches always have a great game plan and tend to prefer gritty players from rough neighborhoods.

The trouble is the OP might have actually wanted a real answer. Maybe not though...

Loudoun: beautiful intricate tiki-taka style, they routinely put together 20+ pass sequence and tend to pick smaller technical kids;
Arlington: lots of Brazilian style flair with razzle dazzle moves, but unathletic and poorly organized defensively;
Alexandria, defensive power house with fast direct counter attacks and a requisite target man, they tend to avoid pattern play and short passes;
McLean: crosses and long distance shots all day, the coaches always have a great game plan and tend to prefer gritty players from rough neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is Arlington Red '05 so low down in CCL standings? I keep hearing how ASA is so great, but they are ranked #10 out of 18 currently.

Are there extenuating circumstances there?

It's their 2nd team in the age group with a huge roster that doesn't change much. The focus is on their first team which is in ECNL.

Oh. I looked at standings in gotsoccer--other 2nd teams are ranked much higher. So it's the first team that pulls them into certain leagues? How much movement is there between their 2nd team and the ECNL team?

Addressing your second question - most years 3-4 kids from the second team practise with the first team and 1-2 move up. I'm not sure whether there will be any movement up this year though.

For the 05s? Is it because nobody left or because they had outside players accept spots?

PP here. I didn't mean there wouldn't be any kids moving up, I meant that I didn't know one way or the other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's team and coach dependent for all of these Clubs.

nobody has a distinctive style when you get to the older age groups. You can't when you recruit from your top teams all over the DMV and the kids coming in all played different styles

I don't agree with this. Some clubs do manage a distinctive style although I agree even then it can vary a little from coach to coach. And yes - integrating new kids and getting them to play the right way takes a little while - so you won;t always see the style in August or September. But by February/March they have usually adapted.

---many just physical and kick and run which then frustrates any players that were developed tactically not just technically up until U15/16, especially if you are a center mid. damn fools have no idea where to move and fail to use the middle a lot of the time.

Indeed. But there are also clubs which don't play this way.

I was that player that was never developed tactically enough. I could out sprint anyone and cross with precision. So, I played a wing and the play was always kick down the line and I’d cross to whoever got to the middle and we’d score. I could have walked on to my college team. But went to the track team instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is the rigid style Alexandria pushes?


Alexandria pushes the rigid system of passing the ball to a teammate so the team keeps the ball. LOL


They used to play a system where the kids played in very set patterns. Yes it was definitely about passing - but the kids had little flexibility to create. It was very much about having a set of tightly defined rules about how you play out of the back, where kids move, exactly what their options are etc. There wasn't much taught about recognizing what the other team might be doing and changing tactics to adapt.

No idea if it's still this way or not.

It is still that way at U12 at least. My child's team is unable to adapt to handle teams that kick the ball as hard as they can across the field and run - not saying we should necessarily be able to beat them, but how about keeping our defenders further back, since we know this is coming?

Or you can pull them up to draw the offsides. My kids play at a possession club and they press high.

Yeah going back would be dumb. Play high/attacking and pull the offsides trap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is Arlington Red '05 so low down in CCL standings? I keep hearing how ASA is so great, but they are ranked #10 out of 18 currently.

Are there extenuating circumstances there?

It's their 2nd team in the age group with a huge roster that doesn't change much. The focus is on their first team which is in ECNL.

Oh. I looked at standings in gotsoccer--other 2nd teams are ranked much higher. So it's the first team that pulls them into certain leagues? How much movement is there between their 2nd team and the ECNL team?

Addressing your second question - most years 3-4 kids from the second team practise with the first team and 1-2 move up. I'm not sure whether there will be any movement up this year though.

For the 05s? Is it because nobody left or because they had outside players accept spots?

Anonymous wrote:

What is the rigid style Alexandria pushes?


Alexandria pushes the rigid system of passing the ball to a teammate so the team keeps the ball. LOL


They used to play a system where the kids played in very set patterns. Yes it was definitely about passing - but the kids had little flexibility to create. It was very much about having a set of tightly defined rules about how you play out of the back, where kids move, exactly what their options are etc. There wasn't much taught about recognizing what the other team might be doing and changing tactics to adapt.

No idea if it's still this way or not.

It is still that way at U12 at least. My child's team is unable to adapt to handle teams that kick the ball as hard as they can across the field and run - not saying we should necessarily be able to beat them, but how about keeping our defenders further back, since we know this is coming?

Or you can pull them up to draw the offsides. My kids play at a possession club and they press high.