Soccer Fan Blog

As expected, Stephen Hart was named Canada’s new men’s head coach. It has been expected for a while and the CSA finally does something right. The players all seem to like him (Will Johnson reiterated that fact when he joined us a few weeks ago), the fans seem to like him and it would also appear the CSA seems to like him. So that’s one thing the CSA has officially gotten right. Can they get something else right and move in a forward direction? Can David Hoilett be tempted to lay for Canada? Will Canada play for friendlies? Will Canada make the World Cup in 2014? I guess we will wait and see. In the meantime, it looks like the CSA might actually be making moves in a positive, forward direction.

Here’s the official release:

Stephen Hart named Canada’s new men’s head coach

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Stephen Hart has been appointed head coach of Canada’s national team. Hart will be in charge of Canada’s qualification efforts as Canada works toward the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.

“Stephen Hart is the man in charge with the task to lead Canada to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil,” said Canadian Soccer Association president Dr. Dominic Maestracci. “He delivers an exciting brand of football that has proven to be successful against our CONCACAF opponents. He will have full support of our country as he builds a winning team that will qualify us for Brazil in four years time.”

“I am honoured to be chosen for this prestigious and very important position,” said national head coach Stephen Hart. “I am fully aware of the expectation and look forward to the challenge of building a team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers and beyond.”

Hart most recently served as Canada’s interim head coach for the 2009 season. He helped Canada compile a record of four wins, one draw and three losses, including a quarter-final finish at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In the group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Hart led Canada to a first-place finish in its group. In the quarter-final stage, Canada lost 0:1 to Honduras who scored on a penalty kick.

In 18 career games over two stints as Canada’s head coach (2006-07 and 2009), Hart has posted nine wins, two draws and seven losses. His 50% ratio of wins to games is the highest in Association history, ranking ahead of Barrie Clarke and Tony Taylor who each won six of 14 games for a 43% ratio. In those 18 games, Hart’s teams have averaged 1.33 goals scored per game and 0.94 goals allowed per game – both the second-best totals behind Clarke’s teams from the early 1980s (1.57 goals scored and 0.93 goals allowed per game).

Hart has been the Canadian Soccer Association’s Technical Director since March 2008. In this role, he oversaw the Association’s long-term player development program (Wellness to World Cup presented by BMO) and was in charge of directing and monitoring the national development teams, the coaching education program, the National Training Centres, and the sports medicine program. This vacancy will be filled in the coming months.

CONCACAF’s next round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™ is scheduled to begin in 2012, which will take place after the next CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2011. To date, Canada’s men’s national team has won two CONCACAF championships – the 1985 CONCACAF Men’s Championship (which qualified Canada for the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico™) and the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup (which qualified Canada for the FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001).

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Now that would be a tragedy. And yet, it seems quite likely.
The New York Times’ Rob Hughes writes about the tremendous pressure on both Messi and Ronaldo to win their next two games. Messi’s Argentina play Brazil (as Shourin has so carefully noted here) followed by Paraguay. Ronaldo’s Portugal have to play Denmark followed immediately by Hungary.
The prospects of both teams missing the World Cup seem rather high. And in my book, it’s a coaching issue on both fronts.
After Portugal lost Scolari things went steadily downhill.
And Argentina? What a tragedy it will be if Argentina don’t make it. And not for lack of talent.
Will Maradona end his coaching career in disgrace? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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The Patriot League basketball game is about a month and a half away, and no, Allen Iverson, we’re not even talking about practice (which commences on Oct. 16). But there was some basketball news in the past two days that certainly has an impact on the upcoming year.

The Patriot League announced its television package with CBS College Sports Network. There are more games than previous years (10 men’s/two women’s) with a couple of nice features. For one, a men’s quarterfinal (March 3) and semifinal (March 7) will be shown on the network, as well as the women’s championship game (March 13). The final two weekends of the regular season will feature a “Flex Game”, where any of the Patriot League contests can be shown with the televised game selected later in the season. Three of the four Patriot League games can be flexed on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m., and all four can be selected on the final Saturday on Feb. 27 at 4 p.m. All of the possible games have already been moved to those dates and times.

Another piece of news came on Thursday, as Army announced a men’s basketball coaching change. Jim Crews departs after seven years at West Point. A national search will begin immediately, and the job has to be enticing as the Black Knights appear ready to contend for a high spot in the Patriot League standings with Cleveland Richard, Marcus Nelson and Josh Miller among the returnees.

That may be it for a little while for hoops news, but the Patriot League media guide is almost to the printer, the first day of practice is less than a month away and Patriot League Media Day is coming quick on Oct. 29 at ESPN Zone in Baltimore!

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Injury prevention is a very important component in youth soccer coaching. The coaches must understand the famous saying as it goes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The coaches have to use every possible way to prevent injuries. For this, they must take certain steps. For example, they must have their focus on proper skill development. What is more, before you start the training session, you must inspect the entire field in order to make sure that there are no holes, sprinkler heads, etc.

It is very important for the coaches to have a well thought out plan regarding how they have to deal with the injuries. There must also be a written response plan for emergencies that include the following points.

? Make sure that a first aid kit is available.

? Do not forget to collect the medical consent forms from all the players.

? Have emergency contacts all the times.

? You must have access to phone.

? It is always a great idea to have an assistant that is knowledgeable regarding the first aid.

Well, you cannot prevent injuries completely from occurring. It is not in your hand, but there are certain steps that you can take in order to reduce the injury risks. Incorporate the following things with the training session and it will possibly keep your players away from injuries.

? Make sure that you incorporate a conditioning program with every training session. The conditioning program should focus on building muscle strength for the young players.

? Stretching exercises are also very important. Therefore, you must have your players do some stretching exercises on a daily basis.

? You must instruct your players that all of them have to wear properly fitting shoes.

? Suggest a well-balanced diet to the young players, which could nourish their muscles.

? Whether it is a practice session or a game, you must have your players go for a warm up session.

Always remember that your task as an expert coach also includes recognizing an injury when it happens, stabilizing the same as best you can, and summoning medical assistance if required. When it comes to youth soccer coaching, it is very crucial for the coaches be well prepared beforehand for any emergencies as and when it appears.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of youth soccer coaching. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.

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Young soccer coaching is a challenging task and the coach must plan out the training session based on the age group of the players. For example, if he has to coach players under the age of seven, he must know the various things to do at an under 7 soccer training.

The coach will have to use special techniques to train them to shoot and score more goals. Players under the age of seven look for fun in the training session, so you must plan out accordingly.

Let them practice various drills in which they could score more goals. The more they will score goals, the more they will enjoy the training session.

Kids love chasing the ball and there are their kind of joy just in chasing the ball and get a chance to touch and kick the same. They take it as a challenge that they have to chase and touch the ball.

The U7 coaches should design the training session to run shorter period of time. the longer training sessions for the kids at this age will bring no good results. Keep it short – Thirty to forty minutes.

Another benefit of the shorter training session is that this way, the excitement of the soccer experience then remains fresh in the minds of the kids. They would like to come back.

You can expect the players less than seven years of age to shoot the ball. The maximum they can do is kicking. At this stage, the best way to keep their interest in soccer is to let them practice drills and games that involve scoring the goals.

There is no greater pleasure for a kid in soccer than scoring a goal. Let them focus on scoring the goals, and well, that is what the objective of the game is.

The goals and objectives of a soccer training session for players under the age of seven must be specific to their age. It is very important for the coach to develop a list of goals and objectives for each age group.

Overall, there is a wide range of specific things to do at an under 7-soccer training, and if the coach is looking for productive results from their training sessions, they must keep in mind the above things.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of things to do at an under 7 soccer training. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.

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