FIFA U20 World Cup Commemorative Issue
BACK ISSUE
Sept/Oct 2007
Entrance to Soccer Paradise
Alfons Rubbens
U-20 Now A World Attraction
Bob Koep
A Tournament To Remember
Bob Koep and Amanda Barrie
Futbol Factory
Paul S. Hendren
Sweat and Sour Chile
Paul S. Hendren
FIFA U-20 World Cup Tecnical Seminar Toronto
Matt Greenwood
Stephen Hart – PHOTO Wolf Ruck
Just under a hundred coaches from Ontario recently seized the opportunity to hear from FIFA’s Technical Committee at a presentation made at The Crescent School in Toronto. The event was hosted by Dick Howard who, as Chairman of the Technical Committee felt this was too good an opportunity for local coaches to miss. The Technical Committee presented at length on many aspects of the U20 tournament followed in the late afternoon by presentations from Stephen Hart (National U15 Coach), Jim Cannovan (Director Technical, OSA), Bryan Rosenfeld (Head of Player Development, OSA) and Dave Benning of The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA).
The FIFA Technical Committee attends every major tournament in an effort to review the current trends within the game. Topics covered at the seminar included:
- FIFA Overview – Jurg Nepfer
- Team Building – Mohases Morteza
- Tactical Play – Horst Kreite
- Star Players – Rodrigo Kenton
- Youth Development – Jim Selby
Jurg Nepfer gave a detailed overview of the FIFA organization and its different departments. Of interest was the fact that FIFA makes the majority of its money from the World Cup and between 1999 and 2006 invested approximately $874 million in its development program.
The development includes work in refereeing, coaching, administration, women and youth football as well as its technical centre’s.
Mohasses Morteza, FIFA Coaching Instructor and representative from the Asian Football Confederation gave a fascinating insight into the role of team building. Morteza spoke of the type of selection process, style of play and key elements that make a team. He stated ‘team building and coaching are two volumes of the same book’ and gave the delegates a excellent examples of U20 teams in training and the style of camaraderie that is built up with particular reference to the Argentinean and Austrian teams.
Horste Kreite, FIFA Coaching Instructor, currently based with the Chinese FA gave a broad tactical overview of the types of play seen in this years U20 competition. From the flare and technical excellence of Chile and Argentina to the discipline and counter attacking style of the Czech Republic and Austria. Kreite felt that ‘the players make a system but the system doesn’t make a player’ and that this was evident in the free role that some players were given.
A number of the Technical Committee had observed training sessions and even pre-tournament games that the competing teams had played. Kreite noted that Argentina were a good example of a team that took game examples and used them in training. Quoting from Arsene Wenger, Kreite stated ‘the game has to be at the heart of every training session’.
The morning session concluded with Rodrigo Kenton, FIFA Technical Committee Member and National Coach in Guatemala highlighting the technical and tactical abilities of the tournaments Star Players. Kentons presentation highlighted the stars of previous tournaments and how they have progressed but came back to the ongoing discussion of nature versus nurture.
Delegates got the chance to speak one-on-one with the FIFA panel during lunch before the seminar resumed with a detailed presentation from Jim Selby, Technical Director with the Oceania Football Federation who is based in New Zealand. Selby’s presentation focused on youth development and in particular how clubs identify and challenge their elite youth players. He challenged the coaches to raise their game so that they can be in a position to really support those players and in turn support the development of provincial and national squads.
The seminar then specifically addressed the activity going on within Canada right now.
Jim Cannovan began by identifying that the implications for Canadian Soccer affected everyone. To begin, soccer in Canada suffers from a lack of communication that runs from the CSA down to the local clubs. Cannovan felt this needed to change sooner rather than later because Canada has a grassroots club structure better than any other in the world. Every kid has the chance to play on a team, to have a ball, to get a kit but where we struggle is in our efforts to give every child a qualified coach. As a result The Ontario Soccer Association has designed a booklet which each delegate received. ‘Wellness to World Cup’ is an in depth look at the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) process and how it affects soccer players from the first time they become active through to national teams and even into Masters/Classics soccer.
Bryan Rosenfeld gave an overview of competitive opportunities for players who reach the end of a Provincial career and look to make the step-up to professionalism. It was identified that the introduction of Toronto FC had certainly been a positive step for the game in Ontario and another gateway for aspiring players. Bryan did give a clear example of how LTPD was impacting on Provincial and National teams.
The LTPD process recommends 10,000 hours of training within 10 years which equates to about 3 hours of training per day. He identified that current squads he was working with commonly hit about 3000 hours during the same 10 year time frame. There were also concerns over the amount of time a coach was able to work with provincial or National players over an extended period of time -training camps were severely limited and affected by travel time, injury and adjustments to a foreign country.
The presentation by Stephen Hart was made with a clear focus on aspects of the Canadian teams’ performance in the U20 World Cup. At the centre of his concerns was the lack of opportunity for players to learn on the international stage which was explained by the naivety that some players can show. This wasn’t a simple issue of being out played on the field but a bigger picture of players understanding the rules at the highest levels of the game. From a technical point of view Hart identified Canada’s lack of ability in front of the net with both the feet and head. There was concern that 20 years ago Canada’s ability in the air was well recognised but it has now become a dying art. The game against Congo reflected this with three or more clear cut heading chances that were not taken or missed the target. The ability of players, in particular the strikers, to shoot off either their left or right foot was disappointing and Hart felt a lot of scoring opportunities were lost due to players moving the ball to their stronger foot. Harts message appeared to be well accepted with the attendees who were reassured that problems they had identified were also at the top of the CSA’s list.
Dave Benning of The CSA reiterated many of the concerns identified by the previous speakers and again highlighted the lack of creative flair within the Canadian team compared with the play of eventual winners Argentina and group members Chile.
The FIFA Technical Seminar proved to be a great day for those coaches keen to learn more about the role of FIFA and how the work that club coach’s carryout everyday across Canada helps to serve the development and growth of the sport. The fact that the FIFA Delegates were so approachable and happy to answer questions in person made for an even more memorable day and one that may not come around again too soon!
