Castro 03 Gold and 02 PA??

While I personally believe the Coach had little to do with the results in the PLD this past weekend. He sure has gotten a lot of praise for winning over the years with an obvious BEAST of a team. Any thoughts???

I watched the castro gold team against ody this past weekend. Maybe it's just me but I did not find the style of play by either team to be exciting to watch. It could be that 11v11 on a small field disrupts the flow and clogs all the passing lanes. I found it chippy with balls bouncing around like a pinball machine. Not one player exhibited a skill move worthy of this age. I saw fast quick one touches to try to move the ball forward as fast as possible. There seemed to be a fast break mentality to the whole thing. Solar had a lack of offensive firepower. I was waiting to see some flash but each defense would collapse 5-6 guys and clog up any potential shots and passing lanes. I feel those two coaches are not encouraging "development" and individuAl confidence to take on 1v1 situations. The style of play is only to win games.I feel like most D1 coaches just want the wins to continue to attract the high expectation parent who is paying top dollar. Im disenchanted with classic D1 teams right now. Was spoiled this summer watching the brazilian kids. Don't know how its all gonna shake out for my BB but I think the futsal component is crucial at this age. I firmly believe that at 15/16 is when the skill shines through as all kids are about the same size and speed. Just my two cents.

Probably these teams don't have anybody as technically skilled as anybody who has spent some time in Brazil.  Maybe that is part of it.  

11v11 soccer at 12 yrs of age is oftentimes not great.  No doubt.  As with almost all 11v11 soccer, you tend to have multiple guys trying to defend you from scoring if you don't quickly move the ball around to set up the 1v1 situations, thus those situations can be rare.  And thus quick one touch passing seems a reasonable goal.  As far as skill moves go, IMO, the most relevant one is "fake one way, go the other" usually at speed while controlling the ball.   Either way, seems like a pretty quick change from looking for PA/CL to disenchantment and condemnation of two coaches/teams based on analysis of one game.  So must have been dreadful.   But hey, whatever, I usually can spot bullshit pretty quickly too, so I understand your perspective.  Good luck.  

I didn't think any of the fields at Lewisville are particularly small.

i believe most on this forum would be quick to acknowledge that Castro DOES teach kids to pass the ball. #13 alluded to skill level as compared to brazil, as argued by SDAD18. i believe if someone can argue that Castro isn't teaching correctly (which i would disagree with), maybe we shouldn't be so quick to jump on lesser coaches when we see some "kick ball". as an unknown, FAMOUS, french chef once said: "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poooooooo" I'm sure the PA team will do much better against boys their own age

I hear a lot of praise for futsal and great Brazilian coaching, but last time I checked, Germany won the World Cup in 2014 and it wasn't against Brazil. Germany also played in the UEFA Champions League final in 2010, 2012, and finally won the Champions League in 2013.

This was not because of their futsal programs or their Brazilian style of play so when we start tearing apart coaches like Diego Castro who is definitely a product of the Bundesliga training system (That's right! Diego played in Germany) it makes it a little difficult for me to step in line.

As for Paddy he was a national coach in Ireland and even though he is a sideline growler, he is fiercely loyal to his team and has the fighting record against other coaches to prove it. Paddy has one of the best teams in NTX for over 5 years and it was Paddy who graciously scrimmaged Diego over the years in an effort to develop the quality of both teams.

These two coaches have left an indelible mark on NTX soccer and frankly they have shown us that there are different ways to get the end result that we are always aiming for.

Sam Olali's personal demeanor doesn't get him in any hot water which is why it is easier to sing his praises, but the fact that he put his money into a club and a training program makes him just as important to all of us as Paddy and Diego.

soccerdadrandy wrote:i believe most on this forum would be quick to acknowledge that Castro DOES teach kids to pass the ball. #13 alluded to skill level as compared to brazil, as argued by SDAD18. i believe if someone can argue that Castro isn't teaching correctly (which i would disagree with), maybe we shouldn't be so quick to jump on lesser coaches when we see some "kick ball". as an unknown, FAMOUS, french chef once said: "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poooooooo" I'm sure the PA team will do much better against boys their own age

Here's the laundry list of excuses for the last game of the PLD tourney....
A few key players out with injuries and everyone ekes feeling the affects of the night before
Size difference (wow! It really shows at this age!)
The heat and humidity
And the fields were terrible- not conducive for a passing game, which gives the BIGGER, STONGER and FASTER men the advantage.

But all in all a great game to have at the beginning of a season to learn from.

ocfc wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:i believe most on this forum would be quick to acknowledge that Castro DOES teach kids to pass the ball. #13 alluded to skill level as compared to brazil, as argued by SDAD18. i believe if someone can argue that Castro isn't teaching correctly (which i would disagree with), maybe we shouldn't be so quick to jump on lesser coaches when we see some "kick ball". as an unknown, FAMOUS, french chef once said: "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poooooooo" I'm sure the PA team will do much better against boys their own age

Here's the laundry list of excuses for the last game of the PLD tourney....
A few key players out with injuries and everyone ekes feeling the affects of the night before
Size difference (wow! It really shows at this age!)
The heat and humidity
And the fields were terrible- not conducive for a passing game, which gives the BIGGER, STONGER and FASTER men the advantage.

But all in all a great game to have at the beginning of a season to learn from.

all valid points. i here that ONE of the advantages these boys had PRIOR to 02 academy is that they were oldest boys in 03 Club soccer???

If you call having quite a few players with Nov-Dec 02 birthdays the advantage then yes

ocfc wrote:If you call having quite a few players with Nov-Dec 02 birthdays the advantage then yes

yes that was an advantage. consequently, a disadvantage going to international birth year league. but they will be fine going forward. in fact, did well in this tourney. but size helps and size with skill is almost unstoppable at this age.

I have to say that the Castro age advantage wasn't very important because most of the top 03B teams had many 02/03 starting players.

In youth academy, Paddy actually played some rockin 03/04 players that went on to create the Top 04 Solar team.


Castro is smaller and younger in PA this year and in spite of that will persevere and adjust to the changes while waiting on puberty to kick in. They will practice and strategize and move kids around and come up with new tactics to maximize their effectiveness, but they won't complain about their situation or blame their age.


Castro will show them a new way to overcome and they will do what they have always done because they are highly technical, creative players that keep you guessing until the end.


here's a link for those who didn't know that Castro was the First Chilean to Play in Germany.




http://impresa.elmercurio.com/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?dt=10-08-2015%200:00:00&dtB=10-08-2015%200:00:00&BodyID=4&PaginaId=12

PremierLeagueFan wrote:I have to say that the Castro age advantage wasn't very important because most of the top 03B teams had many 02/03 starting players.

In youth academy, Paddy actually played some rockin 03/04 players that went on to create the Top 04 Solar team.

At U10, Ody 03 had two 02 BY kids who started most games.  Rest were 03 BY.  At U11, the Ody median birthdate was Feb 7, 2003.   Still primarily younger kids.   At U12, it was Dec 25, 2002.  At U13, it was Dec 27, 2002.  So its gotten older and more of 50/50 mix.   A lot of kids born in the last week of the year whose parents can't plan very well.    Maybe it's telling that a lot of the kids that left were the younger kids.   People mostly leave over playing time.   So you can sort of see some "age effect" things taking place.  If you happen to be somebody who keeps all the roster info.  But that is just one, rather uninteresting, story.

End of the day, older is older.  And older can be a bitch if you are younger.  Any one good kid can play up, but its hard to ask the whole team to play up.   I've seen BBs 03 team play 02 teams and play 04 teams.   The Stricker 02 kids will fly by our kids like they are running in mud.   Our tiniest kids can hold the ball pretty easily vs the 04 Deleon kids.   Both of those teams are good teams.  You probably get more out of playing the 02 ones, but you got to just laugh when you do ok and still give up 5 goals or whatever.  

Just to give credit where credit is due.   Only two kids on the current top (DeLeon, I assume) Solar 04 team played for Odyssey.  And only one for the 03s.  The bulk have been primarily Solar Red 04 kids since the beginning.  

Cheers

That is why I included Paddy in the discussion because it was an interesting contrast between two of the Top teams who had age disparity.

The younger team Ody dominated in Youth academy and the older team Castro dominated in select. What was interesting is that neither team really gained much distance between them as was seen in Classic and SuperCopa. Yes, Castro was the unstoppable force, but it was Ody that finally tied them and at least created the notion that they could be challenged.

The common thread for me at least is the coaching and the strong personalities that create a favorable mix for success and not just the age difference.

Size is an issue for the next season or two, but puberty will level it out and size is not height so all those smaller players with technical brilliance will rise again as they get more muscle and bone density.

I wish that the Dark Lord hadn't messed up our year by excluding Castro, because I think we were up for a competitive year and having the Top team gone really leaves me flat and speaks volumes about what really matters in the war for player dollars.

Hassan if you are listening, it really stinks that you took away our top competitor and then you isolated your elites into the PA system and prevented them from playing in Classic.

You will not like what you have allowed to happen this year and I can assure you that PA will not be a cake walk for the elite  players you added into PA with your twice weekly training program that doesn't allow them to dual roster in CL.

interesting conversation but I believe the point is missing. Teams come and go. There are wins and losses and eventually nobody even remembers who those teams were. Castro makes players better. He has an eye for identifying what each individual kid needs to work on and drives them to improve. The only thing that really matters is the player

Oh and CL just proved it was the political shady cesspool that everyone thought it was. Maybe somebody could have taken down the champ but CL left you with nothing but an asterisk

You are correct! Castro 03 boys of last year had the #'s to retain their bye for classic league this year, but the corrupt board of classic league and Hassan made sure that did not get that spot.
Really a shame that the boys are missing out playing amongst their peers this year because of this greed and corruption. Nice one.
One positive- at least we do not have to pay HIGH fees to play on those CRAPPY fields!

ocfc wrote:You are correct! Castro 03 boys of last year had the #'s to retain their bye for classic league this year, but the corrupt board of classic league and Hassan made sure that did not get that spot.
Really a shame that the boys are missing out playing amongst their peers this year because of this greed and corruption. Nice one.
One positive- at least we do not have to pay HIGH fees to play on those CRAPPY fields!

so not many of those boys went to play PA and stayed with club team?

soccerdadrandy wrote:

ocfc wrote:You are correct! Castro 03 boys of last year had the #'s to retain their bye for classic league this year, but the corrupt board of classic league and Hassan made sure that did not get that spot.
Really a shame that the boys are missing out playing amongst their peers this year because of this greed and corruption. Nice one.
One positive- at least we do not have to pay HIGH fees to play on those CRAPPY fields!

so not many of those boys went to play PA and stayed with club team?

Point being that they could have done both.

Played PA and CL, thus taking the bye from the Texans. Which of course would have meant that they would have had to have the 75% exception, and would have had to have that 75% show up to (ostensibly) every CL game. And would have meant that they applied for the bye under the 75% provision by the summer deadline.

Which was all possible.

They had the numbers to field a team in CL. CL ignored it's own rules and cheated them out of it. Its okay for the team but I think it sucks for the league. They lost their chance to compete and fight against some of the best in the age group. Everyone likes to take down the top dog. No real competitor wants the league to do it for them.

Oh a little shout out to paddy. Know a couple of kids who played there who are hell a players and a couple of years back his older team lost most of it's players and backfilled with PPL players. Everyone expected them to get run over. The first game or two they did but managed to get it together and stay in D1. Thats some coaching

while dual rostering is allowed. and PA (TEPAL) is different than DA. the USSF member clubs involved would be unwise to try and play in two leagues. the academy does not allow for more than one game within a 24 hr period in DA. again! PA is not DA but the Clubs involved know that would have been two many games for these boys to play. the likely scenario would have been to appear to meet the N+1 rule and over time replace those positions with other boys. i guess the team had a choice to maintain bye and just play classic?

Texans PA took a lot of players for each PA team and yet only 16-18 actually suit up for a game. Dual rostering would allow players to join their CL team in the event that they aren't rostered for their PA game.

Based on the Texans PA rule there would be no reason to choose to be a DP since you would not be guaranteed any playing time at all.

Assuming that Texans only suit up 18 of their actual team, it will be entirely possible that some PA players will only suit up for a few games and that doesn't guarantee playing time.

How does any of this help to develop the Texans Soccer Player?

Games are the best way to validate your training and even if you train all year with the best players, you will still need playing time to know if you are skilled (technique under pressure).

All Texans PA players should be allowed to dual roster in CL even though in USSDA it is not allowed.

PremierLeagueFan wrote:Texans PA took a lot of players for each PA team and yet only 16-18 actually suit up for a game. Dual rostering would allow players to join their CL team in the event that they aren't rostered for their PA game.

Based on the Texans PA rule there would be no reason to choose to be a DP since you would not be guaranteed any playing time at all.

Assuming that Texans only play part of their actual team, it will be entirely possible that some PA players to only suit up for a few games and that doesn't guarantee playing time.

How does any of this help the Texans Soccer Player?

Games are the best way to validate your training and even if you train all year with the best players, you will still need to play to know if you are skilled (technique under pressure).

PA and CL should be allowed to dual roster even though in USSDA it is not allowed.

Time will tell but I heard that K Smith plays all of his rostered players, which, by design are limited to 18-19 not the 26 or so allowed. But yes I wish the Texans PA boys could dual roster as well as play highschool soccer.

Only time will tell, but in all fairness K Smith deserves the benefit of the doubt  so I will take the wait and see approach.

It's going to be a tough year for two of the 03B D1 Texan teams and Hassan could prevented it by allowing his PA players to dual roster on the DT Dallas and DT 03B Red North teams.

On a brighter note for the Texans, DT South had enough depth to remain competitive after losing a bunch of their players to PA and they will keep the Texans in the top 5 if they continue to play strong.

PremierLeagueFan wrote:Only time will tell, but in all fairness K Smith deserves the benefit of the doubt  so I will take the wait and see approach.

It's going to be a tough year for two of the 03B D1 Texan teams and Hassan could prevented it by allowing his PA players to dual roster on the DT Dallas and DT 03B Red North teams.

On a brighter note for the Texans, DT South had enough depth to remain competitive after losing a bunch of their players to PA and they will keep the Texans in the top 5 if they continue to play strong.

DT South's success is about the coaching and ability to adjust to the players available. They have somehow always used all players and coached them up so that each plays a part, not a few.

You get no argument from me, seeing is believing and I watched FCDP go scoreless for 90 minutes and that was a classic DT South TEAM effort.