ALABAMAODP REPORT – 1993 and 1992 Boys
1993 Boys ODP Coaches: Joel Person and Ajit Korgaokar
Director of coaching: Scott Spencer
Trip to Guadalajara, Mexico May 31st – June 4th
Matches against Fuerzas Basicas (youth academy teams) of the professional clubs of:
Chivas, Atlas, and Tecos.
Results:
Friday May 31st
Alabama 93 v Chivas 93 0-2 Loss
Saturday June 1st
Alabama 93 v Atlas 93 (Chapalita) 2-2 Tie
Sunday June 2nd
Alabama 93 v Tecos 93 0-3 Loss
Schedule Summary:
THURSDAY
We arrived in Guadalajara on May 30st (Thursday) and traveled to our hotel and sports club, Primavera, about 15 miles outside of the city. Primavera presented a perfect host location as it was out of the city in a gated, secluded community that catered our meals and also provided the facilities for the training as well as recreational activities (swimming, etc) – all within walking distance.
The teams trained on Thursday night. Team worked on defensive and offensive organization and began to get acclimated to the higher altitude. After dinner, we had a team meeting about the upcoming matches, tour logistics, rules, discipline, and expectations.
FRIDAY
We left in the morning to go to a training facility/ sports club which was hosting a professional match between the 2nd division clubs of Chivas and Toluca. Chivas won the match 4-1 while the 2nd division is officially an under 22 league, Chivas was composed of players primarily 16-18 and Toluca 17-20. Both team exhibited sophistication in play, value in possession of the ball, and technical ability of players allowing for execution of tactics.
We went to the Galleria Mall (nice, indoor mall) for about an hour before heading to the Calle Verde training center- home location of Chivas and their Fuerzas Basicas (Academy) teams. We lost the match 0-2 against their 93 team, we played the bottom half of their talent pool at their Fuerzas Basicas team, as they also had a city league championship match against Atlas later that day- they have about 28 players on their team. This was probably the strongest team we played over the course of the 3 matches.
After the match, we returned to Primavera for dinner and some relaxation time before lights out.
We ended in a team meeting discussing the matches, positives, negatives, learning opportunities, and areas to improve for the upcoming match.
SATURDAY
We left early to go to Atlas’ training center and country club- Chapilita. We took a brief walking tour of the club and relaxed some before our match. Chapilita is a full service sports/ recreation/ country club for member of Atlas and Atlas Chapilita. The club has 3 full service restaurants, indoor Olympic pool, outdoor leisure pool, 20 clay tennis courts, 2 soccer fields, nautilus/weights center, aerobics/ yoga center, indoor and outdoor running tracks, racquetball, squash, barber, salon, massage center, and physical therapy clinic. It’s exquisitely maintained. It is a satellite location of the academy training program as well. The team we played is essentially their 93 B team. As the game ended in a 2-2 tie, we finished the match with PKs and Atlas won on the 7th PK. We had tremendous growth in this match, we competed better and increased our speed of play to match theirs. This was a fairly even match with them having a bit more of possession.
We met the directors of Atlas and also Beto Mariscal, who is Atlas all-time leading goalscorer at the club. Beto is also one of Mexico’s greatest forwards, who played alongside Hugo Sanchez during the 80s-90s for their national team.
After cleaning up in the locker rooms and having box lunches, we went to the historic central district of Guadalajara. We took a brief walking tour of the downtown area that included centuries old buildings, plazas, and pedestrian streets/malls. It was a festive area with street vendors, artists, and entertainers. The largest old-style market with over 4000 stalls was adjacent to the plaza and we spent about 1 ½ exploring that.
We returned to Primevera for dinner and some relaxation time before lights out.
Again, we ended the evening with a team meeting about the match played and the upcoming match.
SUNDAY
We went to the Universidad Autonomous de Guadalajara (UAG) the home location of Tecos. Here we played against Tecos 93 on a FIELDTURF training field. As they had a large squad of players that included some who were trying out for their club. They divided into two groups and we played 3 x 30 minutes periods. We tied 0-0, lost 0-2, and lost 0-1 for a total of 0-3. We were able to have some of our best moments of possession and combination play but those moments were sporadic. Our inadequate fitness levels to play at this level of play showed and we had large periods of time of defending and struggling to support the attack when the opportunity presented itself.
After the match, we cleaned up and went to a traditional Mexican restaurant and had a full lunch including Tortas Ahogadas, traditional Guacamole, and the rice drink, Orchata. We went back to the mall to give them more time there before returning to Primavera.
After dinner, had our meeting on the matches and logistics for the next day.
MONDAY
We had some time in the morning and we went to the Primavera sports facilities. We had a soccer tennis tournament in teams of 3 with the winners getting ATLAS replica jerseys. Players had some time in the pool before packing up and returning to the airport.
The coaching staff had individual player meetings with every player discussing their performances- positives, negatives, and areas to work on going into region camp.
Some basic observations or differences:
Technically: Their ability to use more skills was also apparent- for example, the weak foot and controlling with multiple surfaces. Overall comfort on the ball and under pressure were noticeable differences that allowed them to solve problems with skill in general. Our technical ability and technical speed under pressure often couldn’t match the speed of the game or the defensive pressure, resulting in either errors or using physical, direct play to solve problems.
Tactically: The team organization and general decision making was approximately the same. The Mexican players had more sophistication in their ability to see spaces and timing better (vision- natural decision-making) but some of ours were equal.
Fitness: This was noticeably different. Our teams were not close to theirs in being able to play an entire half of soccer or a game. Our players were not fit enough and also were not capable of feeling a rhythm to the matches and pacing the games – to recover while playing. We were allowed to play with re-entry during the games which was a huge help as otherwise the games were have deteriorated greatly for us in the last 20 minutes.
Sophistication and gamesmanship: A subject that can be argued as to: how far to go and what is valuable and not: but, an area much stronger in the Mexican game – an obvious factor is how often these players see professional soccer played.
As a general statement, the Mexicans teams are very good at possessing the ball and they stretch the field completely with wide midfielders and defenders stretched out. Most teams play a 3-5-2 and use the outside mids and true wingers. They will look to possess the ball out of the back whether or not there is pressure applied. Teams will be patient in attack looking to change the point of attack if penetrating options are not on. On defense, teams will allow forwards to receive balls to feet and keep the play in front of the backline versus stepping higher and encouraging ball in behind
Conclusion: While we were inconsistent in most areas causing some problems, as professional teams will take advantage of lapses, our team had spells of playing very well. When we played with a good speed of play and control, we were successful against these teams and had moments of domination and opportunities. Overall the trip was incredibly valuable not solely for the quality of the competition. We can find high quality teams in the USA, of course. The value was in the professionalism, sophistication, and style of the teams we played……and this is not evident in teams in the USA. The opportunity to play against and experience youth professionalism cannot be understated in the development of our top players. The players in these Pro clubs’ youth academies go through a tryout process involving 1000s of players and also each age group has about 30-60 feeder, satellite teams across the country leading to their top teams. These players train to one day be a professional 5-6 days a week, year-round. There are many opportunities for players or teams to travel internationally but very few opportunities to play against clubs’ true academy teams and not their school or feeder teams.
We experienced professional soccer clubs and the personal growth of interacting in different cultures and countries. Our players represented Alabama and AYSA ODP incredibly well, not only on the field (tremendous results against essentially professional clubs), but, off the field as well.
