The challenge of offense versus defense continues. As teams develop successful styles of attack, defenses are created and perfected to stop them. This book tackles the task of identifying and honing the skills and tactics necessary for breaking down organized defensive plans.
The team assembled for this book is composed of 11 coaches who have devoted their lives to the craft of coaching and promoting soccer. Their ideas and beliefs have been tested at all levels of competition, resulting in more than 3,500 victories.
The contributors strive to continue developing as coaches, always looking for new and better ways to prepare their teams for the current and future levels of competition. In each chapter, the coaches give personal accounts of how they developed their training sessions. It has been my experience that the best way for coaches to get better is to read past and current publications about coaching methodology and ideas, observe successful coaches in action, discuss ideas of coaching with colleagues, and of course coach as much as possible. For the past 30 years, coaches in the United States have shared training and game-day coaching information with one another.
This perplexes professional coaches around the world. Why should they discuss their methods with you? You’ll just use those methods to beat them later. Yet American coaches continue to willingly share information for the promotion of soccer. This is an opportunity for you to participate in this sharing of information.