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While in Part one we looked at how the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) and Ajax Amsterdam FC treats the education of players and coaches this article will focus on development centered on free expression.
What makes the Dutch soccer model so attractive amongst other reasons is their attitude of letting players play, letting coaches coach and encouraging creativity. This is something that the likes of Toronto FC Head Coach and Technical Director Aron Winter as well as US Men’s National Team Coach Jurgen Klinsmann have stated in interviews baffles them about the North American approach.
From the grass roots level upward coaches in North America micromanage players and script daily training exercises, this is done to the point that 30 min to 1 hour training sessions take 2-3 hours to complete due to the constant stop/start nature to correct ever little mistake. Players then develop a fear of faliure and conform to a style bordering on robotic; this is clearly evident in the play of the Canadian National Teams at times.
At De Toekomst (Ajax Academy) free expression is encouraged both on and off the pitch and players are given the tools needed to foster and grow their creativity, this is done in many ways including working with team psychologists on their mental state and expression of feelings. The psychologist’s work on areas like positive visualization/affirmation, dealing with personal issues and promoting confidence and genuinely showing interest in the players lives, something currently being implemented by Canadian Women’s National Team Coach John Herdman with fantastic results; as stated by the players in many interviews since his hiring. This is done to keep the players mind sharp, clear and active, key characteristics for this model to be successful.
While this is the case for Dutch players growing from within the club, Ajax has been willing to take risks on international players. An interesting case study in this regard is Swedish Forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
What attracted Ajax (and Barcelona later on) to Ibrahimovic is his “freestyle” or “street ball” creative flair to the game, in one way it was successful to the tune of two Eredivisie titles (2001-2002, 2003-2004) and one Dutch Cup (2001-2002) with a goal record of approximately 47 goals in 106 games in all competitions. However it ultimately didn’t mesh to the degree the club wanted for many reasons and it led to him being sold to Juventus after just over three seasons, putting the personality and financial factors aside and strictly looking at the developmental/systematic aspect he just didn’t fit into the Ajax or Barcelona model.
When Zlatan Ibrahimovic is at his best he is the focal point and everything is tailored to him, however that need to be the focal point clashes with the team-oriented approach of both clubs. Even the likes of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi (the former having played for Ajax and the latter playing for Barcelona) as talented as they are work in a team structure, knowing they have a role to play and don’t deviate from it. Conversely Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s best success has come in Italy because the tactics, formations and ideology of Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan were/are designed around him.
A North American example in this regard which directly involves Toronto FC and Canadian Men’s National Team is looking at why Dwayne De Rosario didn’t fit in Aron Winter’s system, again putting personality and financial issues aside De Rosario much like Ibrahimovic is a player that marches to the beat of his own drum at is at his best when made the focal point. The way both club and country used to play made this a non-issue, playing him as withdraw forward (in a 4-4-1-1), traditional forward (in a 4-4-2) or advanced midfielder (in a 4-3-1-2).
However in a 4-3-3 formation he generally doesn’t fit, becomes a liability and also puts Canadian Men’s National Team Coach Stephen Hart in a conundrum when picking him for international duty. As on the one hand he can’t sit arguably the countries best and most skilled players on the bench or god forbid not select him entirely for fear of a total revolt, however playing him in a 4-3-3 formation either renders him useless or worse can put no less then six players in impossible positions. Allow me to explain:
Playing De Rosario in a 4-3-3 as a attacking/creative midfielder forces his midfield partners in the withdrawn/sitting roles to defensively cover the space he’ll leave open, it also makes the two wide forwards advance further up the pitch as passing outlets and gives the two fullbacks the responsibility of covering the space left by the aforementioned forwards. If able to keep possession this isn’t a problem, however if De Rosario specifically or the team in general losses the ball six players can be left caught up field and a simple pass over the top puts them at a total disadvantage.
This is why from a Toronto FC perspective Aron Winter brought in Eric Avila, a creative player that can track back. He provides balance and make the lives of players like Torsten Frings, Julian de Guzman, Joao Plata, Ryan Johnson, Ashtone Morgan and Richard Eckersley who play in those positions mentioned earlier much easier.
What can be done from a Canadian perspective? This question will be left unanswered till we find a player who can fill this role, here’s hoping it comes by way of TFC Academy.
Getting back to the topic at hand (apologies for the formation geek in me coming out) TFC Academy has already taken some of the necessary steps in development of young players, building the Academy facility and instituting youth programs at the U11/U12 level (similar to Ajax Academy “talent days”). However the hiring of psychologists, sending scouts to provincial games across the country and organizing “test sessions” with youth clubs to look at a player closely are all things that should be implemented as the academy grows.
So to sum up, the current micromanaged style in which Canadian grassroots soccer is generally being coached and played should be phased out and replaced with this open and free model. This way future generations of Toronto FC as well as Canadian players won’t be fearful of expressing themselves on or off the pitch and the product becomes that much more successful and entertaining.
In the final part of this series I will go over the financial aspect of this model, how it impacts both the club and international teams and why being a “Feeder” team is actually a good thing in this modern day age of splashing the cash.
A good resource for information on this topic is the UEFA Training Ground Grassroots initiative, visit their website for more information and videos http://www.uefa.com/trainingground/grassroots/index.html.
Kamal Hylton is Owner/Freelance Soccer Writer at Hylton Sports Media,
he specializes in covering Youth Development in Canada and the
CONCACAF Region as well as European leagues such as Bundesliga, Serie A and UEFA Champions League. Follow him on Twitter to view all
his work.
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