Brian and Motivation: To Believe in One’s Self!

When working in the area of sports motivation, a coach is presented with myriad challenges almost at once! This is particularly true when done in concert with, and in the context of, sport-specific, sex-specific strength and fitness training. In this case, I was working with a young boy, Brian, who was 10 years of age when we started working together. In Brian’s case it was crucial to develop a motivational climate that was both positive and encouraging in nature. The challenge when dealing with high-performance, top-caliber athletes, even at Brian’s age (or perhaps even more so!) is to balance positive feedback with constructive suggestions meant to develop the athlete physically and psychologically. The coach must strive to encourage and develop an environment, a relationship, more carrot than stick.

Just entering adolescence, and puberty, Brian had a particular constellation of challenges that only an experienced fitness instructor/strength coach should have gone anywhere near! Fortunately for both of us, some of my most difficult clients ended up as my finest students and life-long friends! This would be the case with Brian, a diamond in the rough, a jewel to be treasured years into the future. His children have been my clients, and now, Brian is talking about his grandchildren, when he has some, becoming part of a legacy that started with a quiet, shy, even nervous young kid. A young boy who would become a champion. A champion in every sense of the word!

But that part of the story begins later today….

Tomorrow: Brian Begins, Quits, and Begins again!

Until later today? YUP!

See You in the Cheap Seats!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

We at www.ultimatesoccertraining.com want to make this post quick, direct, and to the point. Why? Mainly because we hate being made to feel like a bunch of elementary school teachers! Spam, in any of its incarnations will not be tolerated. Fortunately, we’ve only had to “spam-out” two comments, so far. In both instances, the individual made an attempt to link science with his or her product. Not cool!

Please be aware of one thing, we spend a great deal of time selecting just the right topic, along with the supporting articles, posts from other blogs, and even outside experts. In other words, several independent sources are consulted and verified before an article is “published.” The aforementioned experts and expert sources, combined with my 30+ years of experience training athletes at virtually every level all come together to serve the soccer community. Here at www.ultimatesoccertraining.com, we strive to deliver up-to-date, cutting-edge information useful to both male and female soccer-athletes, young and not-so young, all levels; head coaches, assistants, strength coaches, and athletic trainers; parents, press, fans, and fanatics! In other words, fans of all kinds and all ages!

The Ultimate Training Company, and www.ultimatesoccertraining.com, will continue to deliver information that is as accurate as possible. Self-promotion, as well as independent service and product promotion, unless cleared in advance, is unacceptable and will be filed immediately. OK? When it comes to material offered here, we have our own consultants: coaches, strength & fitness personnel, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and sports medicine physicians. Ultimate Soccer Training also has a kinesiologist, and an exercise physiologist on staff, both as consultants. We guarantee we will do everything humanly possible to ensure whatever you take away from your experience with us, is it will be valid and scientifically anchored in the data, not anecdotal pseudo-science.

Thank you for your response to date! Realize this, without you, we cannot hope to serve the sport-specific (soccer), sex-specific strength and fitness needs of the soccer (football/futbol) community. Strength and fitness training includes not only physical and mental training but mental and nutritional instruction as well. Unless you have a masters or doctorate in diet and/or nutrition, please refrain from offering nutritional advice. Thank you!

Later today! Soccer-specific, sex-specific training and a positive mental attitude.

PMA!

See you in the cheap seats!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

20 Called to US Training Camp!

Bob Bradley is a workaholic — all soccer, all the time. And with a busy year ahead for the coach of the United States men’s national team (World Cup qualifying, Concacaf Gold Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup), there is no time for vacation.

Less than a week after a team composed almost exclusively of Major League Soccer players defeated Sweden, 3-2, in an international friendly, Bradley has called 20 players to a training camp. The players, all but one from M.L.S. (striker Charlie Davies/Hammarby of Sweden), will assemble at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., to prepare for the opener of the final round of regional World Cup qualifying against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11.

(Two brief footnotes: On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer announced that tickets for the match against Mexico had sold out in 90 minutes after the start of a public sale; later Wednesday night, Mexico and its struggling and embattled coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, lost by 1-0 to Sweden in Oakland, Calif., in an exhibition match.)

It is obvious, however, that Bradley will primarily rely on his brood of European-based players (and probably one from Mexico) when it comes time to take the field against Mexico. They are in midseason form, while the M.L.S. players are only now beginning preseason training for the 2009 season.

The training camp roster:

Goalkeepers Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Will Hesmer (Columbus Crew), Matt Pickens (Colorado Rapids).
Defenders Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Ugo Ihemelu (Colorado Rapids), Chris Wingert (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto F.C.).

Midfielders Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Jack Jewsbury (Kansas City Wizards), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire).

Forwards Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF/Sweden), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire).

How many of the 20 do you think have a shot at starting against Mexico? Three or four (Ching, Kljestan, Clark)?

January 29, 2009, 6:32 PM
20 Called to U.S. Training Camp
By JACK BELL
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Bob Bradley, Mexico, U.S. men’s national team, World Cup

NOTE: Many feel the standouts from Sweden vs. USA, Brian Ching, Sacha Kljestan, and Marvel Wynne are all but assured of suiting up for Mexico, if not starting as well!

Strength Training Section

Strength training is an essential element of fitness for virtually every sports man and woman. Long gone are the days when coaches believed resistance exercises only added unnecessary bulk to the athlete, hindering their ability to execute skill.

The benefits of strength training to athletic performance are enormous and many. Not only is it an integral conditioning component for power athletes such as football and rugby players, performance in the pure endurance events can be improved with a well-structured strength routine.

However, aside from perhaps bodybuilders, sport-specific resistance training requires a more refined approach than simply lifting heavy weights to complete exhaustion. A physiological analysis of any game or event will confirm that most athletes require explosive power, muscular endurance, maximal strength or some combination of all three in order to excel. Rarely is pure muscle bulk the primary concern and when it is, other elements of strength are equally as important.

Elements of a Strength Training Program

Hypertrophy

Synonymous with most people’s perception of strength training, hypertrophy refers to increased muscle bulk and size. This is only one aspect of a sport-specific strength training program and one that should be included for only a select group of athletes. [American] Football and rugby players require significant bulk to withstand very aggressive body contact. For most athletes however, too much muscle bulk is a hindrance. And remember that a larger muscle is not necessarily a stronger muscle.

Maximal Strength

Maximal strength is the highest level of force an athlete can possibly generate. Its importance will vary between sports but this relates more to the length of the maximal strength training phase than whether it should be included or not (1). The greater an athlete’s maximal strength to begin with, the more of it can be converted into sport-specific strength endurance or explosive power.

Maximal strength training can improve exercise economy and endurance performance (2,3). Interestingly, it does not appear to lead to a significant increase in muscle hypertrophy (4).

Explosive Power

Rarely is an athlete required to produce a singular maximal effort in their sport. With the exception of powerlifting, most sports require movements that are much more rapid and demand a higher power output than is generated during maximal lifts (5,6). So while maximal strength training lays an important foundation increasing the potential for additional power development, if there is no conversion of this strength into sport-specific power, the program as a whole is much less effective.

An athlete can be exceptionally strong but lack substantial power due to an inability to contract muscle quickly. Power training is used to improve the rate of force production and a range of methods such as plyometrics can be employed to convert maximal strength into explosive power.

Strength Endurance

Explosive power is not always the predominant goal of the strength training program. For events such as distance running, cycling, swimming and rowing, strength endurance is a major limiting factor. Again, the greater amount of starting maximal strength, the more of it can be maintained for a prolonged period.

Strength endurance can be developed through circuit training or the use of low weights and high repetitions. However, many strength endurance programs are inadequate for endurance-based sports – a set of 15-20 repetitions for example does not condition the neuromuscular system in the same way as a long distance event.

Periodization

The concept of periodization is key to sport-specific strength training. Dividing the overall training plan into succinct phases or periods, each with a specific outcome, allows sport-specific strength to peak at the right times, whilst minimizing the risk of over-training.

It also allows more specific elements of strength to be built on a solid and more general fitness foundation. Athletes cannot progress week-in week-out indefinitely so periodization permits variations in intensity and volume to promote performance enhancements for as long as possible.

Strength Training Articles
The Sport-Specific Approach to Strength Training Programs

The bodybuilding approach to strength training still predominates. But a more refined approach that incorporates the concept of periodization is much more effective. Here’s how the various elements of strength fit together in the overall plan…

How To Design Resistance Training Programs For Sport

Resistance training is an integral part of any sports conditioning plan. This complete guide covers the various design elements of a successful, sport-specific strength training regimen…

Weight Training Programs For Basic Strength

The first phase in a strength training program should prepare the body for more demanding subsequent training. Crucial even for experienced athletes…

Weight Training Programs For Increasing Muscle Mass (Hypertrophy)

Some athletes will benefit from increased lean weight and muscle mass. However, many bodybuilding routines are too time consuming and fatiguing for athletes who must reserve their energy for other types of training…

Two More Weight Training Routines For Building Muscle Mass

Two routines suitable for the hypertrophy phase of a resistance training program…

Weight Training Programs For Maximum Strength

Strength training for muscle mass and training for maximum strength is not the same! Most athletes will benefit from a period of maximal strength training before converting it into more sport-specific types of strength…

Power Training For Sport

Many athletes require explosive power to be successful in their sport. Once maximal strength strength has been developed there are several methods to convert it into sport-specific power…

Muscular Endurance Training

Once a firm foundation of strength has been built it should be converted into power or strength endurance or both, depending on the sport. Here’s how muscular endurance is developed…

Strength Training Alongside Other Types of Training

How does strength training interact with other components of fitness? Does endurance training have a negative effect on strength and power? And does strength and power training negatively effect aerobic power or flexibility?

Dumbbell Exercises for Every Major Muscle Group

Machines or free weights? Strength training with dumbbells has some discernible advantages…

Dumbbell Exercises with Animated Images

Over 20 dumbbell exercises with animated graphics…

Classic Kettlebell Exercises

Do kettlebell exercises offer any performance advantages over regular free weights and dumbbells?

Kettlebell Training Program

Kettlebell training has become popular with western athletes in recent years. While some kettlebell exercises would make a useful addition to a sports strength training program, the principle of specificity must still be adhered to…

Medicine Ball Exercises

Medicine balls are an excellent tool for re-creating movement patterns in many sports. They are particularly useful for upper body power training…

Stability Ball Exercises and Routine

Stability ball exercises are ideal for the anatomical adaptation phase and for rehabilitation. They also work the stabilizing muscles often neglected in intense strength training routines…

Resistance Band Exercises and Routine

Resistance bands offer an athlete an extremely versatile form of resistance training. They can also be adapted to mimic very closely sport-specific movements make them an ideal training tool…

Core Strength Conditioning For Athletes

It’s still a buzz word in the fitness industry, but core strength training has been used by top coaches for years. Use these exercises to develop your center of power…

Abdominal Exercises for Building a Powerful Core

The abdominals and lower back bridge the upper and lower body and they are integral to many athletic movements. These abdominal exercises can be integrated into the various phases of a strength program…

Isometric Exercise for Static Strength

Static strength training is useful for a number of sports and for rehabilitation. These isometric exercises can be performed with little or no equipment…

Using Power Cleans in Sports Conditioning

Power cleans can be useful for developing explosive power (in appropriate sports). Use this technique guide and animated images to see how the lift should be performed…

A Sample Off Season Strength Training Program

The off or closed season is typically about rest and regeneration. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing at all…

Forearm & Rotator Cuff Exercises

Use this program to help prevent common overuse injuries to the shoulder and elbow. Rotator cuff damage and tennis elbow affects may athletes particularly those who play racket sports and golf…

Sample Powerlifting Routine

Powerlifting is one of most demanding forms of strength conditioning. This sample routine is for advanced lifters who want to increase maximal strength…

Sample Olympic Weightlifting Routine

Olympic weightlifting routines and exercises are finding themselves into more and more sports training programs. But are they suitable for all athletes?

References

1) Bompa TO. 1999 Periodization Training for Sports. Champaign,IL: Human Kinetics.
2) Hoff J, Gran A, Helgerud J. Maximal strength training improves aerobic endurance performance. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2002 Oct;12(5):288-95
3) Johnston RE, TJ Quinn, Kertzer R and Vroman NB. Strength training in female distance runners: impact on running economy. J. Strength Cond. Res. 11: 224-229, 1997
4) Moss BM, Refsnes PE, Abildgaard A, Nicolaysen K, Jensen J. Effects of maximal effort strength training with different loads on dynamic strength, cross-sectional area, load-power and load-velocity relationships. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1997;75(3):193-9
5) Komi PV. Neuromuscular performance: factors influencing force and speed production. Scand J Sports Sci. 1979 1:2-15
6) developing explosive muscular power: implications for a mixed method training strategy. NSCA J. 1994 16:(5)20-31

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Note: As you scroll down the list of topics to be covered over the next few days and weeks ahead, you will discover topics which would seem to have absolutely no place in your workout program, and that’s fine! Some of the topics are for a very narrow niche, some, it seems, have almost no place in a soccer-specific, sex-specific strength and fitness training program. We will review each of these, in their entirety, and discover applications for these exercise programs, and more. This will be an exciting road, one I guarantee will be fruitful for those who follow along. if you miss something, don’t won’t about it, I’ll get it to you ASAP, just sign in one the right and we’ll put your name in for that and a bunch of other cool stuff!

See ya in the cheap seats!

CoachZ

216-716-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com
Skype: johnzajaros1
Yahoo! IM: keepersteam

Soccer Fitness & Somewhere in the World!

“Someone is training when you are not. When you play him, he will win!”

I have either competed in athletics or trained athletes at every level for more than 45 years, sometimes training and competing at the same time. During this period, spanning almost half a century, there have been five truths that have stuck out and remained constant:

1) “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
Vince Lombardi

2) “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
Vince Lombardi

3) “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”
Vince Lombardi

4) “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”
Vince Lombardi

5) Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
Vince Lombardi

All five of these quotes, made famous by the great Vince Lombardi and recognized around the world as his, have their foundation standing on three pillars…a combination of common sense, motivational speaking, and sport’s psychology. Lombardi was able to accomplish his challenge in quote number 2 above as few have before and, I would argue, fewer still since.

Before we set forth on our journey into the “wide world of sports,” and soccer in particular, we must be aware of the physical requirements, the physical demands, of the sport. Soccer requires a high level of physical fitness, fitness only derived by means of hard work and well planned, sport/sex-specific specific training. Don’t underestimate the levels of strength and fitness required in order to excel at The Beautiful Game. Players at the highest level may run up to 15-20 km’s per game, that’s upwards of 10-12 miles in 60 to 90 minutes of play. To be a true championship-caliber soccer player, one capable of competing at the premier-club level, the USYSA (www.usyouthsocceer.org) & AYSO (www.soccer.org) Olympic Development Program (ODP), their repsetcivestate team, regional team, or national team level, and , ultimately the NCAA DI levels! Of course, there’s play available to a select few at levels even beyond the NCAA Division I level. For a select few, there is Major League Soccer (http://web.mlsnet.com/index.jsp) for the men, set to expand yet again this year, and the newly reconstituted Women’s Professional Soccer League (http://www.womensprosoccer..com), promising a truly exciting ! Ultimately, there is play in Asia, Europe, Mexico, and South America, as well as national team play, for the best of the best, those gifted and dedicated. At any level, but particularly as soccer players grow an develop, the running involved should never resemble a leisurely Sunday jog. Unfortunately, this kind of running can be witnessed all too often and is referred to as one-speed soccer,unimagination and ugly! Soccer at the highest levels involves frequent sprints, with acceleration, deceleration, change in direction, and even vertical leaps. A well-played soccer match should resemble interval training for sprint and middle distance athletes preparing for a track and field event.

Sex-specific & sport-specific strength and fitness training is crucial, a requirement at all levels of the game; youth to adult, amateur to professional, male and female! If you desire success at the highest levels, strength and fitness training, tailored to your individual requirements and needs is a must. The associated stiffness and pain, the good pain, the kind that lets you know you’re alive, that arrives by way of with championship preparation, will be a constant companion, at least at first. As a result, it is important to begin early in the pre-season and develop a solid relationship with a sports-medicine centered physical therapist and your athletic trainer, hold nothing back! At the youth level, the proper sex-specific program will not only improve overall effectiveness, speed, strength, endurance, and agility, but it will assure the soccer-athlete a more enjoyable experience, on and off the pitch! The objective of sport & sex specific strength and fitness training, as it applies to soccer, is to help to ensure a reduction is both old, nagging injuries and new, possibly career-ending or career-shortening injuries! Soccer-specific & sex-specific strength and fitness training is put in place, in effect, to allow the players to cope with the physical demands of the game while, at the same time, allowing each player to harness and improve their technical and tactical abilities; and, reducing the incidence of injury, particularly catastrophic knee injuries in female-soccer athletes!

How do we define sex-specific strength and fitness training? What is soccer-specific strength and fitness training? Ultimately, what is fitness? Well, Wikipedia offers the following definition:

“Physical fitness is the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and muscles at optimum efficiency. In previous years, fitness was defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities without undue fatigue. Automation increased leisure time, and changes in lifestyles following the industrial revolution meant this criterion was no longer sufficient. Optimum efficiency is the key. Physical fitness is now defined as the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations. Fitness can also be divided into five categories: aerobic fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction. Strength training used to be viewed within the context of weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and other power, anaerobic sports and activities. This is no longer the case, strength and fitness training are now considered absolutely vital, key components in injury prevention. Where we once felt that young athletes, particularly female athletes who had not yet experienced closure of the growth plates or undergone menarche, as well as those male athletes competing in endurance and skilled sports did not, should not under any circumstances, involve themselves in weight training activities. Basketball players, tennis players, and most athletes playing skilled positions where “touch” and skill were factors, should not touch weights during the regular season. Interestingly, until a few short years ago, almost all athletes were told to stay away from strength training during the regular season…period!

The amount of strength and stamina lost during the season often approached 60% of that an athlete started the season with! There can be little doubt that this was a contributing factor in fatigue and stress-related injuries late in the season.

Remember number 5 above, “Fatigue makes coward of us all.” Well, I would suggest that fatigue also makes patients of many.

Taken as a complex working together, sex-specific and sport-specific strength and fitness training, combined with nutrition, and linked with genetic characteristics (phenotypic expression), soccer performance is influenced in quantity, quality, and magnitude by the training regimen and biological factors affecting the soccer-athlete. Don’t let this fool you, even a naturally gifted player will require adequate conditioning in order to ensure ultimate performance and protection from injury. The risk of injury goes up exponentially as the season progresses, and training decreases. A lack of training, matched with an increase in fatigue (#5 above), and the athlete reaches critical mass. Then, depending on other factors, such as nutrition and genetics, injuries happen! Seasons and careers end!

Please try to remember, different sports require different levels of fitness and various levels of conditioning and degrees of strength. Soccer players must be able to compete and perform for up to 90 minutes. soccer-athletes require prolonged strength, strength that will last for the entire match. Match strength, combined with endurance, will have the affect of increasing energy stores, making fuel to compete on and with readily available. Fatigue and injury become less of a factor, although risk is still present, particularly in female athletes! We refer to lasting endurance as stamina, and stamina combined with strength will result in ultimate performance…an irresistible combination. A soccer-athlete, male or female, must have explosive strength to have the ability to sprint, change direction, jump side to side and vertically. Strength training leads to development, and development leads to performance. Combine strength and performance, then increase blood flow to the muscles as a result of both aerobic and anaerobic training, and a soccer player now handles 90 minutes much more efficiently, with less risk of injury due to fatigue! An offshoot of the aerobic and musculo-skeletal efficiency! The legs produce force that will enable them to pass, shoot and tackle with more power, accuracy, and efficiency as neuro-muscular coordination improves!

Finally, increased agility and co-ordination, neuro-muscular coordination, derived from a lean body composition combined with increases muscle control.
During match play, the intensity and the fitness demands vary considerably from player to player, position to position. An outside midfielder or defensive back makes run after run attempting a service of the ball, taxing stores of glycogen (carbs converted for the body and stored in the liver). Sprinting down the wing, chasing a through ball, jogging back to position or waiting for the opposition to take a throw in, a corner or a goal kick all expend energy. Soccer-footskill training, and ball-control training, when linked with strength and fitness training, create an athlete difficult to stop, difficult to resist. Training should always involve the use of balls to develop and condition the muscles used during a match. On-ball training will condition players and will also improve their technical and tactical skills, while keeping them interested and entertained all at the same time.

So far we have defined fitness and all the components of conditioning needed for soccer. So how do we achieve soccer fitness? How do we become a a first-rate soccer player? We will answer that next! Repetition? Most professional soccer players train twice a day, 5 times a week, period. In order to gain, improve or develop, you must train regularly and often. “Practice makes perfect”? Nope! “Perfect practice makes practice perfect!”

To become a great soccer player you must train and condition your body more than your competitors or opponents. Simple as that. If you want to play at the next level, you need to train frequently and with intensity in all things. Intensity! Don’t just go through the motions. Warning! Too much high intensity training will lead to injury and fatigue. Train hard, but use common sense as well.

Resistance-Progressive Overload training should never be done alone, always make sure you have a workout partner and a spotter, always.

“Learn to walk before you run.” Training sessions should be designed to stress the player’s physiological mechanisms, enough to cause the body to adapt and improve. Gradually increase the workload of your training sessions to increase the player’s aerobic and anaerobic capacities.

Specific Training!

Training sessions must be sport-specific and sex-specific. Make sure you have workouts designed for soccer training sessions, not for marathons. During pre-season add balls to the training program. Also divide players into groups based on their position and train these groups separately. Small field and small-group play is often best for a number of reasons…it is usually the most intense!

“He who runs in circles never gets far”.

Recovery: training provides the platform and stimulus for increased performance but it’s during recovery that the bodies’ physiological mechanisms for growth and improvement are implemented and gained.

“It is a sublime thing to suffer and become stronger”.

Warning: Too long a break or too long a recovery period will lead to lost benefits, including cardio-vascular efficiency! Too short s period of recovery or multiple workout in a single day may lead to overtraining, fatigue, and injury. Find the right balance and the alter it every 4 weeks, without fail.

To summarize:

1. Soccer performance can be improved by sport-specific, sex-specific strength and fitness training and conditioning.
2. Components of fitness can be divided into aerobic, anaerobic, and focused individual muscle training.
3. Genetics, and particularly the phenotypic expression, plays a a major role in the overall performance but still requires training and conditioning to reach full potential.
4. Improvements in fitness depend on training methods and need to be specific.
5. Frequency, intensity, resistance-progressive overload and recovery all play a significant role in Soccer fitness and performance.

“I don’t believe in burnout. I believe in losing your appetite”. Are you still hungry?!

See you in the cheap seats!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

TAGS: soccer-specific training, sport-speciickids soccer fitness, soccer conditioning, soccer fitness, soccer fitness coach

Article shared and insight added with permission of Thomas Karapatsos.

Kljestan hat trick lifts U.S. over Sweden

CARSON, Calif. (AP) – Sacha Kljestan was asked whether he had heard of Aldo “Buff” Donelli, an early American soccer star who went on to become coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and college football teams at Duquesne, Boston University and Columbia. “No,” the 23-year-old midfielder said, “but he’s my amigo, now.” Kljestan became the first American to score his first three international goals in the same game since Donelli 75 years ago, leading the United States over Sweden 3-2 in an exhibition Saturday night. Making his 12th international appearance, Kljestan beat goalkeeper Johan Dahlin with a 34-yard free kick in the 17th minute, then converted a penalty kick in the 40th following a foul on Marvell Wynne by Adam Johansson. After Daniel Nannskog scored for Sweden on a diving 14-yard header in the 73rd, Kljestan made it 3-1 on a 12-yard shot a minute later off a pass from Brian Ching. Mikael Dahlberg put an 8-yard header past U.S. goalkeeper Troy Perkins in the 89th off Alexander Farnerud’s second assist.

“Getting a hat trick is pretty exciting for me,” Kljestan said. “I’ve never scored more than one goal as a professional in one game before.” Kljestan had just the 11th game of three or more goals for the U.S. national team, the first since Landon Donovan in a 3-1 win over against Ecuador on March 25, 2007. The only other American player to score his first three international goals in the same match was Donelli, who scored four times as the U.S. defeated Mexico 4-2 in a World Cup qualifier at Rome on May 24, 1934.

“Sacha has grown and I think that’s obvious,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “We continue to challenge him in every camp, but certainly we know that he’s a guy who’s always a strong candidate to be on the field.”

Kljestan plays for Chivas USA and was on his home field. He is just back from a training stint with Scotland’s Glasgow Celtic.

“I slept on the flight home and then my body adjusted real well,” he said. “I slept nine hours both nights I was back, so that was good. I’ve always prided myself on being fit, and I was glad I could go 90 minutes.”

Kljestan and Ching were the only regulars to start for the United States, preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Mexico on Feb. 11 at Columbus, Ohio. Midfielder Daniel Andersson was Sweden’s only player with more than 12 international appearances. Perkins made three saves to win his international debut. Major League Soccer’s goalkeeper of the year for D.C. United in 2006, Perkins plays for Norway’s Valerenga. Also playing for the United States for the first time were Columbus Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers and Real Salt Lake defender Chris Wingert.

Dahlberg, Dahlin, Johansson, Rasmus Elm and Gustav Svensson made their Swedish national team debuts. “It was a good test for us. The U.S. played a little bit better us in the first half,” said Sweden coach Lars Lagerback, whose team meets Mexico on Wednesday in Oakland.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES
Sat., Jan. 24
United States 3-2 Sweden Recap
Wed., Jan. 28
Mexico vs. Sweden Preview
Wed., Feb. 11
France vs. Argentina
Brazil vs. Italy
Spain vs. England
Austria vs. Sweden
Tunisia vs. Netherlands
South Africa vs. Chile

Note: Brian Ching and Sacha Kljestan were dominant, Kljestan in the midfield and Ching at forward. Kljestan’s final goal was poetry in motion. Ching collected a well played over-the-shoulder ball and put just enough pace on his service to Sacha that is was not really much of a surprise when the ball found the back of the net. Sweden’s two goals and two near misses came in the last 20 minutes of regulation and into the 3 minutes of stoppage time. The 2 Swedish goals found the back of the net after absolutely gorgeous balls were played across the goal mouth, both involved the outside midfielder, Mikael Dahlberg. The first, Dahlberg to Daniel Nannskog. Nannskog headed the ball in on a textbook, beautifully executed strike and then Dahlberg got the second goal in almost identical fashion. The near miss that would have tied the match was almost an instant replay of the two that found home. The final scoring threat for the USA came at 1:47 into stoppage on an impressive breakaway by Kenny Cooper that was eventually stifled by the Swedish goalkeeper when Cooper went wide, diminishing his angle and allowing the keeper time to recover and close down the distance between the two. It was a bright moment for a Swedish defense that was tested all night.

Coach Z
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

Check out: http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/pgStory?contentId=7698154#sport=USA&photo=9131378/ for more.