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Another off the Argentine assembly line of New Maradonas, Lionel Messi may be the first to live up to that unfair comparison. Where Javier Saviola, Juan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar have unsurprisingly failed to match HIS high standards despite initial promise, Messi has shown that even at a young age he is able to carry the weight of expectant teammates and a nation on his shoulders.

Credit must also be given to his barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard for not rushing him into a starting place at barcelona he is more than ready to hold.

"It is clear Messi is a talent, a future player, but I ask that everyone continues supporting him when he is out of the team because he is still very young." Rijkaard said in a recent interview. He continued:

"I'm convinced about him because I know he isn't paying attention to all the speculation in the media."He prefers to do his talking on the pitch.

In fact his three goals and one assist in nine league starts for barcelona this season to add to his goal and assist in the UEFA Champions league back up his coaches claim, and at 18 years young we are only just starting to see glimpses of his enormous potential. Messi states:

"I want to keep on learning and I ho...more

Those Crazy Football Rules

... years of the Korean War. When I was there, the losses were lower than before I got there and after I left.)

The above is called by football commentators a sidelight. I don't like sideline sob stories (or human interest stories) while watching television football any more than you liked the above sidelight.

Anyway, my wife has taken up football. After resisting for 70 years she finally gave in. She cant believe that she now likes football. What I mean is: She has not suited up yet. She likes to watch it on television. Therefore we now talk about the game.

Im usually reading a book or doing a logic puzzle during the game, but she gives it her full attention and she gives me a steady stream of chatter that actually gets me interested in the game.

Today she asked me about penalties and how they are applied. The penalty she was talking about was when Seattle had Carolina on the one yard line. It was a 5-yard procedural penalty. That meant the ball would be put half the distance to the goal. I said, I think that should be an automatic safety. The ball should be placed on the minus 4-yard line. Now I know...more

Soccer Team Strategy With 5-5 Positional Set Up

.../p>5, midfielders,

Two outside/wing players who dominate the sides of the field. They also act as attackers creating many scoring opportunities for their teams.

These are hard working players and a usually super-fit. However sometimes after a few runs on the side these two can switch with the two inside players for a rest.

If this is possible, the team can keep their opponents confused and always looking for changing plays and positions.

This type of positonal play can not be defended by a man-on-man team defense. This requires a good zone defense and a constantly communicative team.

The 2 inside players are usually defensive in ...more

Soccer Systems of play, Team Formation and Positional Set up, 4-4-2

...4-4-2
Defense;

4, defenders are usually arranged as outside left, inside left, inside right and outside right.
The most recent idea is to have them lined up in a banana shape with the middle of the curve closest to the goalkeeper and the outside defenders, the points, slightly ahead but behind the midfielders.
As this is the shape of a banana the defenders can see one another usualy all the time.

Some considered the flat back option but this means much more communication from the capitain of the defense usually one of the insiders.
The general idea is to have the two defenders attend to the attack coming in from their side.

This means that the opposite outside tucks in a little to cover the center of the field covering the goal and any incoming additional attacking opponents.
When the team has possession the defenders would then play wide to st...more

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