Read Part 1 here
Developing Elite players is a skill when it comes to coaching. There is more to it than simply throwing down a bunch of soccer balls, putting on a session and determining that one player is better than the rest. Technical, Tactical, Physical, Psychological and Social aspects all come into play. In recent years, it seems that no one has done a better job of this than the nation represented by the reigning World Cup champions, and women's World Cup 4th place team, Germany.
To give you a brief understanding of the history behind the current German Development philosophy, back in 1990, West Germany (the Berlin Wall had been knocked down but the Football Federations were still separate entities) were crowned World Champions, beating Argentina 1-0 in the final. At Euro 96, they were crowned European Champions. Roll forward 4 years to Euro 2000, and they finished bottom of their group, with 2 defeats and a draw to show for themselves. An investigation went in to why the performance was so bad, why the players were not able to replicate the same form and levels as the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and current USMNT head coach (and USSF Technical Director) Jurgen Klinsmann. The investigation brought together the DFB (German abbreviation for German Football Association), the Bundesliga (Germany's equivalent of the Premier League ) and the professional clubs.
One of the key aspects that the DFB introduced was the Talent Development Program in 2002, which consisted of 390 development centers designed to work with young players on technical skill - passing, receiving, finishing, ball manipulation - and tactical understanding - decision making, positioning, awareness. Similar to the Premier UK Elite Developmental Program, the Talent Development Program allowed players from Academies as well as Local Travel Clubs to attend. By combining the 2 groups, this meant that local players were allowed to receive high level training, as well as work alongside those who were playing at a higher level to help improve their speed of play, speed of thought and understanding of the game, with the opportunity to progress to a higher level team if they were able to improve to the desired level. Academy level players were able to receive a different view point a compared to their clubs "play the (insert club here) way" and, no doubt, develop their leadership skills by working with less able players (as mentioned in part 1, personality plays a big part in being an Elite soccer player).
What made this program all the more impressive and worthwhile was that the 2 teams that competed in the 2013 Champions League final (Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - both German) had a combined 26 players on their rosters who came through the Talent Development Program. As far as additional training being a benefit goes, that takes some beating!
Similar to the Spanish and the Dutch, the DFB believe that technical skills are the cornerstone for all players. Size and speed cannot compensate for this at Elite Level. Robin Dutt, Sporting Director of the DFB stated that size was important for defensive players, but they still need to be able to play with the ball at their feet, citing German International Mats Hummels as a prime example. If a player cannot control a ball under pressure, strike a ball cleanly, manipulate a ball to keep it from the opposition and pass a ball accurately and with the correct weight, they will have a ceiling on how far they can go in the game. Similar to American Football, fast strong players are important, but how effective can a Running Back be if he has butter fingers?!
The German system sees competitive soccer introduced at U12, very different from the British model and something that we seem to have agreement with in the US. Players need to learn that some games are there to be won, and learning the will to win is a key component in Premier UK's philosophy, but as Dutt says, it is not the main priority between U8-U14, "the main thing is to do good training." One of the challenges we face in the US is the competitive nature of not just the players, but the adults as well (coaches and parents). With limited time at practice (on average, 2 sessions a week), having the patience to focus on the long term development of each player as opposed to looking at the short term gains of winning a game is difficult. As a result, technical development is often overlooked for tactical performance. Sadly, certain tactics cannot be applied without good technique. Asking a team to switch the field is all well and good, but if a player cannot play a cross field pass, the success of this is unlikely. Technical training centers allow for these skills to be developed, without the pressure of the "need" to win.
Similarly with the Germans in 2000, it seems that after every international tournament, the English Football Association (FA) go through their very own investigation as to why the National team struggles. Rather than looking at things long term, the here and now seems of most concern. Of course the mentality of the nation doesn't help, seemingly happy to criticize the National team at the drop of a hat. The last tournament, Euro 2016, was no exception. For years supporters have said they wanted new blood in the team instead of the same players who had let us down previously. With England having one of the youngest squads in the competition, we once again struggled, with certain fans citing a "lack of experience". You can't please everyone.
The FA's Director of Elite Development, Dan Ashworth, has recently introduced an "English DNA" model, designed to incorporate the characteristics that each England player and team should have going forward. First and foremost, the long term aim of the England DNA is to create winning senior teams, with the performance of the development teams being the main aim. Though this should be the focus of every coach working with young players, learning the will to win is surely an important mentality for players to have. The Academy system in England currently does not have competitive league play until U18, which, looking at the Spanish and German models (the last 2 World Cup winners) is too late. Some clubs have taken it upon themselves to enter their Academy teams into tournaments to allow players to feel that pressure to win games, learn about managing games and develop that will to win, but with how the game schedule runs, this is hard to do on a consistent basis.
As with most nations, the FA have declared that players need to be technically proficient, capable of receiving, turning, traveling with the ball, passing over varied distances, finishing and heading, withe the aim of developing these skills at a young age. Looking at these well known soccer countries, it has to be taken as a given that technical development is of paramount importance when developing Elite players. If players cannot control the ball, the team cannot possess the ball effectively. If they cannot combine passes with one another, they will struggle to break down opponents. If they cannot use 1 v 1 moves and turns, panic ensues and the ball will be lost.
There is little doubt, looking at some of the most successful soccer nations in history in terms of the players they have produced and how they are producing players now, that technique is the foundation. Tactical decision-making is not far behind as well as creating strong psychological aspects of each player.
Next week will look at the US Development model, South American influence and the role that adults, both parents and coaches, have in the development of Elite soccer players.
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