Real Salt Lake just opened the doors to their new stadium and it is amazing. It is a top of the line soccer specific stadium, and I feel so lucky to have it in my community. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this stadium, and I don’t want to get into the details about it here. I feel as though this will be a great benefit to our community, and will help attract many performers and sporting events to Utah. Kenny Chesney is already signed to perform at Rio Tinto stadium next July, and the USA Rugby team will play Uruguay this November. Although it is soccer-specific it will be used for many events and it will be something everyone in the community can enjoy at some point. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see this stadium if you have the chance!
Click here to view the stadium and purchase tickets for upcoming events.
The men’s soccer team recently lost to England in the famous Wembley Stadium. I am a die hard US Soccer fan and it is frustrating to see them struggle in big atmospheres. They struggled in the last World Cup and it seemed as if they were shocked to be there the whole time. It seemed that way against England and they lost 2-0. What do they need to do to get back on track and focus for big games? Landon Donovan sat out this game with a sore groin and that could have caused them to struggle up front, but a national team should not rely on one player alone. What do you guy’s think the US Soccer team needs to do to step it up and compete in big games?
The only US game I have been to was a qualifier for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. They came to Utah and played Costa Rica. The US team dominated the game and Landon Donovan had 2 goals en route to an easy victory for the US. It was very exciting to cheer for my country in a match and I look forward to the time I have the opportunity to cheer them on again in person. It doesn’t matter what country you are from it is always exciting to cheer your team on in an athletic event! I recommend you go if you have not had the chance before. It was the greatest sporting event I have ever been to and hopefully someday I will be able to go cheer them on in the World Cup!
I would love to hear your responses on what the US team needs to do to compete in big games. I would also love to hear any stories you may have about cheering on your national team and what it feels like to watch them play in person.
I apologize for all of the posts recently about David Beckham. I live in Salt Lake City and recently Beckham and the Galaxy visited to take on Real Salt Lake. I am not a Real Salt Lake fan because they have not been very good since they started and have done nothing to get me excited to go watch them play. I have always liked the LA Galaxy because of Cobi Jones. He was my favorite US player growing up and I love the way he played! It was amazing watching this game and it reaffirmed my belief that Beckham will have a positive impact in the MLS.
In the first couple minutes Real came out strong and scored 2 goals to take an early lead. I thought Real was going to dominate the Galaxy and pick up an easy victory - then David Beckham took control of the game. He hit a shot from his outside position that was one of the greatest goals I have ever seen in person. I only say one of the greatest goals because a couple minutes later he scored off one of his famous free kicks. His free kick goal was probably the greatest goal I have seen in person with his outside shot coming in a close second. I have seen him bend a lot of free kicks on TV, but there is something about witnessing it in person. It is incredible what he makes the ball do and I feel bad for any goalie that has to try and stop it. Both of his goals caused the Real Salt Lake fans to cheer due to the fact they had witnessed some remarkable goals. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, and it was great to finally witness Beckham play in person. He may be losing a step and he is not as fast as he once was, but he makes up for it with his intelligence.
It was agreat experience and I am glad we went as it was Beckham’s best game since he has been in the MLS. It was his first game in the MLS that he scored 2 goals. If you have the opportunity to go watch David Beckham play this year I would recommend it. He is a great player and it would be very beneficial for younger players to watch him and study how he moves with and without the ball.
I know for my wife the best part was at the end when he took off his shirt and gave it to a lady sitting on the front row. The stadium was pretty loud when he scored the goals, but it didn’t compare to when he took off his shirt. All of the ladies at the game started screaming and cheering for him. It was pretty funny to watch the ladies stick around after the game taking pictures of him.
I had an Indoor game last night and we were playing the top ranked team in our league. It was the last game of the season and they were undefeated leading up to our game. They were a lot younger than our team and all around they had better players. We played very hard and led most of the game, which shocked them a little bit. We could tell they were getting very frustrated and we continued to attack. It was a close game and we were up 3-2 with 2 minutes to play.
In our league when a team commits 6 fouls the other team gets a penalty shot, the shooting player can dribble and try and beat the goalie one-on-one. All of the other players have to be behind half field, but once the ball is touched they can rush down the field. So with 2 minutes to go, they commit their 6th foul. I was selected to take the kick by my teammates, I usually take them when I am in because I had not missed up until last night’s game.
I have the same routine every time, I touch the ball to the right to get the goalie leaning that way and then I rip a shot to the left. The goalie is always off balance and the left side of the goal is open. Last night I set the ball, the ref blew the whistle, I touched the ball to the right, the goalie did exactly what I wanted him to, I ripped my shot and watched it bounce off the wall right next to the goal. I tried to recover and get the ball back, but their team had recovered and stopped any attack we had. To make matters worse it proved to be a turning point in the game as the momentum turned in their favor. They scored 2 quick goals to go up 4-3 and we lost the game by a point. I could not apologize to my team enough after the game, and I am still frustrated about my shot.
It was one of those moments where I wish I could try the shot again. I have hit a ton of those penalty shots, and I don’t know how I was so far off. I will use it as a learning experience and make the rest of them from now on.
What do you do to prepare for your penalty shots? I feel it is important to have consistency and do the same thing every time, I would be interested to hear the different things people do to prepare for a penalty shot. Leave a comment and share what works for you and how we can all improve on penalty shots.
David Beckham is doing well with the L.A Galaxy this year and he will be visiting a city near you some time this season. He was named the MLS player of the week for his efforts in the second week of the season. He scored once and assisted another goal to lead the Galaxy to a 2-0 victory over San Jose. He is usually the one assisting the ball so it was great to see him finish one himself. His assist was to Landon Donovan and it secured the victory for the Galaxy. If these 2 players get it together this season they will definitely be in the mix at the end of the season. That is a deadly combination in the MLS with Beckham assisting to Donovan. Get your Beckham jersey today so you can be ready when he comes to play in your city. I am from Salt Lake and I would consider myself a Real Salt Lake fan, but I will be getting my Beckham jersey today. This is the greatest thing that has happened to soccer in America and I want to be apart of it. Critics will say that he will not affect soccer in America, but just the fact that they are discussing it proves he will have an impact. He is a celebrity and everyone wants to discuss celebrities. I am excited about what he has already done for the MLS, there is more excitement for this season than any other season the MLS has experienced.
Click on the jersey below to get your Beckham jersey today!
Click here to get your David Beckham jersey and be apart of MLS history!
I finally had a game after 2 weeks off, and of course I came down with the flu 2 days before the game. I was not feeling well at all yesterday, but I still wanted to see if I could play despite not feeling well. I got ready for my game and headed out the door. When I got there I could see we had enough guys there so they didn’t really need me, but I wanted to play anyway. I played one of the best games I have this season. I had a couple of assists and several stops on defense. Our team won, it was a great game and I was very glad I went.
Our team has struggled this year and this was the first game we really played well together and got the win. Granted it was only our third game of the season, but we usually do really well all season so the first 2 games were really frustrating. It felt good to win, but it felt better to watch good ball movement and communication amongst our team. It made me wonder; What motivates soccer players to play better? We have the same guys every game, but it seems one week they don’t care to do things the right way, then the next week they are motivated to play better. I don’t understand the mentality of players that quit once they are down. I will play as hard as I can when I am on the field the whole game no matter what the score is. I don’t need external motivation, I just love to play the game and don’t want to miss a chance to play. I have noticed some guys on my team do better when certain girls are in the stands watching, some players do better when they are mad, some players do better when a coach or teammate calls them out.
What is it that motivates you as a soccer player. I think every player is different so I would be interested to hear what motivates you. Leave a comment and let us know what you do to get motivated to play your best in a game.
I started playing soccer when I was 4 years old. I was one of the youngest guys on the team and I had no idea what I was doing. My brother’s played as well so I had seen a lot of soccer, but it was a lot different playing myself. I was told to play defense and so I went back and stood on the line for the goalie box and didn’t move. I would move laterally across the line, but never in front or behind it. For some reason I thought that playing defense meant I could only stay on that line and not go anywhere else on the field. I have come a long way since than and I have learned a lot about playing defense.
We all know that we don’t have to stay on the goalie box line when we are playing defense, but what are the limitations of a defender? How far can he go up before he is going to be in trouble on a counter attack? I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this. The best defenders I have watched usually act on their instincts. In indoor soccer I have seen defenders lead the league in scoring because they know when to go up and shoot and when to stay back and defend. A general rule of thumb is to make sure one person, usually the sweeper, is watching to make sure everyone will be covered in the event of the opposing team’s attack. A great sweeper will communicate a lot on the field and direct the defense with the goalies help.
A great team communicates well and moves together well. It takes unselfishness from everyone to be able to move together. When a defender makes a run from the back it is someone elses responsibility to move back and cover for him. This is what seperates good players from great players. Good players will continue to move up and go for the goal even if a defender is making a run. A great player will look out for the whole team and cover the defender while he makes the run. Having a defender move up from the back to attack the goal can be a great strategy and can pay off well if everyone moves together. Also, that is a lot of ground that the defender will cover. The defender will be tired and that is another reason why it is important to help out.
Great teams are willing to share the glory with each other. I have seen good players struggle on a team because they wanted the glory for themselves and did not even look how they could help their teammates. Keep your head up and plan your next move. Don’t always look straightforward, look back and see what you can do to help your team. Not only will your team improve, your coach and teammates will love playing with you because of this simple idea.
Please share your comments so we can all improve our game!
It has been over a week since I played my last game and I can’t wait to get out there and play again! I have to wait until next Friday before my next game and it is torture. Good thing the weather is nice outside and I can go out and play. I hope you are all having a great spring season and that your teams are doing well. I hope I can make it until next Friday night before I go crazy due to a lack of soccer!
I graduated from college with a Bachelors degree in Speech Communication. Needless to say I view communication as an important part of our lives. Communication can separate a good team from a great team. It is very important that your team communicates well with each other.
When I was playing recreation soccer I had a coach implement keywords to help us communicate on the field. They seem silly now, but at the time they were very helpful in teaching young soccer players to talk to each other while playing. The main word we were taught was “Peanut Butter” If you heard someone yelling that it meant you had a backwards pass available. As I grew up playing soccer I learned the value of communicating as a team. There should be constant chatter on a team to help each other in certain instances. Your team can use simple directions or alerts, such as ‘man on’ and ‘turn’ or ‘you have time’ to make playing so much easier. Good communication becomes more important as the game speeds up at higher levels. Great teams always communicate well with each other and help each other to know what is going on and what plays are available.
Not all communication is good for a team. I know this sound counterproductive to my statement that communication makes great teams. Communication is effective when it is positive and influences players to do well. There is a difference between yelling to another player and yelling at another player. It is important to make sure you are heard as you give direction to your teammates, this is yelling to another player. When you yell at another player you become a negative influence on the team and impact your team in the worst way possible. I have played with players that have a tendency to yell at their teammates and I will do whatever I can to encourage them to keep it positive. If they can’t keep it positive and continually yell at teammates you will find they don’t last on teams very long.
I was recently on a team that yelled at each other a lot, I would discuss it with the team and they would keep it positive for a little bit, but eventually would start yelling again. I eventually quit the team because it is not fun to be on a team like that. I was frustrated after games and we did not play to the potential we were capable of playing due to the negative feeling on the team. It is not beneficial for anyone to have those players on the team. If you are one of those players that is constantly yelling at your team, knock it off. You may hurting your team’s chance of ever being a great team. If you are on a team with someone that yells at your teammates a lot then talk to the player and possibly the coach about the problem. Taking care of the problem will result in a better environment for players to learn and be successful on the soccer field!
Tips for effective communication on the soccer field:
Communicate with your team and you will improve and grow as a team.
Use positive communication with your teammates.
Use keywords to tell your teammates what is going on and what plays are available to them.
Get rid of negative comments towards other players on your team.
Have fun and enjoy the greatest sport in the world!
I had an interesting indoor game last night, we lost the game by 2 points and it was a close and very competitive game. We started a little slow and they went up 1-0 in the first five minutes. We calmed down a little bit and scored three straight goals to take the lead by 2. In my honest opinion I feel that we had the better players and the better team. With about 10 minutes to go in the half we had a player obviously foul a player on the other team. The ref called the foul and my teammate threw a fit and threw the ball and started yelling at the ref. This resulted in a 2 minute penalty. It wasn’t even a close call, or a questionable call. The ref made the right decision to give him a 2 minute penalty and our team suffered. They scored during the penalty time and momentum had shifted for them. They carried that on and eventually beat us 7-5. We were playing a very aggressive style when we took the lead and when the player on our team received the 2 minute penalty we were forced to play back and conservative. This action resulted in a loss for our team in a game that we should have won.
If the ref calls a foul on you in a game and you disagree, do not throw a temper tantrum on the field. Ref’s are usually pretty reasonable and they will discuss the call with you if you would like. Calmly confront the ref and ask what the call was for and tell him you disagree and maybe in the future he will see it your way as well. You only hurt yourself and your team if you throw a fit in the middle of a game. If you get thrown out then the rest of your team is forced to play the game different than they had prepared for. Keep your cool and take it easy on the refs. Not only does throwing a fit hurt your team, it is childish and immature. I am always impressed while watching certain players play and seeing the respect they have for the game. I love to see a team pass the ball back to the other teams goalie after an injury has occurred and the opposing team kicks the ball out to stop play. Sportsmanship makes the game fun for everyone involved. I was extremely frustrated with our player throwing a fit after the call because it was a selfish move and cost us a winnable game. Play smart and keep your cool! I would love to hear any comments you have had during games where bad sportsmanship hurt your team. Also I would like to hear stories about good sportsmanship and how it has helped you enjoy the game more!
