You don’t hear it very often, or maybe you hear it all the time, but don’t reflect. Nonetheless, when you do hear it from time-to-time and understand it, you bask in the sublime glow of that age old soccer adage—keep it simple.

It couldn’t have come at a better time. George Boateng, Dutch International and EPL veteran, just recently gave an interview in which he reminded the world about that very soccer paradox.

When asked about the best advice he ever received, the EPL’s Middlesbrough captain, gave insights into his professional development, speaking about Ronald Koeman’s suggestion and insistence to keep the game simple.

He even added to this enigma by reminding everybody that while the idea sometimes seems too simple, it’s difficult to understand.

Think upon all the youth games that you have experienced, where the simple pass (i.e. the 5 yrd. square ball) was overlooked for the “golden” or “hopeful” ball that is forced and encouraged continually on fields across America.

There is a Soccer Fallacy within the American game which states that a player must be moving to receive a pass; moreover, 9-out-of-10 times the pass is always assumed to be a forward pass.

Remember coaches, as you kick-start this new season, to reinforce short, triangular passing; transition passing from the defense to midfield, and then to the forwards; as well as, encourage take-overs and quick one-twos to move the ball quickly and deceptively across the field. If you stay true to this “simple” approach, you will be rewarded with games that go way beyond the predictable single-pass approach, and be able to open up the game for quality expression and even the spectacular.

Americans will always compete. The question is when will the U.S. understand the game? When we can answer that, medals will not be far behind.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 2:38 am and is filed under Soccer World, Rick Wall (Head Editor), Front Volley (Ezine). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.