The Coach Diary Football Blog

Category: Irish Grassroots Football

  • Think Poland…..!

    Think Poland…..!

    With only a week to go before the EURO 2012 draw, if we all think hard about getting Group A so that we are based in Wrocław for all 3 games, we really don’t want to be moving cities for different games and being in Pot 4 if we get GA we will be the only team that gets to stay in the same city!

    At second best Group C with 2 matches in Poznan and 1 in Gdansk for the last group game. If we get Group B, that’s 2 games in Lviv and the last one in Kharkiv and then Group D is Kiev, Donetsk and then Kiev again….way to much travelling we don’t want that!

    Even as group runner up we get to stay in Poland…

    So big thoughts guys “What you think about can come about” We don’t want Ukraine….

    Wrocław here we come…..!

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  • SFAI have it all WRONG………..it’s time for change.

    SFAI have it all WRONG………..it’s time for change.

    Over the last few weeks we have all witnessed some outrageous scores in the SFAI cup and you only have to go to there website and click on any of the ages group to see how teams have absolutely demolished their opponents.

    Scores like 13-1, 10-1, 11-0, 12-0 our listed at u11s and the same for u12s and so on. The biggest score I saw was 16-0 and I only looked at 2 age groups.

    Children Suffer

    I just don’t see the point of cup football at such a young age, nobody likes to lose and certainly nobody goes out to lose, but to have to be endured a mauling by any team is both harmful and destructive for the promotion of the game. No child wants to lose never mind be beaten by over a dozen goals to Nil and this certainly won’t help the development of a player.

    What does this say about the SFAI?

    Well, it just shows how far removed they are from the game and from children of all ages. If they think that a child wants to be beaten in a cup game; a game where they stood no chance to compete in, even before the first whistle was blown, well, THINK AGAIN!!!

    These MEN and TWO WOMEN (as listed on the SFAI website) continue to prove how little they know about the UNDERAGE game in this country. National cup football is not good for the development of a child in any country and by all accounts in Ireland; and particularly at such a young age. If you look to Europe national cup competition doesn’t start until u14s.

    Going by some of the scores recorded this year it is both damaging to a player, a team and a club and I believe these types of scores have no place in kids football. Ok, freak scores can happen but we all know that a C or D team has little or no match for a Premier side.

    Time for change

    Something needs to be done and FAST, the age for National cup football should come in line with Holland, Germany and the rest of Europe. Once again we have proven that we have taken to doing things our own way and not even looking or accepting that in Europe they are doing it the right way. Kids come first, the focus is very much on the development of the player.

    Michael O’Brien and his Council need to wake up and seriously consider these cup competitions for the younger age groups. Every year children fall out of love with the game and with scores like the ones on their site, you don’t need to wonder way.

    Its getting embarrassing at this stage, C’mon it’s time to wake up and make the changes are kids game so desperately needs and national cup football at u12s is not the way. Wouldn’t these kids better off playing on smaller pitches with smaller numbers. Not adult size pitches with adult size goals. Never mind having to travel half the country to play an hour of football.

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    I always like to hear your opinions. Please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com. If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. Thanks for reading.

    I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

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  • Coaching workshops..Get Involved……!

    Coaching workshops..Get Involved……!

    Just wanted to update you on some great coaching course coming up. Unfortunately they are not run by TCD but I’m talking to some European Academy coaches about doing another one very soon. Would be delighted to hear what you would like the workshop to be about. Small sided games one, playing 11v11, playing abroad etc?

    So let me start with the……………….

    NDSL Coaches Club

    Back by popular demand….will be holding a coaching festival on Saturday 3rd December and Sunday 4th December at the…

    Oscar Training Centre

    • Registration on both days is at 12.00
    • Session commence no later then 12.30 and finishing at 3.30pm

    Saturday December 3rd

    • Will focus on those coaching the 11v11 game

    Sunday December 4th

    • Will focus on those coaching working within the 5, 7s and 9-a-side small side game.

    Topics to be covered include:

    • Dynamic warm-ups
    • Strength & Conditioning
    • Ball Mastery
    • Possession
    • Passing and Receiving Drills
    • Transition games
    • Attacking
    • Defending
    • Striking and Finishing
    • and a module on Goalkeeping

    Hand-outs on all session available on the day, the sessions can be adapted to suit everyone and as always a Q&A to finish.

    Academy Coaches taking the sessions include:

    • NDSL Technical Director: Mitch Whitty
    • NDSL SSG Technical Director: Ger Coughlan
    • NDSL A&D Sports Science Unit: Dave Martin
    • NDSL Goalkeepers Number 1 Club
    • NDSL  Academy Coach and Just for Strikers: Neal Fenn

    Cost: €15 for the weekend or €10 for the day

    New Members fee €60 (year) this will include the weekend, Coaches Club runs from December 2011 to December 2012 with session every quarter and bonus sessions also added to the calender year to accommodate guest coaches.

    For further info contact NDSL Direct

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    Coerver Coaching

    Youth Diploma Coming to Galway

    After the success of the first ever Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma to be held in Ireland in last August, a second course is now scheduled to take place in Galway on February 4th and 5th 2012.

    The course will take place at Mervue United F.C. and is open to coaches at all levels of the game.

    96 coaches from 26 different counties around Ireland attended the inaugural Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma at the Oscar Traynor Development Centre in Coolock, North Dublin in August. The diploma was instructed by Alf Galustian and Austin Speight.

    Alf is co-founder and International Director of Coerver Coaching as well as being the specialist technical skills advisor to the Premier League in England. Austin is the UK and Ireland Coerver Coaching Director.

    Coerver Coaching Ireland

    recently launched a channel on YouTube which allows coaches in Ireland to keep up to date with the latest coaching developments used by Coerver Coaching in Ireland and throughout the world. To view video footage from the Dublin Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma

    click on this link → www.youtube.com/coervercoachingIRL.

    Such has been the success of the diploma to date that Manchester United and Arsenal will hold the same course for their staff at both clubs in 2012. Jose Mourinho was also responsible for sending his first team coach Jose Morais (Fellow Portuguese) to Birmingham to attend the diploma. Since then Alf Galustian has travelled to Spain and Real Madrid are now integrating the Coerver Coaching method in to their first team training sessions.

    Coerver Coaching is also in the process of launching an Advanced Youth Diploma which will be coming to Dublin in the summer of 2012.

    The upcoming Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma which will take place in Galway will see former Scottish international Charlie Cooke make the trip to the west of Ireland to instruct on the course. Charlie Cooke is a co-founder of Coerver Coaching and was recently voted the second best player to play for Chelsea, finishing behind Gianfranco Zola. During his time at Chelsea Charlie won the FA Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971 defeating Real Madrid in Athens.

    In the UK,

    Coerver is widely regarded as the No.1 programme for educating coaches and developing top class technical players. The Premier League has appointed Coerver Coaching to provide a training programme for all academy coaches, with a heavy technical focus – the key foundation upon which other parts of the game can be built. This places Coerver at the forefront of player development.

    Globally,

    Coerver Coaching has a prestigious heritage in the game, operating in 28 countries and having contributed to the development of hundreds of professional players around the world over its 27 year history. They are endorsed by some of the biggest names in football including Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Liam Brady, Franz Beckenbauer, and Gerard Houllier, as well as national associations such as the French Football Federation, the Spanish FA, the English FA, Football Federation of Australia, and the Japanese FA.

    The cost

    of the Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma is €229 and includes the new Coerver Coaching 5 DVD set Session Planner worth 70 Euro.

    For more information

    Please email anthony.oneill@coerver.ie or call mobile 087 949 6293.

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  • Poland Bound

    Poland Bound

    Off to bed now, up early for a flight to Warsaw tomorrow morning with David from DBSports Tours…This should be a very exciting trip…looking forward to meeting coaches from various clubs and countries from around the world!

    Thanks for inviting us!!

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  • Using a high pressure game…

    Using a high pressure game…

    My good friend and Coach Mark O’Sullivan from footblogball in Sweden recently post some game analysis on his YOUTUBE page. I picked this up and then asked him, to explain…

    “We played one of the better teams(ie taller than us 😉 ) in Stockholm last week and we beat them 6-0!!! Their manager was a bit in shock but was very gracious and very  positive as to how we played the game. We decided to go for an aggressive high press for the first half and try and win the ball as high up the pitch as possible”.

    BOO FF v VASALUND 1st half

    [media id=19]

    “We played a high pressure 4-3-3 for the first time during this game. We worked on it in training plus the dynamic transition between defence and attack .We played à slightly lower press in the 2 nd half as we were winning 2-0 . This frustrated them into doing hurried passes in the middle of the park where we broke up the play and tried as quickly as possible to get behind there defensive line making them face their own goal”.

    BOO FF v VASALUND 2nd half

    [media id=20]

    Mark also send me a pdf of some of the players movements and phases of play during the 1st half.

    pdf »BOO FF v Vasalund

    http://www.youtube.com/user/footblogball

    Thanks Mark, great stuff

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  • Euro 2012 Draw

    Euro 2012 Draw

    After tonight’s win you’re probably wondering  about the draw. The draw itself, which takes place in Kiev at 1700 GMT on December 2, will see the 16 qualifiers placed into four pots of four.

    Top Seeds

    Three of the four seeds, who will make up the first pot, are already known. Poland will be in Group A (this is the one we want), with their co-hosts Ukraine in Group D. As defending champions, Spain will also be seeded.

    The other seeded team will be the one highest in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system. As the rankings stand now, that would be the Netherlands, but as already indicated, the list will be updated before December’s draw and as we know from how the playoff went in our favour, its highly likely we will see a surprise.

    The remaining teams will be divided into pots using the coefficient ranking. England are currently fifth in the list so are on course to be in the second pot, as playoff winners we are most likely to be in the fourth pot.

    The Finals

    The finals get under way on June 8 next year with the final on July 1. Matches at the event will kick-off at 1700 and 1945 BST.

    16 Teams going to the Finals

    Hosts: Poland, Ukraine

    Group winners: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain

    Best runner-up: Sweden

    Play-off winners: Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Republic of Ireland

    Group of Death: Spain, England, Portugal, Ireland

    Pot 1: Ukraine (hosts), Poland (hosts), Spain (holders), Netherlands

    Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia

    Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Sweden, Portugal

    Pot 4: Ireland, France, Czech Republic, Denmark

    Whats your choice?

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  • C’Mon IReland…

    C’Mon IReland…

    So you might be wondering how did we end up as top seed and what it all means. Well, to start…..winning this qualification means so much more then going to Poland/Ukraine next summer. I’ve been trying to figure out how we managed to secure a top seed, when all the conditions to be a seeded team were not in our favour.

    For instance….

    Each nation’s coefficient was generated by calculating the following:

    • 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying group stage.  40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and final tournament. 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stage and final tournament.
    • The seedings were as follows: Croatia 32,723 – Portugal 31,202 – Ireland 28,203 Czech 27,982 – Turkey 27,601 – Bosnia 27,199 – Montenegro 21,876 – Estonia 20,355.
    • Only Portugal Qualified for 2010 World Cup lost to Spain in the last 16
    • Euro 2008 Saw Portugal, Turkey, Czech and Croatia Qualify. Turkey got to the semi’s.

    Strange, how we managed to be the 3rd placed team never mind being a seeded team..anyway, who cares!!!

    Who Benefits if we Qualify

    • FAI Stand to gain over 12m – 8m to qualify – another 4m to come out of the group – Qualification would be a timely financial boost to Abbotstown, given the FAI’s approximate €40 million debt incurred on the rebuilding of Lansdowne Road. Also the Future of soccer in Irelands rest on them receiving this money. Many of the FAI’s future programmes need these funds to succeed so it is vital for the future of the game in this country that we get through these 2 ties.
    • In March, Uefa also announced a lucrative television rights pooling fund which would benefit their 53 member nations by a minimum of €40 million over its four-year term from its introduction in 2014.
    • So having the likes of Germany, Sweden, Austria in our WC qualifying group will also stand to us financially.

    Do it for Ireland

    All that said, lets give the boys in Green our full support, whether you like our style of play or Traps strange squad selections (he must be respected for all he has achieved so far in football but still believe he could be getting more out of this lot) or even the fact that our CEO John Delaney fat salary of 400k is and always was completely ridiculous. Someone recently told me that, It’s four times the prize money for the winners of the national league AND  it’s more than the entire prize fund for ENTIRE league and i’m sure there’s not many countries where the CASH PRIZE  for the top league is dwarfed by the salary of the head of the FA.

    In fact he is paid more then Barrack Obama, Kenny and Cameron and 4 times the salary CEO of the Scottish FA!

    Thats 2.6million for the CEO and senior management team….That is a lot cash…considering most young kids playing football have never experienced the feeling of supporting Ireland in a Euros or WC……

    As you can see winning these games means so much more then a summer in Poland……it will dictate the development of the game in this country for the next 4-5 years, the intention fo this post was to take about the game, how did I end up talking about JD’s outrageous salary……………..?

    C’Mon IREland!!!

    I’ll have one eye on Portugal! 🙂

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