I have been following various teams training for the World Cup. Some looked like track practice. The question you must ask is: What are
you getting fit for? Are you getting fit for a 6 minute run test or for the
match? You must run with a purpose, running willy nilly around the pitch is not
rewarded. Soccer is basically a big physical chess game where creating and
exploiting space is rewarded. That requires more than just being able to run forever.
Johan Cruyff, Dutch star from the Seventies and later very successful coach put
it quite well: “Don’t run so much, you have to be in the right place at the
right moment, not too early, not too late.” The message is simple train for the
match, not what you think is occurring , but what is actually happening.
3 Comments
Howard
I am assuming you have seen the video on the US preparations, it made me cringe. You are right, the question is what/why, especially at this stage in the season!
I hope, even as an Englishman, that the video is not an accurate representation of what really is going on at the US MNT camp.
DanZ
can you share the url’s
thos
I know you don’t like to share specifics for fear of people following the program blindly but this entry really piqued my curiosity in to what you would recommend (I’m a track/XC coach by the way, not a soccer coach). But it seems to me that soccer–especially if you are playing midfield–is basically two 45 minutes fartleks so one would need to have a pretty high level of aerobic fitness (I’ve been more gassed from play soccer than I have from doing track workouts but then maybe I wasn’t following Mr. Cruyff’s advice:) much more so than a 6 minute run test. It seems to me that to learn what Cruyff advises would come mostly from game experience than practice anyhow. Much like learn when to surge in a race is something you can only learn by racing really on Anyway, as I said, just curious and I have no idea as to what the training you were referencing. Enjoy the blog, though sometimes it reminds me of one of those zen koans: Does a horse have Buddha Nature? Neigh! and I come away with more questions then answers–but I think that’s the point.