The pace of D1 college soccer

[LASTMAN14]

I hope you know that your DD knows much more about the game than you do because your ignorance of the game is astounding. Limited substitutions is one of the biggest defining characteristics of soccer. In the old days, there were no subs. Talk about tough.

The sub rule brings a balance to the game. Therefore as you mention it is a defining characteristic.

 

[LASTMAN14]

Awesome article. Thank you.

I recently heard my daughter’s coach explaining to her how to Hide her speed...

Similar?

Not quite, but a neat way to think of it. Its about making and seeing space on the field. Then knowing when to make runs and where. They used Messi and Firmino as examples because they play differently on teams with different tactics. Firmino uses his pace constantly while Messi picks his moments.

 

[LASTMAN14]

Player IQ sounds like a sports topic you might hear on those late night talk shows.

Exactly what is player IQ? I have not played soccer in a while, but do they actually have IQ tests now? If they have them for goalkeepers I would love to take one for old times sake!

I certainly can't play anymore, but I think my knowledge of the position is still intact!

If you apply IQ to academics, IQ does not always match real performance.

Is this so for soccer players as well?

But if there is no test, which I really believe is the case, how do you measure a players IQ in comparison to their team mates, all other things being equal?

Could this determine who makes a roster, or determine who starts?

So I have to assume that a players IQ is real like you suggest, but exactly how it's measured is simply not clear.

I would imagine that a sports psychologist who specializes in any particular sport like soccer would be the only person that could make since of it.

You can say that soccer IQ is simply the correct/creative decisions made during the game. Players with higher IQ's will constantly make these plays again and again throughout a game.

 

[youthsportsugghhh]

I did not play much soccer, since it was not available in the small town we moved to. Your DD plays at a higher level than you ever did, hence she knows the game better than you. My kids know way more about the game than I do. The current college substitution rules allow hockey style line changes favored by Anson Dorrance at UNC. I personally feel that is an ugly style of soccer that does not prepare our players for the world game. We have an amazing sports infrastructure for college athletes, and the NCAA ruins it for soccer. If there were fewer substitutions and the season was not so compact, there would not be a need for such large rosters. Smaller rosters would be less expensive also. Since we have so many English youth coaches in the US, it is not surprising that we play with an English flavor. I look forward to the time when we have our own homegrown generation of coaches, and especially to the time when the generation they coach become coaches.

not sure how the rules allow hockey style line changes -- never seen it happen. Hockey forward plays 40-60 second shift then off the ice for 80-120 seconds as the 2nd and 3rd lines play then back onto the ice and that is repeated for 20 minutes. How is that like soccer?

Why are large rosters a problem? Not all of the players on the roster are getting money or traveling with the team. They get to continue playing the sport they love, maybe it helps them get into a school that maybe they wouldn't have before.

Most College players aren't going to the world stage anyway -- the ones that are have been at top clubs and have been invited to national camps before they get to college. College can also allow those late bloomers bloom and try to play professionally after if they choose where it might have not even been on the radar before college.

Coaches coach to the players that they can get -- I have never attended a Club or College soccer practice where the drills were to just have the defenders drive the ball 50 yards down the field and have the forwards run onto it. They coach technical in practice and to results in games. Stanford, NC, USC, Florida State... get the cream of the crop and others get a mixture, so when IVY league team playing top 5 team if they play out of the back they are smothered and frustrated and lose 6-0. If they play get it the F out, they still lose, but maybe get a shot or 2 and lose 3-0.

Sports IQ is definitely a thing and comes into play when someone makes a play that you didn't see coming. Not the shot from 20 yards out or the sick maradona to split defenders -- more like the passes and moving the ball and body into spaces before others can and react.

This post has gotten longer than I like -- but back to the original question -- the college game could possibly look faster depending on who you are watching and the skill level of 1 team over another. However the overall ability of the athletes on the field is definitely not up to the pace of top level professionals no matter the size of the fields, even if it doesn't look like it on the field.