The mind of Herdman, a Group of Yum, and a listener from Antarctica
Plus jokes like "will Jesus make Paul famous?"
This newsletter is way overdue, so I’ll just quickly point to our latest episode, “Herdman’s secret plans & Berhalter’s last interview,” and recommend it.
That show is Greg and me discussing a tactical presentation Canada men’s national team coach John Herdman gave to a bunch of Canadian soccer coaches in 2020. If you have any interest in coaching soccer at all, you’ll probably find it interesting. Unfortunately we can’t share the video, but we can share what’s in it, and without giving away the whole episode, here are some parts we found interesting.
1. Canada aims to be tactically adaptable. This is a key component of the whole program, from the U12s to Atiba Hutchinson, and it’s an emphasis for them in a way that it’s clearly not for the U.S. Our aim is to impose and dominate through possession, mostly. That’s fine. But there are two distinct approaches at work here.
2. Canada does seem to have a cohesion from youth national team to national team that the U.S. men’s program lacks. Fingers crossed! Maybe we are improving on this front. U.S. Soccer announced the hiring of a U15 boys coach today.
3. Perhaps the key metric Herdman and his staff use — and they measure a lot of stuff — is the “advance platform,” or AVP. Whenever a player has the ball at his feet, running at or behind an exposed back line, that’s an AVP. These are counted and credited to players and coaches, and we found the concept useful. You may not get any xG from an AVP, but you’d have to consider it a tactical victory to get in those spots even if your players don’t always create chances from them.
4. Canada’s aim when in a set defense is to prevent opponents from moving the ball into their final fourth of the field more than 80% of the time, and while I still haven’t been able to count it all up, I think it’s unlikely they succeeded in this against the U.S., which is a small silver lining from that discouraging afternoon in Hamilton.
5. John Herdman seems like a fantastic leader, teacher and coach. (Not saying Berhalter seems bad in these ways, just that Herdman seems especially good.) I didn’t mention this in the podcast, but there was a moment in the presentation when someone asked a question anonymously on the Zoom call, and Herdman scolded the person. He said there should be no anonymity, people should not be afraid to stand up and be counted, and they should all be trying to get better together. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff. Principles displayed in a moment of tension, with poise and a bit of a flourish.
There’s a lot more in the episode. Also, please check out my conversation with Jay Hernandez from mid-week. He’s a key player in the online conversation about the USMNT, a quite good pundit if you’ve ever heard him on a Twitter space late at night, and just a “cool dude,” to borrow a phrase from him.
I’ve got an Eryk Williamson interview coming in the next couple days, a conversation scheduled for Monday night with Athletic UK writer John Muller, and, of course, our first patron-only Monday Review on the way. So it’s busy times at Scuffed Global and we’re grateful for that. Hoping to celebrate with many of you next month in Orlando. We move.
- Belz
Midweek Minutes / Discord Download
By Coach Beard
Brenden Aaronson (90) in the much anticipated clash between America’s little brother and Germany’s big brothers that ended RB Salzburg 1, Bayern Munich 1. Aaronson was energetic and threatening - showing why he’s gathering interest from some of Europe’s top leagues. He also made the scoresheet, assisting in Salzburg’s only goal, and Watke wants you to know it was 100% intentional. Bayern know what to do when someone plays well against them;
Cristian Roldan (90) and Jordan Morris (89) in the Sounders 0-0 draw for the away leg of their Concacaf Champions League tie with Honduran side CD Motagua.
Konrad de la Fuente (68) with 2 key passes and 100% passing accuracy in Marseille’s 3-1 Europa Conference league win. Worth noting that he had two good set piece deliveries from corners, one of which led to a goal.
It was good to see Gio Reyna (45) back in action and playing well despite Dortmund losing 4-2 to Rangers, while James Sands (24) came in at center back for the Glaswegians to see out the win.
Tyler Adams (45) in a 2-2 home draw against Real Sociedad in the Europa League round of 32. According to the hive on Discord he was playing a strange centerback role.
Sergiño Dest (9) in Barcelona’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Napoli. With Dani Alves not in the Europa League squad, this was a blow to our hopes of minutes for Serg.
How to watch soccer on the good vibes side of the bus:
FC Dallas excitement is growing with Jesus Ferreira, Paul Arriola, and Paxton Pomykal featuring together in preseason:
A new, you could say classical, theory emerges on John Brooks continued camp omissions:
And finally, yes the Scuffed podcast gets questions from all seven continents how dare you question your own reach Mr. Belz:
Mailbag: Eat Your Opponents
From Evan in New York: “My friends and I started a game day tradition/superstition of eating the local cuisine of whatever country the US is playing against. Since starting during the Jamaica home match, the US has won every game where we've given this our best effort — we botched Panama, Jamaica away, and Canada. If the US qualifies for the World Cup, what’s your ideal opponent that provides the best combo of tasty cuisine + winning chances? (Must be a country that has a reasonable chance to qualify)
P.S. our top choices were Japan, South Korea, Peru, or Turkey”
First off, a brilliant tradition. And frankly one I may need to apply to our Mexico away match with a little help from some small-batch Mexican tequila I brought home from a cruise last week. As for the big dance later this year, here’s my top three — a Group of Yum, if you will.
Among the teams who have already qualified for Qatar, I’d argue the best combo of desirable cuisine and competitive balance goes to South Korea out of the Asian Confederation. Mark me down for anything with bulgogi, personally.
From UEFA, we are still awaiting the last round of home-and-away playoffs in late March to determine their final entrants to Qatar. But of those playoff contenders, it’s hard to overlook Italy — a beautiful country with endless bounty of wine, cheese, balsamic vinegar and 3-star restaurants. And a proud footballing nation with the European Championship in hand, but an aging squad that has not figured out the right personnel in attack. Potential prey for a young and hungry USMNT side.
Finally, there’s CAF, who will also hold their final round of qualifying matches in late March. The matchups — and the future match-day meals — look highly desirable. It’s a hard choice. But I must go with Morocco should they make it to Qatar. I will take my pork tagine with a generous side of couscous.
- Matt Mitchell, aka @MJM-borne69
Weekend Playbill
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