I have watched and followed Sydney Leroux’s progress during the last two years.
At the 2008 FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, Leroux won the Golden Ball Award as the tournament’s top player.
Fast forward to 2010 and it is difficult not to notice that Leroux’s progress had halted. There are no doubts she has one strength to her game: speed. Speed, of course, is crucial in the modern women’s game, and you won’t get far without it.
Leroux is sheer speed and is very direct but what else is there to her game? What has happened to Leroux’s development during the last two years?
Watching her play in Germany it is clear that her combination play in the final third has not improved and perhaps even deteriorated in the last two years. Her ability to play with back to goal has not been obvious to me. Watching her movement in and around the box one can only conclude it is not good enough at this stage of her career and that more should be expected.
Her first touch needs improvement, her heading ability seems to be where it was in 2008 and tactically I question her progress.
Compare Leroux to tactically savvy German players. Bianca Schmidt, Kim Kulig and Alexandra Popp have already earned senior caps, while Desirée Schumann and Marina Hegering previously appeared in Chile, as did Schmidt and Kulig. Germany also have 18-year-old Dzsenifer Marozsan, a technically gifted sharp-shooter who won the adidas Golden Shoe at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2008 in New Zealand. They all appear to possess sophistication levels we all hoped Leroux will demonstrate by now.
Popp’s progress is a demonstration of German training system.
Two years ago, as a 17-year-old FFC Recklinghausen forward at the UEFA European Women’s U-17 Championship, Popp finished the tournament as top scorer. But she looked raw.
At that time German coach Ralf Peter said that Popp is not a natural predator. Popp moved to Duisburg and in two years made staggering improvements to her game. Today she looks to be one of the upcoming talents in the women’s game.
For European readers of this blog here are some non European players to watch in Germany next week. This list does not include Ghana and Nigeria players.
Yoreli Rincon – Columbia
Ingrid Vidal – Columbia
Stephany Mayor – Mexico
Katherine Alvarado – Costa Rica
Raquel Rodriguez – Costa Rica
Mana Iwabuchi – Japan
Annalie Longo – New Zealand
Ho Un-Byol – DPR Korea
Christine Nairn – USA
I have received flak from readers of this blog for stating in THIS INTERVIEW that “Right now despite the fact that WPS is based on athleticism and exciting disorganization, there still is plenty of individual talent… and I give WPS the edge.”
One reader wrote “Shek, i think it’s a case of envy when you say that WPS teams are disorganized.”
First of all my statement that WPS style of play is based on muscular, fast paced action, ball-surrendering, often tactically naive style is not criticism.
Just as there are differences between the Premier League and La Liga, there are differences between the WPS and the Bundesliga. The Frauen Bundesliga is about finishing and intelligence, and the WPS game is based on speed and instinct. Not better or worse; different.
Now to specifics. I will answer with help of the latest 2 MINUTE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO available from the WPS website. I will use just 2 examples.
First, look at Atlanta’s goal. The moment Atlanta’s goalkeeper comes out to deal with the cross, her left back should drop off and cover the goal. That’s fundamentals, yet only Katie Chapman appears to be aware.
Second, look at Chicago’s goal. A corner is played away from Atlanta’s goal to a player 25 yards away from goal. At this level all players and teams should recognize and respond by pushing out to top of the box thus forcing Chicago players away from goal or be left in an offside position. Notice on the video the reaction of Atlanta’s players positioned on top of the box.
These are two very naive goals to concede and in a low scoring game like football a team that gives away silly goals will not win trophies. And these are just two examples, there are others in a 3 minute video.
Everyone wants to play good attacking football but that can only be achieved when everyone knows their job defensively.
Kurochkina (3) and Barbashina scored.
| RUSSIAN SUPREME LEAGUE |
P |
W |
T |
L |
PTS |
GF-GA |
+/- |
| Rossiyanka |
14 |
13 |
0 |
1 |
39 |
50-10 |
+40 |
| Zvezda-2005 |
15 |
10 |
0 |
5 |
30 |
36-19 |
+17 |
| Izmailovo |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
25 |
20-13 |
+7 |
| Energia |
14 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
23 |
35-18 |
+17 |
| Ryazan |
15 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
15 |
19-33 |
-14 |
| UOR Zezda |
13 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
7 |
10-40 |
-30 |
| Kubanochka |
13 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
3 |
5-40 |
-35 |
Barbashina, Kurochkina and Dyachkova scored.
Our midfielder Valya Savchenkova has returned to us from national team duty with an injury she sustained last week. I am very disappointed with the way the Russian Football Union handled Savchenkova’s injury.
The Russian Federation, for unknown reasons, has decided to keep Savchenkova’s injury secret from us. She came back to Zvezda, the next day tried to have a run and gets a setback, and we have to deal with the consequences.
At no point did the coaches or national team doctors contacted us to let us know that she was injured or the extent of the injury. To make things worse, Savchenkova was forced to play the entire 90 minutes against Israel in a meaningless match.
In any country, the national FA has a responsibility to set example in the way they function and operate, the way they treat clubs and players. In this case the RFU has totally failed in their duty. They have been disrespectful and unprofessional throughout the whole affair.
With more and more American female players making Europe their destination I have heard of and have seen some troubling situations when it comes to agreements and understandings. As women’s football in Europe grows, bigger resources are available. Yet, in many countries American players are stereotyped as cheap, eager, naive and willing to take any deal.
I offer this unsolicited advice:
1. Have a FIFA licensed agent represent your interests. Things can and will go wrong. He or she will protect your interest.
2. Don’t trust anyone. Smiles, kind words and pleasant faces are misleading.
3. Even if you trust someone be involved in the process and aware of what is going on at all times.
4. Always get everything in writing.
5. Don’t move a muscle before all the details are explained to your satisfaction, finalized, approved and signed.
6. If you are going to play in a pro league and all is offered to you is room and board, they found a sucker.
7. If the other party tells you that’s all they can do because they don’t have much money, it’s better to move on.
8. Never take their first offer.
9. Don’t just let it go or settle on things. Protect your interests and demand what is contractually yours.
10. Always have a plan B.
Two things today.
Ukraine traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina and comfortably beat the hosts 5:0. Dasha Apamaschenko scored twice and Vera Djatel added one goal for Ukraine which sits third in Group 4. To say that this match was difficult for Anatoliy Kutsev’s team would be exaggeration.
I believe it was irresponsible to play both for nearly 90 minutes in a match effectively decided by halftime. I want the players to do well for their national team, but both left for Ukraine carrying small injuries and for both to play against Bosnia Herzegovina when the outcome was not in question after the first 45 minutes is questionable.
Me and Ramona Bachmann
While I stated in an interview that Switzerland can defeat Russia in Moscow, I feel strong that the blame for this loss should not be placed on Igor Shalimov. I based my opinion on what I have learned about players while coaching in Russia and not on any negative hopes. In March, Zvezda played against Swiss champions FC Zurich and many Swiss national team players play for Zurich. I have tried to sign Bachmann before and am familiar with Dickemann. That gave me a good picture of what to expect from this match.
Shalimov got his tactics right when he went 4-5-1 against Switzerlands 4-4-1-1 (with Dickemann playing just behind Bachmann) and I am convinced that Russia’s poor performance was a result of too many league matches, not the ability of the current manager.
Russian players looked lethargic and tired and that I believe is a result of playing league matches every four days. No other women’s league in the world does it.
Swiss manager Béatrice Von Siebenthal’s players, for example have been off for 3 weeks now and they looked fresher.
League schedule in Russia is too congested and because of this when there are serious matches players are at risk of not being at the level that people expect.
My players Tsybutovich, Savchenkova, Kurochkina, Djatel and Apanaschenko, between 4 June and 4 July will play 8 league and national team matches. With 5 injuries at Zvezda, these girls will play every four days, Add travel to this and they have no rest and we have no ability to properly train.
Schedule congestion is becoming a bigger issue as top women’s footballers play more and more matches. Between qualification matches for the World Cup, European Championships, the Olympics, the UEFA Women’s Champions League, domestic league and cup, our top players end up playing as many as 50 matches in one year, and most of it is concentrated in April through October.
Petra Hogewoning
Not such a good week as a defeat to Izmailovo mean we head into the international break wondering what could have been.
The game against Izmailovo was quite simply ‘one of those days’. We did everything but score, and their keeper has had one of those inspired games.
That said we acknowledge it’s all good and well creating chances but if you don’t take them it’s all irrelevant.
The game against Izmailovo was one to forget but despite not outplaying us, Izmailovo showed why they’ll be somewhere near the top this season. They played effective, not always the prettiest but certainly effective.
The week itself was a busy one with lots of time on airplanes and in airports and now with two week international break upon us we have no games till 28 June when we again travel to Moscow to take on Rossiyanka.
Monday, we will welcome three new arrivals who are well needed. One of them, Dutch defender Petra Hogewoning, has played every minute at the European Championships and helped Holland to semifinals where they lost 2:1 to England in aet. Petra will arrive immediately after Holland’s match against Norway on 19 June and with only 2 healthy defenders I can’t wait to see her.
With five regulars out with injuries we are having tough time at the moment.
Our goalkeeper Nadia Baranova should start training with us soon after being out for 6 months. Busi is out for the season with ACL, Mosebo is six weeks post ACL surgery, Zinchenko appears out for good, Elena Suslova broke her ankle 2 months ago and just started training.
Today John Lewandowski of PAwatercooler wrote this in a response to my post:
“The World Cup is every 4 years. That means that the American women won the third most recent World Cup. Yep, it was 11 years ago, and nobody in the US cared, because soccer is a game for teenage girls over here. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. You laugh at our “football” and we laugh at your “football”.”
John, I do not laugh at “your” football, I enjoy watching it without disparaging it. You use the term “teenage girls” as it were an insult like sissies. You have to accept the fact that different people enjoy different sports and activities and that civilized people can live and enjoy life without insulting each other.
By the way, more and more teenage girls are playing “your” football as well. Give it another 20 years.
