Beating the teams that sweep everything in youth soccer: offensive line tricks

Are all youth soccer leagues competitive?

First of all, let me start by saying that 95% of the people who email me say that they are in a very competitive league. The problem is that there is no way for 95% of us to play in competitive leagues and many have no frame of reference outside of their league. Most teams don’t play out of competition, play in out of town tournaments or go out of town to play, how would they know if they are actually playing in a competitive league or not? That’s why I always try to schedule at least 2 non-league games against teams from 2 different leagues, as well as play in out-of-town tournaments if the parents agree to raise the money. Don’t worry about someone saying or thinking you are playing in a competitive league, it really doesn’t matter if your youth soccer league is “competitive” or not, competition is relative.

My teams have played in leagues where teams in our league have won National Unlimited Select National Titles (Top Gun Division) in Daytona, Florida, considered by most to be THE most competitive tournament in the country. This league has produced players like Dave Rimington (Outland), Ahman Green (NFL), Eric Crouch (Heisman) and many others. We ourselves have won many out-of-town tournaments in various age groups and always do well against outside competition. We do very well playing against “competitive” teams, in fact we have a really hard time getting teams to accept such games these days. My system has been used successfully from ages 6 to 14 by hundreds of youth soccer coaches across the country and came just one point away from winning the Jr. Pee Wee Pop Warner National Championship last year in Florida.

So, in a nutshell, yes, the Single Wing no Splits system works in competitive leagues in the age group you coach and against the tactics you mentioned. In the example above, the fact that all the teams in this youth soccer league use a weak but aggressive defensive tactic does not mean that they are well trained or “competitive”. Competitive may be the descriptive word used to describe the mental nature of this coaching staff, but to be “competitive” there has to be competition. In my opinion, the opposite would be true, if all defenses in this league were the same and all used the same flimsy tactic on every play. Those defenses and this youth soccer league seem to be very predictable and would be pretty easy to beat with a reasonable amount of competent coaches. You often see this in youth soccer tournaments, XYZ league beasts who have roughed up everyone in their league but get beaten in out-of-state tournaments. They play in leagues where there is little “outside the box” thinking and many of the teams are intimidated by flimsy but aggressive tactics. You’d be pretty surprised how much of a beating goes into these things when these bullying teams are up against a well-trained team or one that isn’t intimidated by such tactics.

Crushing Team Blitzing

By not defending the entire field and packing all defenders tight and dropping at every opportunity, there are no levels of defensive pressure. A simple wedge play is usually quite effective against teams like this, even when they have 10 men in scrimmage. Once the initial line of defense is broken, it’s usually a huge win. Tight splits like the ones we use negate defensive pressure like this and many plays end up looking like a scene from “The 3003” movie.

We like to use these types of aggressive defenses against them using “no plays” to mess up their blitz timing and run a lot of trap plays, screens, tight end dunk passes (outside of a fake deflection) and direct deflection. careers. What doesn’t work are straight sweeps, deep backhands and deep back passes, soccer plays that many youth soccer coaches execute regardless of the effectiveness of the play. Running right into these types of defenses is almost always effective and something this offense does quite well.

Moving against teams like this often gives you plenty of numerical advantages and removes the defense from all-out blitzes or gives you open, flat, or screen hooking plays. We’ve even been able to Jet Sweep several of these types of equipment. I enjoy playing on youth soccer teams like this that come in with a lot of bravado, make-up and jumping around antics, but usually have their tails between their legs in the second quarter. They get very frustrated when they don’t get a bunch of negative yardage early on or intimidate the offense. Obviously I’m not a fan of this backyard tactic, it works only against the poorest and most unprepared youth soccer teams out there. You never see this kind of defense in big tournaments, those teams almost always get kicked out early.

What is required on your team to defeat this tactic is confidence in your execution by honing a base set of complementary plays in soccer practice and running all north and south. A truly well-trained team would have a field day with these types of defenses. You can do it effectively even without a big or dominant offensive line in youth soccer.