What a game, what a night, what an occasion!

In front of a record crowd, our team ended their season in a heartbreaking way...it was suddenly all over.

We played the semi final of the conference tournament seeded #2 against the #3 seed. Previous encounters this season went to OT with us winning one and the other remaining a tie.

So, how do you prepare your players for the biggest game of their lives so far?

We play in a few hours, we play the semi final of our conference tournament at home in front of the biggest crowd of our careers.....

Last night we gave them the night off from practice so that they would be rested and refreshed for today.

We finished the regular conference games this weekend extending our unbeaten run to 11 games. We have only conceded 6 goals in the last 10 games, so our defense deserves a lot of credit.

When I say our defense, I should really say our defensive play. We have to defend from all positions all over the pitch and the hardwork our forwards put in pressurising the opponents in our attacking third deserves as much credit as the defenders working hard in and around our penalty box.

Sometimes you just have to win ugly. Do whatever it takes and just get the job done. In what was our worst performance of the regular season we ran out 2-0 winners away from home to qualify for Play Offs with 2 games remaining.

This was a tough game for us. We were playing on the worst field in the league, rock hard, bumpy, bone dry, uneven.

Wow, this team continues to break its own records, we have now won 6 and tied 2 of our last 8 games!

We put in a very solid and professional performance this weekend running out 3-1 winners. The opposition had beaten us in the previous 24 games before this season. We tied them away from home earlier this season 0-0 after double overtime.

In another incredible performance the team extended their unbeaten record to 7 games made up of 5 wins and 2 ties.

What a game! We were tied 0-0 until the 73 minute and were awarded a penalty to go up 1-0. The opposition came back and tied the game up in the 83rd minute. We won the game in the 88th minute from a header from a deep free kick into the box.

Wow, we are having a great season. The stats show this is the best season for this team since 1995! We are currently enjoying a 6 game unbeaten run with 4 wins and 2 ties.

I have learned a tremendous amount this season so far and I am sure over the remaining 5 games of the regular season I will learn some more very valuable lessons.

Saturday saw my college players win 7-0 against conference rivals. We made the decision over a week ago to devote at least half of each practice to finishing and set plays. As a result we have scored 12 goals and conceded 4 in our last three games.

I have a number of effective and demanding drills for shooting and finishing and the players really enjoy them.

Yesterday my players played away at a conference rival's and ended a 24 game losing streak. During this time the team scored a total of 14 goals and conceded over 100 goals!

We played very well, we were disciplined, kept our shape and held the opposition to a 0-0 tie. The game went into golden goal overtime and the game remained 0-0.

After losing on Wednesday 1-0 away from home, we decided to dedicate Thursday and Friday's practices to shooting and finishing...boy did that idea pay off!!!

We played away against a school who had a record of 19 wins and 1 loss against us over the last 10 years. In that time we only scored a total of 4 goals to their 80 goals!

So, soccer can be a cruel game and it can also have the last laugh as we demonstrated on Saturday. The players went from feeling like they were on the top of the world, to feeling like they had been ripped off by the tooth fairy!

We played a team we were more than capable of beating. Very close contest, matched each other exactly in shots and corners, they had 31 fouls, we had 10, so maybe that was a factor.

Wow......what a start to our college soccer season!!

Home game against the reigning conference champions, actually they have won the conference for the last 8 years.

They have beaten us for the last 21 games straight.

Until last night that is!!!!

Last night had to be the best game of my life as a coach.

OK, we are now two games into pre season and we came down to earth with a bump last night.

We played against a school with three times the enrollment we have, a school that has had its best start to a season in their history, a team that was 3-0 and had scored 14 goals conceding none....we lost 4-0.

Ok, today is all about recovery, repair, review and fine tune. Fortunately it is not about going back to the drawing board.

This morning we had a team meeting, then the players who were used last night did their recovery run. At the same time I had a meeting with the players who did not play last night to make sure they understood their roles within the team.

Ok, we got the season underway and ground out a win, posting a 4-3 victory.

We went 3-0 up, then 4-1 and died a little in the last few minutes of the game and gave up a tap in and a penalty.

Most importantly, we notched our first win of the season and we are very grateful.

We looked fantastic for about 70% of the game.

OK, all the hardwork has been completed and the players are rested, refreshed and raring to go.

Tonight we entertain a fellow NCAA Division III team from Rhode Island.

We have completed our final preparations albeit hampered a little bit with the fires here in Southern California.

The players got to sleep in a bit this morning and then we had a team meeting at 9.

OK, so we are now on our official 48hour countdown to our first game on Thursday. Today we had a decent practice, working on our midfielders and finishing.

We had to cancel tonight's practice due to the fires here in L.A. so we had a chalk and talk session regarding attacking set plays.

Here are some useful facts about attacking set plays:

1.

Ok, so we are now well into our pre season training and the team is looking good. I gave the players the rest of the day off today as they are looking a little beaten up.

The shape of the team is coming together and our starting line up is beginning to emerge.

Today we worked on our midfield play both attacking a defensively.

OK, we just completed our second day of pre season soccer training.

Here is the format:
8.15am-10.30 Practice #3 Topic, Running with the Ball and Beating Players

1.00pm-2.00pm Team Meeting #3

2.30pm-4.30pm Practice #4 Topic, Crossing and Finishing

7.00pm-8.00pm Team Meeting #4

The format for the team meetings were as follows:

Housekeeping
Review of the previous practice including Key Points
Briefing on the upcoming practice
Watch 20 minutes of a tape of Man Utd's Treble Winning Season 1998-99

I can outline the practice plans for both of the above, simply send me an email and I will share them with you.

Firstly I want to apologise for the lack of posts over the last month or so. I have had a very busy summer and I have had some health issues to deal with as well.

I am now back fully in the swing of things and this time of year I am doubly focused on soccer. The English Premier League has recently kicked off and alongside that, my college soccer team reported for pre season training yesterday and we had our first practices today.

So, that was a great game wasn't it? It would have been better for me if I hadn't learned who won before I watched my taped version!

So, let's analyse what we can learn.

Firstly, take your chances, the USA had 2 shots on goal and produced 2 goals, amazing start to the game.

Wow, who would have thought we would be seeing Brazil facing off against the USA in the Confederations Cup Final? Proves again why soccer is the greatest sport on the planet!

All credit to the USA, they were savaged by the press and fans on twitter for their first two performances, yet they pulled off one of the greatest upsets we've seen by advancing to the semi finals.

Congratulations to the USA Men's team for their stunning victory over World Record holders Spain in the semi final of the Confederations Cup.

Make no mistake, this is a massive victory for the USA. This was no pre season friendly or exhibition game, this was the real thing. Spain had all their big guns out their, Torres, Xavi, Alonso, Rieira, Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Casillas etc.

In order to control the soccer ball successfully every time here are the 5 Easy Steps:

1. DECISIONS:

TO CONTROL OR NOT TO CONTROL?

Before you attempt to control the soccer ball, decide if you even need to control the ball in the first place.

Here are the 5 important steps to beating a player in soccer:

1. ANGLE OF APPROACH

As the player with the ball approaches the defender, he needs to look for the space he wants to exploit. Remember to dribble with the head up. Then the player attacks the defender with such an angle of approach away from the desired space so that he makes the desired space even bigger.

OK, so we now have World Cup Qualifiers to watch over the next few days. Some of them will be great games, some of them will be a formality. All of them present us with opportunities to learn more about the game so that we can take this new found knowledge onto the practice field.

Here are my Top 5 Things to look for in a soccer game:

1.

OK, so this was a pretty good game, got off to a great start with the fastest goal in FA Cup history, 26 seconds from Saha.

Let's compare how Chelsea reacted to this setback to how Manchester United reacted when Barcelona scored early on in the Champions League Final. Manchester United crumbled, their players hid and shirked responsibility and the rest is history.

Looking forward to the final game of the season tomorrow, the English Football Association Challenge Trophy, more commonly called "The FA Cup." This is the oldest domestic cup competition in the world.

Every team in England competes in the competition with the professional teams being introduced to the latter stages.

Wow, what a game. I just witnessed Barcelona giving a clinic in how to play soccer. Manchester Utd came out guns blazing and had 5 attempts on goal very early on. However as the saying goes, if you don't take your chances you will be punished.

Out of nowhere and against the run of play, a moment of brilliance from Samuel Eto put them 1-0 up.

Fantastic scenes as Wembley on Monday as Burnley won their play off against Sheffield United and will now play in the English Premier League.

As a Blackburn Rovers fan it is amazing to see Burnley make the top flight of football. For those of you who don't know, Blackburn and Burnley are bitter, bitter rivals.

I just had to let you know about this as soon as possible.

Ever heard of the book and the movie, "The Secret?" Remember how it suddenly took the world by storm and taught people how to think better, how to take control of their lives and totally change how people managed their lives, remember "Thoughts Become Things?

I have been asked many times by players of all ages and abilities. "How Can I Improve My Soccer Skills." Well, the old saying still applies, "Practice Makes Perfect." The great thing about soccer is that you don't need any expensive equipment or a coach or teammates to help you get better.

OK, we are in for a great finish to the English Premier League, not so much for the Champions who look certain to be Manchester United, but the dogfight to avoid relegation is going to be massive.

There are still a number of teams fighting for their survival and it is going to go down to the wire.