U11 possession football

Jimmy Iovine

I saw a link to this video on Twitter just there and it's pretty incredible. The team is called Barcelona-USA and they play pretty much the exact same way as the Catalan giants. The emphasis is on pass and move, with the odd solo run by a player.

The quality of their play is amazing. They score one goal that starts off at the 3:30 mark. They keep the ball for 50 seconds and only pass the ball about 13 times. The quality of the finish and play around the box is great. They put professional teams to shame really.

Every player on the team is comfortable with the ball and has been taught to get their head up before they pass the ball. There's one young lad, number 9, who is in the middle of the pitch directing everything, pointing at players who are open. As a result the centre backs seem to be the starting point of most attacks with short passes out of defence, and not long thumps up the field.

When they lose the ball they work their socks off to get it back and they usually seem to get it back within 5 or 10 seconds. And then it all starts again.

They're an absolute joy to watch. They've more confidence on the ball than the vast majority of guys that I play with who are 10 and 15 years older than them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThjb_XyyoU

Here's another video where they did the same thing to a team from Spain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-3AFin6FzA

Seaneh

u11' playing on a fullsized pitch and goals is ****ing retarded.

Also, it's not much different to the majority of games at that age.

It's a few minutes of "highlights" it doesn't show when they do the wrong thing, which I am willing to be is far more often.

Jimmy Iovine

Seaneh wrote: »

u11' playing on a fullsized pitch and goals is ****ing retarded.

I agree with that point.

Seaneh wrote: »

Also, it's not much different to the majority of games at that age.

Can't agree with this. You may find an 11 year old on a team who has great composure on the ball but you won't often find a whole team with it.

Seaneh wrote: »

It's a few minutes of "highlights" it doesn't show when they do the wrong thing, which I am willing to be is far more often.

Well they are only 11. I never really said that they were flawless.

ArmaniJeanss

Seaneh wrote: »

u11' playing on a fullsized pitch and goals is ****ing retarded.

Those crazy Spaniards, they'll never win anything treating their young players like that.

ColeTrain

All good and well but could they do it on a cold schoolnight?

Seaneh

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Those crazy Spaniards, they'll never win anything treating their young players like that.

The video is American.

Spanish under 11 teams do not play full sized pitches of goals.

Nor do Italian, Dutch, Brazilian, Portuguese... Seeing a pattern yet?

kitakyushu

Good play, but needs more diving and playacting.

CSF

My team play at the top league of this age group in Dublin. Among the top 4 teams, you just wouldn't get a look in if you're not very comfortable on the ball. That video is very good, but there are lots of good teams like that.

Soups123

The video is very good but agree with others there are very good youth teams playing similar here, the full size pitch probably makes it look better than it actually is because of all the room they have to play with

Samich

Schoolboy defending