Juventus of Redwood City Coppa de Oro

Though undefeated at the tourney, a frustrating tie in the Saturday night game, despite dominating possession, only got us into the 3rd place game, where we had a terrific, high-intensity match under the lights in San Carlos with South San Jose Arsenal. Barca prevailed in penalties.

Champions, Golden Gate Invitational

Barca has worked hard to improve its intensity and work rate defensively. This finally paid off in a hard fought weekend at the Golden Gate Invitational in San Francisco at the Crocker Amazon soccer complex. In each of our bracket games, it was hard fought and tight and close for much of the game, but Barca eventually broke the games open late, scoring 14 with 2 against over the three games. In the final against an excellent MFRC Earthquakes team from Redwood City, Barca scored early and then withstood a long-ball attack during the second-half to win 1-0. Thanks to all the 8 teams in our age group who pushed each other to better performances.

Clarendon Stairs Club

Ten soccer players (and sometimes a dog or two) run stairs twice a week prior to school, at 9 am. Join them! Here's their most recent running times.

Here too is the link to the San Francisco Staircases you can run.

About Barca United

If you spend a little time clicking through old posts on this website, you will learn a lot about the Barca United team. Until now, only players and their parents have visited this site. This post is here to familiarize others with the team and our philosophy.

Most of the Barca United players are in 5th grade; two are in 6th grade and one in 4th. We play year-round, but we actually encourage kids to enjoy other sports simultaneously, and we accommodate conflicts. United has lost only a handful of games through the indoor, spring, summer, fall and tournament seasons. Far more important than winning, though, is the quality of play. We are teaching Barcelona-style modern soccer: maintaining possession, rapid passing, and advanced-passing combinations. Using pass-counters, we track the number of passes the team makes during a game. In the fall of 2010, for instance, the kids averaged 170 passes per 50 minute game - a rate equivalent to over 300 passes in a 90 minute game. This has increased at the U11 level.

I frequently make quick, short videos for the kids to watch during the week, so that our practice field time - a precious resource - isn't squandered with a lot of speechifying about big concepts. Instead, we use practices to model and correct. The big concepts come across in training videos or letters.

Even then, the best thing about Barca United is the chemistry between the kids and their families. Many of the parents are former or current players, and real fans of the game. We try to expose the team to the true culture of soccer, and pass along our love for the game.

Capital Valley Open Tournament, Sacramento

Braving 95 degree weather (in the shade), Barca's two wins and one tie got them into the final of the CVU Open. Though dominating the run of play in the final, Barca could not manage a goal, and a great goal by the CVU Elite team on a well-shaped corner kick and hard header into the net gave CVU the win. Congrats to CVU, and thanks to all the eight teams in the age group. It was a fun weekend in Sacramento over Labor Day.

CUFA Tournament, South Lake Tahoe

Barca took 11 players and their families to South Lake Tahoe for a tournament. At first, playing at 5,000 feet in the heat was very hard on us who live at sea-level. But Barca still managed to win its way into the final. It played one of the best teams it's ever faced, a truly amazing NorCal Premier team from Sacramento, from the Inter-Rage club. Playing defense most of the game, Barca kept it close for awhile, but Inter-Rage got one before the half and eventually found creative ways to get more, beating Barca 4-1. It was a great challenge for us, an honor to play them, and we hope we meet again somewhere.

El Cerrito Tourney

Barca went undefeated in the El Cerrito Jamboree over Memorial Weekend, outscoring opponents 38-1. Honestly we should have been in a different tourney, and we'll ask to play Gold at CUFA Tahoe.

Think Like a Midfielder

This video is not instructional, it's philosophical - it's all about how to think like a midfielder and understand the midfielder's job on the pitch.

Futsal Homework/Inspiration

We will be playing in the Dave Fromer Indoor Soccer league in Marin.

For inspiration, here are two videos to watch. Note the passing combinations, the deception, and especially how the players trade positions continuously to throw off the defense.

- highlights from UEFA futsal 2010 world cup (click for video)

- a very good men's team competing against average men's teams. (click for video)

Love the Game!

Reminder, here is the page for Barca videos, pictures, and training slide-shows.