Sunday, July 1, 2018

Defense works for the little guys

Iceland's recent success in soccer illustrates the validity of the premise above. When they played Argentina and Lionel Messi to a 1-1 tie, the Argentinian coach said, "“Iceland played very defensively, blocking all spaces but we did everything we could to win."

The Icelandic coach responded, "We are bluntly honest about our ability. We know how we can win football matches. It is just a fact that Argentina have superior individuals with superior skills and if we go one-on-one with them you don’t need to ask who will win the game. We have to play in a special way and we have a clear identity."

The big guys will get the players with the dazzling ability. Little guys have to do something different. Defense works with hard effort and discipline, and those qualities are not unique to players with dazzling ability. So little guys can play defense about as well as the fancy teams. You just have to get your players to buy into the system. "We have a clear identity."

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