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.

Juventus Tourney!!!

Well, we didn't have the excitement of motels and pools and dinners together like in Redding, and a fair number of kids had to miss games for school commitments, but the Juventus tourney grew into a super-exciting weekend, with an extra-time penalty shootout in the final game Sunday afternoon. The work we put into penalty technique in Redding really paid off. Our only loss was to a Class 1 team (the Earthquakes, from the East Bay), and we might have given them a tougher game if all our team had been able to attend. Nevertheless, we learned a lot from that one loss - the Earthquakes were not faster than us, nor stronger than us, they were just more technical, positioning themselves better without coach help. They were inspiring and a model for what we should become with another year of training together.