Every goal tells a story. Some simple and direct, some much more complex, packed with plot twists, recursive loops, and powerful themes.
As a teaching tool for my G09 and G10 Legends FC SD-Del Mar teams, I bring my laptop to the field and show clips from the USWNT, SD Wave, and European pro leagues, slowing the action down and talking through the story. A good story is not just plot plot plot plot plot plot plot…things happen for a reason.
On the field, in the run of play, those reasons are what APFC term “concepts”: drivers for WHY what works works, the patterns and themes that give shape, definition, and purpose to what can otherwise appear—or, at some levels of play even BE—spontaneous and chaotic. To develop players with a well-rounded tactical and mental approach to the game, the challenge is to then create relevant training exercises that allow them to experience those patterns and concepts.
The Copa Del Rey final between Barcelona (Red & Blue) & Real Madrid (White) included a goal from Pedri that was a mini-epic—in just 21 seconds of elapsed time, no fewer than 11 crucial game concepts come into play.
1. Break Fast & Eliminate Defenders
The transition moment—an entire course in itself. Here, Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid’s #10, white jersey) eliminates the first pressing defender off the dribble and now the break is on.
Vinny J. (Real Madrid #9) chooses not to take the direct diagonal run his body shape first presents (which would ultimately take him into the angle of Barça’s deepest center back), instead pivoting to curl his run, splitting the gap between Barcelona’s #2 & #4, eliminating both.
2. Choose Your Weapon
In the attack, you have 3 primary weapons: the ball, your teammates, and space. Defenders, then, need to choose WHICH weapon they are going to counter and defend.
Here, rather than spin to track Vinny J.’s run (which would leave him wrong-shouldered), Cubarsi stays oriented to the ball and the vulnerable space in behind him. This ball-territory orientation then allows Cubarsi to read the penetrating pass that is coming and make a critical intervention on a ball that would otherwise have created a high percentage scoring chance.
3. Lose the Ball? Win it Back!
Jude Bellingham, heartthrob handsome, huge on the gram, absolute baller…except, not so much in this moment.
Here, Jude spends 3 full seconds of elapsed time in woe-is-me shock, lamenting the sure assist gone awry. He’d already created his own visual picture, Vinny J. slotting the ball home, only to see that celebratory vision ripped away by Cubarsi.
3 seconds is a long time in sports. Fast people cover 25-30 yards in that span and the entire game can change.
If you turn the ball over, priority #1 is become the hunter and win it right back. Rather than CHOOSE HIS WEAPON and orient to ball-opponent-space, Bellingham concedes all three. Pedri, also an attractive human being, no small potatoes on the socials, arguably the most creative distributor on the pitch…now has all the time and space in the world to pick out the most dangerous ball he can play, hitting the long outlet pass to Lamine Yamal (also huge on the gram, do what you have to do to keep your players engaged).
4. Read the Numbers
Lamine Yamal is played into a 3v5 (not including GK), with a trail runner coming on their heels who will quickly turn that into a 4v5.
After his 45 yard run onto the ball, rather than turn the ball right back over with a hasty cross or low percentage shot, Yamal remains patient, maintaining possession to see where the next effective attacking option will come from.
5. Deny Your Opponent’s Dominant Move
Wonderkid Lamine Yamal vs. would-be-wingback Fran Garcia is…something of a mismatch, even if Fran has clearly been taking the weight room seriously.
Instead of doing the most instinctive thing—getting underneath the ball to prevent Yamal from going end-line—Garcia purposefully decelerates above the ball. He knows Yamal wants to cut the ball back onto his left foot and bend a curler back post, so he takes that option away and offers Yamal the end line/right foot touch he doesn’t want to take.
6. Press-Cover-Balance
Most teen soccer players have heard of pressure-cover-balance and are aware of it as a core defensive concept. But many can’t actually define it and even fewer recognize it when they see it or know how to apply the concept.
Here, the press player, jacked Fran Garcia, tries to shepherd Lamine Yamal over the endline.
Meanwhile, the cover player, Tchouaméni, takes up a highly advantageous cover position and body shape. Should Yamal go end-line and skip past Fran Garcia, Tchouaméni is poised to double and intervene. Should Yamal play the ball back to Danny Olmo, he is close enough to step and contest Olmo’s shot/first touch.
Rüdiger, the balance player, is poised to take the next indicated action depending on whether Yamal elects to dribble, pass, or shoot.
7. Pass Players OFF
As attackers circulate and numbers change, rather than abandon an effective defensive position, pass players from your zone to the next.
With Real’s tireless holding mid Valverde tracking back to defend, this now becomes a 4v6 and Tchouaméni no longer needs to cover—he can adjust his body shape to double Yamal and pass Danny Olmo off to Valverde for him to man mark.
8. If It’s Not On Going Forward, Play to Depth
With Real’s Danny Ceballos arriving to defend, the 4v6 becomes a 4v7 and Lamine Yamal is surrounded in a triple-team. Ball? Check, still got it. Teammates? Not enough, no good angles. The next weapon?
The most useful attacking space on the pitch is now the 20 yards of vulnerable, undefended space directly beyond the 18 yard box.
9. Continue Your Run
Whether a true 10 or a deep-lying, playmaking 6, if you’re a creator you know you’ve done it—after striking an inviting long ball, you’ve stopped to admire what you just put on a platter for your teammates. There you go, now eat.
The player who has just delivered that longer ball is immediately free—the defense is orienting to the ball, space, and their teammates, not them.
As the free player in the attack, continuing that run is like following a shot—the ball may not come your way 9 times in a row, but the 10th is money.
10. The Cutback Cross Is Ruthless
Header goals are warrior ballet, all the aerial force and acrobatics of the NBA, and if you have Haaland or Kane crashing the back post to put those away, they create massive defensive challenges on high crosses.
Most HS-age girls’ teams do not have a Haaland, Kane, Lindsey Heaps, or Ashley Hatch to rise up, meet the ball in space and time, and beat the keeper with a powerful header—the traditional aerial goal mouth cross LOOKS dangerous, FEELS dangerous…but frequently lacks the end product to BE dangerous.
The cutback cross, on the other hand, IS ruthless. Instead of a needing a perfectly-timed jump, the ball arrives into the advancing shooter’s run, at their feet, with the entire goal available to target. Pedri can choose his technique, here a simple-enough side-foot strike to go top bins and beat Courtois.
11. The Player You Release Will Burn You
This is the opposite of passing players off—the player you release into the attack, who you allow to invade your space without tracking or accounting for…will punish you.
Inside their 18 yard box, Real is organized to squash the attack. Compact, disciplined, they have Barça contained in a 4v7 with a triple-team on the ball.
But…JUDE!
Absolute baller, but it has now been 13 seconds since the turnover and he is still switched-off, out of the picture. While his teammates are organized and defending their box, the free player he releases, Pedri…can now score the opening goal in a Championship match.
Teaching the Concepts
Just like teaching, learning occurs in stages. You can’t expose students to the Pythagorean Theorem or a Chiasmus one time and expect them to internalize and apply that concept on their own.
For these concepts, I take time during a water break to screen the relevant clips and talk through the why. It’s not perfect.
Problem 1? It’s not always easy to manipulate video clips at the field and glare/angles/screen size create issues.
Problem 2? It’s not easy to get teenage girls packed closely together to pay 100% attention to anything, let alone something instructional (hence, the influencers).
Solution? Meet players where they are at—if the only source is MY laptop screen during a 3 minute water break, that’s a little bit like the hopeful cross needing head/ball to intersect at one limited connection in space and time. Here is a chance to deliver the concepts on multiple platforms, they can watch along on their own screens while we talk it through…and ideally better understand how to play the game they love.