Today was an interesting day.  1.5 hour flight to New York, 2 hour lay-over, then and 11 hour flight to Rio De Janeiro.  The airport was absolutely crazy busy.  I had my Canada gear on, and some of the people in the large crowd waiting for friends and family started sheering for me – that was kind of cool!

After about 1 hour trying to make sure I was giving my cab driver the right information, I arrived at the Bed and Breakfast Vila de Botafogo.  It’s a house owned by a lady who rents upstairs bedrooms out as a B&B.  Botafogo is a quiet part of Rio, about a 5-minute car ride from the Copacabana beach, which was my next stop.  Got there in time to catch the last bit of the Holland vs. Mexico game and eat some great barbecue.  The Fan-Fest that FIFA has organized on the beach is a lot of fun, and there are people here from all over the world.  I really enjoyed being there but was exhausted so headed back to the B&B to catch a quick nap before the Greece vs. Costa Rica game, which I watched on a small TV in my room. 

Having seen this entire game, I have to say that I think the Costa Ricans were very well prepared physically.  Greece decided to play very conservatively, and did not change their tactics much even after going 1 goal up, which meant that the Costa Ricans had to do a lot more attacking – and running.  I will be interested to see the GPS/time motion analysis data on some of the Costa Rican players, notably Ruiz and Bolanos in midfield (who seemed to be all over the place) and the lone striker Campbell up front.  They held off the Greeks, and created some decent chances in the extra time period.  I think they fully deserved to win the game on penalties. 

Everybody I meet here is talking about soccer.  Even though I speak zero Portuguese, I am somehow able to communicate with most of them.  I am getting the feeling that the Brazilians believe they can win the whole thing now.  Tomorrow there are 2 big games and I will likely be watching both of them at the beach.  The winners tomorrow will play in the quarter final here on July 4 (the game which I have a ticket for!).  I’ll be blogging every day with highlights and some soccer/fitness related content about the games.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!  

Because this is a World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 32 participating nations. In this installment, I will look at the Algeria, the north African team participating in their fourth World Cup, and trying to make their first ever appearance in the second round of the tournament.  Algeria have been drawn in Group H, which includes Belgium, Korea Republic, and Russia, and they play their first match against Belgium on June 17th.

Algeria is the only African team from the northern part of the continent at the World Cup. The country comprises 2, 381, 741 square kilometres of land, more than 4/5ths of which is desert.  The desert is known for one thing: lack of water, which leads to a dry, dehydrating heat.  For soccer players growing up in this part of Africa, the heat can mean only one thing – they will be sweating a lot every time they take to the pitch.  Hydration and electrolyte replenishment is a crucial part of success in soccer, but for Algerian players, it stands out as even more important. 

When the body sweats, it loses water and electrolytes (ions of salts sodium and potassium, which are essential for optimal muscle contraction and function).  Recent studies done in elite level male soccer have shown that players can lose up to 5 grams of sodium through sweat per game.  5 grams is equivalent to 5000 milligrams, or ‘mg’s’.  This number is ominous when taking into consideration that the average amount of sodium in a typical Gatorade or PowerAde bottle (750mL) is only 250 mg’s.  So players who are losing up to 5000 mg’s of sodium per game through sweat will not get nearly the amount they need replenished from a traditional sports drink.  When I worked with the Canadian National Women’s U17’s, our Medical staff encountered this problem during some games played in the heat in countries like Mexico, Guatemala, and Azerbaijan.  One key strategy we used was to add salt to the players’ Gatorade or PowerAde bottles.  Typically, a salt packet containing 200-300 mg’s of sodium would be sufficient to add electrolytes without affecting the taste.  The exact amount of sodium required can be determined by checking players’ body weights before and after training or games.  If a player has lost more than 2% of their pre-training/ game body weight, then the amount of water and sodium they consumed was not sufficient. Add 300mg’s for the next training session/game and see if the weight loss levels off.  If it does, then you have the right concentration; if not, add another 300mg’s and repeat the procedure. 

From all their experience training and playing in a desert climate, the Algerians must be very well-versed in hydration and electrolyte replenishment.  They will need to draw on this experience in Brazil another country with a very warm climate.  Can they do enough to get through to the second round for the first time in their country’s history?  We will have to wait and see what happens in 1 weeks’ time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started. 

Because this is a World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 32 participating nations. In this installment, I will look at the Russia, the strong European team that finished ahead of favored Portugal in qualification.  Russia have been drawn in Group H, which includes Belgium, Korea Republic, and Algeria, and they play their first match against Korea Republic on June 17th.

As mentioned above, the Russians did very well in qualification, their only loss coming to Portugal away from home.  Their coach, Italian Fabio Capello, has had similar success in World Cup qualification, guiding the England team to an unbeaten record ahead of their participation in the previous World Cup in South Africa in 2010.  Unfortunately, England and Capello disappointed in the tournament, finishing second in their group to the United States and then losing to Germany in the 2nd round, 4-2. 

For the Russians, since qualifying the team scheduled some exhibition matches to be used as “tune-ups” prior to the start of the 2014 tournament.  Typically, when planning tune-up matches, coaches try to find opponents that are similar in competition level and playing style to the opponents drawn in their group.  When I worked as Fitness Coach for the Canadian National Women’s U17 team, ahead of the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Cup we played 3 exhibition matches.  Our first 2 were played against local boys teams in the U15 age category (to simulate our fitter, stronger group opponents in Nigeria and Colombia) and our 3rd and final tune-up was played against the Chinese Women’s National Team just 1 week prior to the start of the tournament in Azerbaijan (to simulate the North Korean team who we might play if we got out of the group).  For Capello and the Russian team, planning their tune-ups meant finding an organized, tactically strong and talented side (similar to Belgium); a fit, physically demanding opponent (similar to Korea Republic); and a side with a lot of individually skilled/technical players (similar to Algeria).  Finding opponents as tune-ups to the World Cup can be even more challenging, considering that the choice is usually from teams who have not qualified.  It seems as though the coach and team have chosen their pre-World Cup opponents wisely, as their final 3 tune-up matches were:

• vs. Slovakia May 27th (1-0 win)
• vs. Norway May 31 (1-1 draw)
• vs. Morocco June 6 (2-0 win)

In their quest to find opponents similar to their World Cup opponents, Capello and the Russians found Slovakia (a strong team to match their strongest opponent, Belgium); Norway (a fit and physical team to match Korea Republic); and Morocco (a north African team with some individual talent, to match Algeria).  Russia’s opponent-selection for their tune-up matches also looks good from a results perspective, as they won 2 out of 3 games and allowed only 1 goal to boot.  Has Russia prepared themselves enough to get out of Group H and possibly farther?  We will have to wait and see what happens in 1 weeks’ time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.

Because this is a World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 32 participating nations. In this installment, I will look at the Korea Repubic, the Asian team with the most-ever appearances at the World Cup, whose qualification for this year’s tournament marks their 9th total appearance, dating back all the way to 1954 in Switzerland.  Korea Republic have been drawn in Group H, which includes Belgium, Russia, and Algeria, and they play their first match against Russia on June 17th.

Having just recently returned from the 4th World Conference on Science and Soccer in Portland, Oregon (June 4th-7th, 2014), there was one presentation that stuck in my mind when I researched the Korean Republic team.  Ricardo Duarte, PhD., a professor at the University of Lisbon and consultant with Manchester City FC in the English Premier League, presented his study on “social networks” in soccer, on Saturday, June 7th.  Without getting into all the details, basically professor Duarte has developed a mathematical model for analysing attacking passing and movement combinations and sequences that occur during games, which he has termed “social networks”, and has been able to predict the likeliness of certain outcomes, such as total shots, shots on goal, goals scored, and even matches won, using this model.  Among the key predictors of a team’s success in their social network is the consistency of their starting line-up; that is, the more they use the same starting-11, the more likely it is that they will have successful passing and movement sequences that will lead on shots on goal and goals scored.

In the case of the Korea Republic National Team, they have struggled in this regard.  During the team’s 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, they never found a consistent starting-11, and used a total of 32 players over the qualification period.  The lack of consistency in the Korean roster has led to some poor results on the pitch, as they first struggled In the 3rd round of the Asian qualifiers, losing 2-1 to Lebanon ( a result which cost coach Cho Kwangrae his job) and requiring a 2-0 win over Kuwait to progress to the last phase.  In that round, Korea Republic did not fare much better, as they dropped points in several games, including 2 defeats to Iran, and required a 5-1 defeat of Qatar to confirm their direct qualification over Uzbekistan on goal difference.

While there has obviously not been any research done using the “social network’ model on the Korea Republic’s 2014 World Cup team, it is clear that the lack of consistency in their line-up has led to some poor on-field performances.  With a new coach in Choi Kanghee, and a wide-open field of competition in Group H, they may have an opportunity to find the right starting-11 and improve the success of their social network on the pitch.  We will have to wait and see what happens in 2 weeks’ time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.

Because this is a World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 32 participating nations. In this installment, I will look at the Belgium, a team that many in the media have dubbed as a dark horse to win the tournament this year.  Belgium have been drawn in Group H, which includes South Korea, Russia, and Algeria, and they play their first match against Algeria on June 17th.

The reason that Belgium has been picked as a potential favorite to win the World Cup this year is that the team presently includes several star quality players in their mid-to-late 20’s, who also happen to be in the peak of their careers and plying their trade for some of Europe’s top clubs.  Among them are:

• Vincent Kompany (28 years old, Manchester City, England)
• Thomas Vermailen (28 years old, Arsenal, England)
• Marouane Fellaini (26 years old, Manchester United)
• Stephen Defour (26 years old, Porto, Portugal)
• Romelu Lukaku (21 years old, Everton, England)
• Eden Hazard (23 years old, Chelsea, England)
• Dries Martens (27 years old, Napoli, Italy)

These players have been called Belgium’s “Golden Generation”, as they have been together in the Belgian youth national teams for the past 8-10 years.  The label of “Golden Generation” has been given to many different teams in the past 20 years.  One key measure of the validity of the “Golden Generation” label for European teams, is how much success they have achieved at the UEFA U21 European Championship, a showcase for the top young players and teams in the continent, held every 2 years.  Sometimes, in the case of the Italian team of the late 1990’s / early 2000’s (winners of the UEFA U21 Championship in 1998, again in 2004, and the FIFA World Cup in 2006), the label is fitting, because the team has had success with a core group of youth players who eventually had similar success at the highest level.  In other cases, such as the England team of the 2000’s, the label of “Golden Generation” was given to a team that, while they did have a talented core group of players who had been together for over a decade, had not actually won any trophies, either at the youth or senior levels.

In Belgium’s case, the present “Golden Generation” has had some reasonable success, getting to the semi-finals of the 2007 UEFA European Championship, losing to eventual winners Serbia, and with a team featuring Lukaku, Hazard, Defour and Fellaini.  They were also extremely dominant in qualifying for this year’s World Cup,  topping a group that included Croatia, Serbia, and Scotland, and going undefeated in the process.  If the new crop of star players is truly deserving of their “Golden Generation” title, they will need tom prove it by winning some gold at the senior level at the World Cup this year.  We will have to wait and see what happens in 2 weeks’ time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.

Because this is a World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 32 participating nations. In this installment, I will look at the United States, one of the strongest CONCACAF teams, that is drawn in Group G, largely considered the “group of death”. Group G includes Germany, Ghana, and Portugal.  USA plays their first match against Ghana on June 16th.

The United States has a very unique soccer culture and history. While the country had some early World Cup success (reaching the knockout stages of the first World Cup held in Brazil in 1950), the sport of soccer never really took hold in the States.  Presently, soccer lags behind American football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and other sports such as NASCAR in terms of popularity and media coverage.  That being said, in the early 1990’s soccer experienced a resurgence in the United States, firstly when the country hosted the 1994 World Cup, and secondly with the formation of Major League Soccer (MLS), which still exists today and is presently the only North American professional soccer league.  The United States also poured a lot of money and resources into their national teams programs following disappointing performances at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, and since then, they have reached a quarter-final (Korea/Japan 2002), and gotten out of the group stage at the previous 2 World Cups (Germany 2006, and South Africa 2010).

One interesting and unique aspect of the USA’s recent soccer success is the number of elite level goalkeepers the country has produced.  Presently, the USA has 3 goalkeepers playing with top clubs in the English Premier League, generally considered one of the best professional league in the world:

1. Tim Howard –  Everton 
2. Brad Friedel – Tottenham Hotspur
3. Brad Guzan – Aston Villa

In addition to these players, the USA has also developed several high level other goalkeepers who have had successful careers at home and abroad, including Kasey Keller, Nick Rimando, and Tony Meola, to name a few. 

At the TFC Academy (where I worked as Fitness Coach for the past 2 years), our goalkeeper coach was John Conway, another US-born goalkeeper, who played professionally in Denmark, as well as in the MLS.  When we discussed this topic, he expressed his opinion that one of the reasons the United States develops so many elite goalkeepers is because young athletes in the United States are exposed to – and play a lot of – the popular sports there such as American football, baseball, and basketball, all of which require a lot of upper body strength, power, and coordination.  He himself played high school football and basketball, and he credited playing those sports as having a primary role in the development of some of his goalkeeping skills, including ball catching/handling, throwing, and jumping/diving ability.  Other US-born goalkeepers such as Howard and Friedel have also admitted in interviews that they believe playing “traditional” American sports as youngsters had a positive impact on their development as keepers.

In the Canadian Soccer Association’s LTPD (Long-Term Player development) model, youth athletes are encouraged to participate in a wide variety of sports, and not to specialize in soccer until the 5th stage of development (“Training to Compete”) which occurs between the ages of U15 – U20.  This model of “late specialization” is popular in some successful soccer countries (Germany, Denmark, Australia) but not the preferred method in others (Spain, France, Italy) who typically emphasize “early specialization” (specialized soccer training that can start as early as 8-10 years of age).  In the case of the American goalkeepers, however, the number of US-born keepers playing for top clubs around the world cannot be discounted.  Clearly, for the goalkeeping position, “late specialization” and participation in “traditional” American sports such as football, baseball, and basketball can have a key impact on the development of some of the athletic abilities necessary to become a top level keeper.

Two of the three goalkeepers selected for the 2014 World Cup roster by US coach Jurgen Klinsmann are Premier League keepers Howard, and Guzan (the third is Rimando, who presently plays for Real Salt Lake in MLS).  Of these three, Everton’s Howard is likely to be the starting keeper in Brazil.  Can the effects of his “late specialization” on his overall athletic development help him enough to lift the USA out of the group of death and into the second round for the 4th straight time?  We will have to wait and see what happens in 2 weeks’ time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.