No. 17--Espanyol vs. Barcelona Spanish Soccer: Uncoordinated Attacks Frequently Do Not Produce Goals

by Soccer Coach Albert M. Luongo

The match on December 2, 2007 ended in a 1 to 1 tie. This was an excellently played game at least in the first half. Both teams played hard, but Barcelona dominated the game in the first half with Messi making a great run up the right wing and crossing the ball to Iniesta who put the ball in the net. Iniesta was unmarked as the defense was watching the ball and not the attacking players. I should add that Messi is one of the best players to dribble a soccer ball. At times however he tries to score by himself, but at other times he is a team player.

In the second half Espanyol came back strong and at times dominated the game. At other times Barcelona dominated. Both teams played hard and at times often dirty. But, the second half was quite exciting as both teams aggressively went after the loose ball and also most players gave 100%. In the 68th minute, Espanyol’s Alberto Riera scored by a nice cross from Rodriguez equalizing the score of 1 to 1. As with the first goal by Iniesta, Espanyols’s Rodgiguez was unmarked as the defense watched the ball instead of the attacking players. The remainder of the game was sort of helter-skelter, as both teams wanted the tiebreaker goal so bad that they tried everything to get it. However, it seemed that they threw caution to the wind and did not play a good passing game to work the ball in the net. On the Barcelona side, the attackers were Bojan and Messi in the first part of the second half. They are fast forwards and showed their speed as they often beat their opposing wing defenders in a run.

Then in about ten minutes into the second half, Ronaldinho replaced Bojan. With this change, it seems obvious that the purpose was to strengthen the forward line and that Ronaldinho would do by himself what the rest of the team could not do--that is to score another goal. My own personal opinion would have been to strengthen the defense at that time even though most coaches would not agree with me on this move. So as it turned out, there were several attempts at scoring, but no further goals were scored as the Barcelona seemed to be depending on the forwards to win the game.

Espanyol at times in the second half were playing the long ball up to the goal area in hopes that someone would be in position to score. In North American football, this would be called a Hail Mary Pass—a rearward player sends the ball upfield and prays that someone on the same team will receive it and possibly score. Someone apparently was not listening to the prayer.

A note to coaches and young players:
It has been my experience that championships can be won by a strong defensive team and a team that plays together and shares the glory together—I always say to my teams, “ it is not an individual player that scores, but the team that scores”.

All of the above information is the author's opinion. This article in no way is meant to degrade, discredit or defame any team or person. Its sole purpose is to improve the skills of young soccer players, coaches and the game itself.