(SOC) 2024 Soccer Thread

A little respect for Missouri's opinions, please. He's highly knowledgable, he's been here from the beginning, and he equally compliments the good and objectively notes the deficiencies. And, after reading a few pages back, you had some critiques of your own. (Which is fine, BTW.)

Personally, I'm glad you're here. Let's support the team, and comment on things we think could be better, without sniping at each other. There's too much of that on the other forums already.

 

You're right; I'm no one to tell anybody what not to post. My point is: none of us are. For example, nobody labeled you as negative even when you called this year's players "low on athleticism and speed without Hinnenkamp."

Until now, there haven't been any other comments on this year's soccer thread, or last year's either, directed at another poster. It's something that I enjoy about UF soccer fans, and I'm hoping it always stays that way.

 

I'd like to ask a favor of you: be nice to all the posters on this thread. Please.

 

We'll see. I only saw the final 30 minutes of the win over Texas. But, for the first time, I saw some flashes of ball control and good decision making on offense. And then immediately followed by some moments of head scratching decisions. It reminds me of last year: slow start, then began to put it together as the season progress. (I had hoped to avoid the slow start this year, but here we are.)

There are going to be a couple more losses, for sure. But, historically, it only takes 10-11 points to slip into the SEC tournament. If the team can keep improving on the trend of avoiding such a large number of unforced give-a-ways, there might be a couple more wins on the schedule and a couple more ties. And that might just get them into the post-season which, in fairness, one would have to consider another baby-step forward in the program's trajectory under CSB.

 

Halftime vs USCe: 0-0.

USCe has a freshman forward, named Collins, who has been very impressive. Goldberg has been good in goal. Madison Young had one excellent track back on defense to block a shot (by Collins) when UF's two central defenders were apparently on vacation somewhere. Otherwise, these are two really mediocre soccer teams.

 

USCe wins 2-0 with two goals in the final 12 minutes.

 

I tracked UF's time-of-possession in the second half. Filtering out about 10 minutes where the clock was running but the ball wasn't in play, UF possessed the ball just a shade over 7 minutes out of the approximately 35 minutes the ball was in play. Their single longest stretch of possession in the field was :30 seconds.

I'm not pining for a return to the days of Burliegh's possession-merely-for-the-sake-of-possession offense, but being able to maintain control of the ball for only 20% of the actual playing time, or a maximum of 30 seconds in any single possession, is terrible.

It would help greatly if they could complete a forward or lateral pass of 10 yards more than once in a blue moon. It would also help greatly if they could fall out of love with the low percentage 40-yard, out-of-the-reach-of-any-teammate passes out of bounds.

 

Scratching my head, too. Every time I try to analyze if the problems lie with the coaches or players, my conclusion is: both. All the things you said, plus others, point at the coaches. But the inability to consistently execute even the most fundamental ball skills and poor decision making is on the players. But sending those players onto the field is on the coaches. It's a dizzying mess.

There's one thought that keeps rattling around in my mind: there's no evidence (that I can see through the TV) of dissension or infighting, even while the team struggles. The only time there ever was, happened when Amato came in a few years ago and really got after the players. Their response: most of the team quit - on the field and then on the program.

Maybe he deserved it because was just an ass. But maybe, just maybe, he was both an ass and he was correct about what needed to happen to make this a winning program again.