Games

The WFSC players played against and with the players from Estudiantes de la Plata. The “with” was great experience as the boys had to play with EDLP players in matches against other local teams, including games at the EDLP Stadium. The boys showed their worth technically, but found themselves being stretched when it came to speed of play. I’m not talking about running, I’m talking about speed of thought. The ability of any Argentinean players to perform good technique in a tight space under pressure and in a game situation was good for our players to witness. Also their transition especially from offense to defense is amazing, and something that our players picked up on right away and adjusted to. This was a great achievement.

 

Competition & Fitness

The competitive level is very high. This comes from two fronts. Its starts in house as there are between 36-40 players for each team all fighting for a spot on the team for the game at the weekend. The “futbol” matches that are a part of their competitive curriculum are highly competitive as players are all on the same level. If you miss practice, you don’t play, if you back off or begin to even think about taking your place for granted somebody else will step up and take your place. Then there is the games they play against strong club teams, however it should be noted the most important form of competition to these players is amongst themselves.

 

The fitness level plays a very important role in their development. Each team has their  own “Profe’. The Fitness Coach keeps a close record on every player. With measurements and work loads. They have a gym and work outs twice a week. The players are taught how to work out properly and how to work different groups of muscles. This type of programming truly shows that the initiative the WFSC has taken by implementing our own fitness program is a huge step forward. You could see it when our boys were practicing with the EDLP players. In the later stages the intensity remained high with the EDLP players and our boys were being pushed off the ball.

Schedule

The first day a schedule was given to the boys, where the younger ages trained in the afternoon and the older in the morning. Some days saw double sessions. The players were mixed with the local players and sometimes they were trained as a group.

 

A Typical daily routine was as follows:

8:00am Breakfast

9:00am Meet at Locker Room – training gear distributed

9:30am Fitness with “el Profe”

10:15am Technical / Tactical Coaching Sessions-outfield players

10:15am Goalkeepers Training specialized GK Coaches.

The same routine took place for players training in the afternoon, starting 3:30pm.

In a middle of the week they played “futbol”. This means a game, where the coaches decide who was going to play the following Saturday. Our boys were part of this and performed well.

In Closing

Our players are very good technically to the point that some of them were asked to stay. They showed very good skills, were sound tactically and competed very well. If we would be able to practice an extra day, plus work more on fitness, we wouldn’t be that far behind. The quality of our players made everything a little bit more even. The Estudiantes de la Plata coaching staff was very impressed with our boy’s technical and tactical performance.

 

Another point that I would like to mention is the difference on the working groups, when you have a locker room, where you get there and see your teammates and you have time to chat, or joke around, you can build a relation ship between players. Where teammates learn how to build bonds and that reflects on the field and you can see players really working for each other.

 

The behavior from our players was outstanding. They followed instruction with enthusiasm and I am very proud of this group. The boys also had a chance to see the first division team from Estudiantes de la Plata training. That was a big part of this trip. Seeing professional players like Juan Veron (formerly of Manchester Utd &  Inter Milan) and Coach Diego Simeone giving them instructions and attending a first division match where Estudiantes de la Plata defeated Quilmes Athletic Club 1-0 and Veron made his debut for the club was one of the many highlights of this trip.

 

The final thought from this is, that making this kind of trip exposes players to new training dynamics, allows them to feel and see the game through a different culture and hopefully helps them in the future in their education, soccer and professional careers. In short this was so much more than soccer!!

 

Learn more about the Host Club

 

Marcelo Neveleff

WFSC Technical Director