Rhythm Change, Cambio de Ritmo - 2009 Boys

Our focus this week is on rhythm change, or cambio de ritmo.

There are times in soccer when we want to slow the game down, such as when we’re up 3-0 and the other team is frantic to score a goal. We keep possession while they run. This is called "killing the game”

In our recent games, we’ve needed to push the pace. Not react chaotically and go straight to the goal, but to move the ball through passing and dribbling quickly. If we wait and hold the ball too long, we give up possession or our opponent holds their shape.

If you watch possession heavy teams such as Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Ajax, and others, they are off when they hold the ball too long, when it sits in one place and the rhythm is broken.

Half the team wants to move the ball quickly and the other half wants to spend too much time with the ball. The saying that “water flows downhill” is a good one here. We naturally gravitate towards what’s easier, and moving the ball quickly with the right timing is anything but easy.

But when they’re on, it’s like watching a symphony. Everything clicks. They’re all playing in harmony and it’s impossible to stop.

You notice they slow the ball down when they’re waiting for certain movements in the opposition. They speed it up when they want them to move. They attack space only to bring defenders to them then pass it off to a teammate to switch the field to a winger who is technically superior than the outside back he’s facing.

This is our focus this week. The recognition of when the rhythm needs to change develops with experience. Like chess, it’s a practice of pattern recognition.