Shomit Mukherjee’s Soccer Blog

We often hear soccer coaches yell from the sideline (myself included), “Keep Possession!” Two teams are playing against one another, so naturally, as a soccer coach or soccer player, you want your team to have the ball right? Of course…..but then what? If we play the soccer ball back to our goalkeeper 90% of the time and he/she is able to connect thirty straight passes between him/herself and the four defenders, is that good possession? Certainly not, and here is why:

Possession is only one (though a quite important one) aspect of defeating an opponent in a soccer game. What if your team kept the soccer ball for almost the entire game and never got a shot on goal? What if your team kept the soccer ball almost the entire game but played horrible team defense and gave up three goals? Was the possession that your team was able to keep good enough to achieve the common team goal? No it was not.

Often times, when players are fed the “we don”t keep possession well enough” speech from soccer coaches, they automatically think that they have to play “keep away” for twenty passes in a row. This could not be further from the truth. Always remember these few basic principles of soccer when thinking about possession:

1. My team is trying to get to the other team’’s goal as fast as possible so that we can score. (trying to penetrate the opponents” defense).

2. If we face any obstacles when we are trying to score (or move the ball forward), we should always be able to bring the ball back, be patient, then keep possession……..and get on the attack again as quickly as possible.

THAT is possession with a purpose. Being able to understand and apply this concept is a key component in soccer teams that are consistently able to defeat their opponents.