Cabrera's Plan

Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News and Big Apple Soccer recently had the chance to catch up with US Under-17 National Team head coach Wilmer Cabrera, and was able to hear his thoughts on player development here in the United States.

Sounds like Wilmer Cabrera wants to start a revolution in this country, a modern soccer revolution.

Coaches, youth soccer coaches, are hindering the development of the game by not allowing players to blossom and think on their own, says Cabrera, the U.S. Under-17 National Team coach and head coach of U.S. Soccer's residency program in Bradenton, Florida.

For the US to improve and be a real power at the international level, he says, things have to change in this country. For Cabrera, that means our mentality when it comes to the basics of the game.

"They [the players] need to sort it out by themselves," Cabrera told a gathering of youth coaches last week. "Our players are used to waiting for you to tell them what to do. That's wrong because who has to make decisions? The players. Who has to play? The players. Who has to make adjustments? The players. Who has to fix the problems? The players. Can you do that? No. Can you work on that? Yes. You work with the players during the week. But bottom line, the most important test is the game. In the game, they have to make decisions and they have to be able to do it on their own.

Cabrera raised his voice every time he made a point.

"That's the biggest difference between the sports here in the United States, football, baseball and basketball,” he said. “Other sports. Very good sports. But they're totally different. Their coaches are telling the players what to do. Over here, we cannot do that. We cannot tell the players on the line, You! Pass it! Move it! Control! Turn! Score! Shoot! On the line that cannot happen. That is a mistake. We are taking from other sports as coaches. We have to change that. We need to prepare our guys to take responsibility."

Last Friday, Cabrera and his staff of assistant coaches Paul Caffrey, Paul Grafer, and Gerson Echeverry, put on an informative and entertaining two-hour session on how they prepare the 40 players in the U-17 residency program. Their audience was several dozen coaches from the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League at the Brooklyn Italians' clubhouse.

They were in New York City for what was supposed to be the first game at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ, a Saturday match that was washed out due to weather. However, rain did not scuttle their session.

Cabrera and his colleagues talked about the modern technology that is being used to map their players progress. Moreover, Cabrera spoke about mentality, soccer culture and taking risks.

It begins at practice. If coaches don't work on the attacking there, the players will never do it in a game.

Playing a possession game is nice, but only up to a point. Sooner or later, you have to shoot. And this was offensive talk from a former defender, of all players, with the Colombian National Team.

"They're happy just keeping the ball," Cabrera said. "Let's keep the ball, let's keep possession. The only way to win the game is when you score a goal. So we have to change a little bit their mentality. Yes, one of the tools is possession. I played on a national team that we would have 200 passes and the other team never got the ball back. What happened? We couldn't score. We didn't have people with that mentality. You play very good. But do you win? No."

"You are what you practice. You play the way you practice. If we don't use the goals, how are we going to score? How are we going to create that mentality for our guys, our boys? Let's go! We have to win! We have to score!"

He slapped his hands twice.

Coaches have to use goals in every practice, so players develop that attacking mentality.

"They're not used to seeing the goal," Cabrera continued. "They don't even see the goal during the week, so how are they going to be going forward? How are they going to score? If they goal is right there, they continue playing and playing. That's a big problem. That's why every time we get the chance, we play [with] all goals, not every game, but all our drills with goals. Why? Because they have to start thinking about the most important thing in soccer."

Cabrera was a member of two World Cup teams with Colombia before emigrating to the United States. He played for the Long Island Rough Riders and later coached at B.W. Gottschee, a progressive CJSL youth club with a vibrant soccer culture, and Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association's Olympic Development Program.

"Most of the kids, in the culture where I'm from, the most important thing is the take risks," he said. "Why? Because you have everything to win and nothing to lose. Over here, the culture is the other way. No risk, everything has to be safe. Soccer is the sport that is totally opposite to our culture. Everything is about risk and the players need to take risk. It's the only way for them to enjoy, to get better, develop. If they don't take risks, they are never going to learn. Take risks. We have to allow them to take risks."

"One of the purposes why they play soccer is the freedom of the game. 'On the field, daddy cannot tell me anything. He is outside of the field.' The coach is outside the field. The game is a freedom game, a creative game where the kids learn how to express themselves. We, as coaches, we have to encourage them to take risks. When you take risks, you can do it. The best players in the world are the players that take more risks and they do the most unbelievable things. Why? Because they are allowed to it. they were allowed to do that. So, if we don't allow our players to take risks, we are never going to give the possibilities to them to improve."

The U-17 national side plays college and MLS teams on a regular basis.

"We play, two, three four years older and we get crushed," Cabrera said. "The kids learn. The kids match how to play with them, how to play with guys faster. So they learn. If we want safe. OK, we play with the same age and we are going to win. But what happens? we're never going to take risks. So it's very important for us as coaches for us to allow players to take risks and make mistakes."

Cabrera further noted his team's experience at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria. At that tournament, the USA held a substantial possession advantage, took more shots, and attempted more corner kicks against Spain, Malawi, United Arab Emirates and Italy. Yet, the US exited after a 2-1 loss to Italy in the second round.

"We just scored a goal in each game," he said. "We still lack the mentality -- put the ball in the net…. You can play very good. You can look very nice. You can be very offensive. whatever. But if you don't put the ball in the net in this sport, you have to pack and go home. And that's what happened to us.

"So we are coaches and soccer is not a coaches' game, it is a players' game. So, bottom line, we don't play. Who plays? The players. We need to prepare the players. The best way to do it is with all the situations within the game. That's why we work so hard in the practices. Why? In the game, we can't tell anything to the players. In Nigeria, they couldn't hear us. I was on the line. The guy near me, two yards, He couldn't hear me because they were blowing those things [vuvuzelas]. Nothing."

Obviously, all that is easier said than done.

So, how does US soccer change its ways? It will take time, Cabrera said, a lot of time. He doesn't expect to be U-17 coach when American soccer finally switches its ways.

"We need to start building this tradition, culture. The United States has a lot of rules. There are a lot of people in soccer. It's not that we don't have culture. We have culture and tradition. We need to spread out more and more, little by little. Our job as a staff is to do it with 40 guys. We cannot do more than that. At least we are doing it. Your job is continue doing it. wherever you go here. If we are sending the right information, soccer will be the beneficiary and that will be the most important thing."

Cabrera’s revolution has already started in Bradenton. How quickly and how far it spreads will be up to thousands of youth soccer coaches across the land.