Jose Mourinho's 10 Commandments

1. THE ONLY STAR IS THE TEAM: 'My greatest worry is the team. The collective effort. I have no idea where the physical aspect ends and the tactical/psychological aspect begins, but football encaptures both. I can't separate the two, but what I can say is that football is not all about the physical aspect, it's about much more than that. In the grand scheme of things, the physical aspect is probably the least important element. Without organization and a talent in exploring the different tactical models of the game, your weaknesses quickly become apparent, regardless of how fit you are'. 2. TACTICS ARE WORKED ON FROM DAY ONE: 'The most important thing in football is to have a style of play, a set of principles that offer organization to the team. For that reason, my focus is on tactics from day one'. Exactly what is required at Real Madrid. 3. THE RUI FARIA METHOD (No circuits, no gyms, no laps around the pitch): 'Have you ever seen a pianist run around his piano before sitting down to unleash a masterpiece? In our methodology we don't send them on laps around the pitch either'. For Mourinho and his right-hand man/physical trainer Rui Faria, the gym is only for recovering from injuries. 4. THE BALL IS OBLIGATORY. TRAINING SESSIONS OF NO MORE THAN 90 MINUTES: 'My training sessions aren't long, they're dynamic and incredibly time-efficient. I like my team to learn to love the ball, and to know what to do with it once they win it back. Three hour training sessions will only serve to bore the players. They would quickly fall out of love with the ball'. 5. A TEAM WITHOUT PEAKS IN FORM: 'Weekly training sessions are solely focused on the next game. There's no plan to come good in December or May, no looking ahead. No plan to play better against the top teams'. 6. MOTIVATION COMES FROM TRAINING, NOT FROM THE BIG MATCHES: During his time in Portugal with Porto, there came a moment when the team were winning everything domestically, with the danger of the players only being motivated for the European ties. Here's how he overcame that potential obstacle. 'With a 4-3-3 formation, space is perfectly occupied naturally, it isn't necessary for the players to be intelligent. They don't have to think too much. With a 4-4-2 they are required to think because the field is occupied irrationally, no-one is naturally open. With a constant need for tactical discipline comes motivation, regardless of the importance of the match.' Real Madrid fans know what to expect there then. 7. THOROUGH STUDY OF THE OP-POSITION. BUT NEVER TO PLAY ACCORDING TO YOUR RIVAL: ' We analyze our rivals and we try to imagine how they will play against us. Using these thoughts we position certain players in certain positions according to the oppositions strengths and weaknesses. But these are only positional details. They don't interfere with our principles, or even with our system'. 8. THE CREATIVE PLAYERS ARE THE FIRST TO DEFEND: ‘For me defending well is defending during the least amount of time possible. It's to have the ball among your most creative players for as long as possible. Having the initiative for as long as possible. This takes away the need for defensive actions. But when the need to defend arises, everyone has a role to play. There are those that say the creative players should be liberated of defensive duties. They know nothing about football. All players need to know what to do with the ball and what to do without the ball'. Cristiano Ronaldo, you've been warned. 9. WE BEGIN TO RECOVER DURING THE GAMES: 'After each game I like to give the players a days rest. It may not be the most appropriate thing to do physically speaking, but it allows them to recover mentally. Unfortunately, with so many games during a season this is rarely possible. Therefore as incredible as it sounds, they need to start recovering during the game itself. If the team plays how I want them to, the players will start to recover mentally by having total control of the ball. Instead of finishing the match mentally exhausted, they would come off the pitch in a great frame of mind, raring to go once more'. 10. ONE METHOD FITS ALL - FROM THE FIRST TEAM TO THE YOUTH TEAM: 'The basic methodological concepts must be instilled in both the elite and the base. At Porto I regularly met with the youth and reserve team directors to explain exactly how all the different teams should play. That way no player gets lost when making the step up. Everything is already trained into his mind'.

FCL x U of M Training Session

Check out the training session yesterday at University of Memphis.  Thanks again Richie Grant for all help and support this season.

FC Barcelona - Gracies Pep!

In honor of the brilliant mastermind of the current incarnation of FC Barcelona and his announcement that he is leaving at the end of the season.

FC Legendinhos x Lausanne Collegiate School

We have been working for a little while with Lausanne about possibly getting a player the opportunity to play soccer and attend their great school.  We finally felt we had the right person to be the first local hispanic to attend Lausanne.  Here is the story of his campus tour and meeting with the admissions people!

Tetra Brazil Soccer/Futsal camp

We wanted to let you all know about a camp that we are bringing to Faith Lutheran this summer!

This summer July 9-13th we will be offering a half day camp that will be 1.5 hours indoor on the Futsal court and 1.5 hours Soccer on the new fields outdoors at our facility at Faith Lutheran Church. This camp will be run by Tetra Brazil and the coaches will be brought in from Brazil for this camp. Tetra approached us about doing a soccer camp but, we only wanted to do it if we could offer something different. So we wanted to bring the Futsal aspect with Brazilians Coaches who have grown up playing and coaching this in addition to soccer. This is the first time a camp like this has ever been offered by Tetra Brazil and they are as excited to do it as we are to host it. Details below:

July 9-13th at Faith Lutheran Church - Soccer Field and Futsal Court

Ages 7-10 (9-12pm) $145
Ages 11-15 (9-12pm) $145

Space is limited to 40 campers total (not for each age group).

link to registration
http://registration.challengersports.com/FindACamp/FindACampTetra.asp?Method=CampSession&Key=0|5|21670&~=

5v5 Summer League 2012

Enjoy our new 5v5 Summer League ad and register today!

http://www.cntrcircle.com/Center_Circle_LLC/5v5_Summer.html

Legendinhos Youth Classic '12 Champions

Tournament Champions

Bartlett SC 03 Red - U9 Boys
Bartlett SC 02 Red - U10 Girls
Rush Olive Branch - U10 Boys
Tupelo FC 01 White - U11 Boys
FC Sikeston Stampede - U12 Girls
Midsouth FC 00 - U12 Boys
SMSC Extreme 00 - U13 Girls
FC Sikeston Red Storm - U14 Girls
FC Legendinhos - U14 Boys

Pictures of all finalists here: