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15
Aug 2013
23:16 Comments (18)
Too many injuries?, by Rafa Benítez

Professional Football

Rafa Benítez

This is, and will be in the coming months, a topic for debate. No team is free from injuries and especially teams who play the most games, with a greater physical load, more long trips, more success in different competitions, meaning they will play more and with a higher intensity right to the end of the season.

This then raises the question – Can you avoid injuries? The answer is a clear ‘no’. However, you can work in a way to prevent and reduce the amount of them.
10
Jul 2013
12:43 Comments (13)
Why should you rotate players in squads which have a high number of matches?

Professional Football

Paco de Miguel

I was lucky enough to attend the ‘Audience with Rafa Benitez at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool and I saw that many subjects were dealt with in depth and others, due to time restrictions, were only dealt with more superficially. With some of these latter subjects, I think we can take the opportunity to deal with them more calmly now...
23
Jul 2012
08:59 Comments (5)
Special Football Planning, by Paco de Miguel

Professional Football

Paco de Miguel

Planning is one of the pillars that sustain athletic performance. There are many teams that season after season are dealing with congested calendar.

The calendar has become a major obstacle to persons responsible for programming the activities carried out, as well as another series of factors that influence directly in its design and development.

This document attempts to capture an idea of intervention in the planning considering all factors and elements that influence, from the mainly empirical information, although supported by the academic knowledge...
12
Jul 2012
10:02 Comments (0)
Away victory for LA Galaxy, by Edu Parra

Professional Football

Eduardo Parra

A double by Robbie Keane gave an away victory (0-2) to LA Galaxy at Toyota Park. They faced Chicago Fire who completed a second game without a win as they drew the previous game after a run of consecutive wins. On the other hand, the californian team put a stop to their run of losses with a sound victory...
07
Jul 2012
11:15 Comments (2)
Corinthians win Libertadores Cup; by Edu Parra

Professional Football

Eduardo Parra

For the first time in their history, Corinthians have become champions of the Libertadores Cup after winning the final against Boca Juniors with an overall score of 3-1 (1-1 and 2-0). It was clear that this last match of this year´s tournament confronted two classic teams in South American football. For the ‘xeneize’ team (Boca) it was the tenth final (six titles won) whilst the ‘timao’ team (Corinthians) were facing their first final of this tournament. In the end, history changed and we now have a new team in the champions ranking...
06
Jul 2012
14:34 Comments (2)
Draw in Toronto, by Edu Parra

Professional Football

Eduardo Parra

We will analyse the MLS game played in Toronto on the 30th of June. Two teams with different objectives faced each other: The Red Bulls were higher in the table, with Thierry Henry but without Rafa Marquez who was injured, whilst the local team faced the game with the need to get the necessary points to escape from the bottom part of the table...
14
Feb 2012
16:57 Comments (38)
Zambia spring a surprise, by Rafa Benitez

Professional Football

Rafa Benítez

The surprises kept coming in the African Nations Cup Final as they had done in the previous rounds, including the semi-finals, which were but a healthy warning of what was to come. Zambia finished up winning the tournament and they did it in a protracted final, agonising, almost never-ending and full of emotion to the last second, to the last penalty kick...
09
Feb 2012
09:45 Comments (12)
Zambia and Ivory Coast in the Final, by Rafa Benitez

Professional Football

Rafa Benítez

We now know who is in the final of the African Cup and it includes a surprise, and some would say that’s what makes our sport great. Zambia were the surprise and they will be part of the party along with the Ivory Coast as their ‘dance partner’, who were expected to do well. Ghana went out despite their being favourites in the betting to get to the final. A Mayuka goal was enough to seal their glory and leave the likes of Ayew, Asamoah and company with nothing. In the other semi-final, also decided by a single goal, in this case by Gervinho, it was enough for the Ivory Coast to book their ticket to the final. As is becoming the norm, the semi-finals have given us things to talk about. So here we are...
08
Feb 2012
10:40 Comments (18)
Training curriculum for goalkeeping coaches

Professional Football

Xavi Valero

Goalkeepers have always trained in specific ways, differentiated from the rest of the team. It seems like a long time ago when we could see the manager or his assistant dedicating just half an hour extra to the goalkeepers after training whilst the rest of the players stretched on the pitch. Yet the truth is that this has been quite common until recently...
06
Feb 2012
10:05 Comments (4)
African Nations Cup - Quarter Finals, by Rafa Benitez

Professional Football

Rafa Benítez

The current African Nations Cup is progressing and coming towards a conclusion. We have been looking at the quarter finals and we have made several observations which we can share with you...
03
Feb 2012
21:39 Comments (7)
African Cup of Nations 2012, by Rafa Benitez

Professional Football

Rafa Benítez

We are going to have a first look at the African Nations Cup which has been taking place in the last few weeks. Thanks to members of my staff, and in this case especially Pedro Campos, we have been able to have a look at many of the participating teams. Obviously this article is just an initial assessment which we will continue in the next phase of the competition, but it gives us the chance to have a brief look at some of the teams who are still in the competition...
31
Jan 2012
16:37 Comments (17)
Teaching tactical concepts in football during the formative years

Professional Football

Eduardo Parra

Football is part of a group of sports which are known as team sports, and as such can be characterized by the relationship between co-operation (between team mates) and opposition (against an opponent). In the development of the game we can consider 3 basic aspects: time-space aspect, demonstrated in the attacking phase by use of the ball individually and collectively to overcome barriers and opponents, and in the defending phase by the creation of barriers to delay and stop movement of the opponents and the ball with the objective of regaining possession; information aspect demonstrated by the creation of doubt in the opponent and confidence in team mates; and the organisational aspect established by the collective plan integrated with individual actions and vice versa...
02
Jan 2012
11:56 Comments (2)
Bundesliga Analysis on rafabenitez.com

Professional Football

David Serrano

With the aim of analysing the first half of the German Bundesliga season, we can use the winter break to look closely at one of the most passionate leagues in European football. Let’s have a look...
19
Dec 2011
17:20 Comments (2)
Women and Football

Professional Football

Maite Gómez

Since 1991 when the first World Cup took place, women’s football has boomed and developed according to the latest survey conducted by FIFA from its 207 member associations. The so-called ‘Great Census 2006’ (FIFA 2007) shows that in the last 6 years the number of players has increased from 22 million to 26 million. This 16.8% increase represents 10% of the total of all players, men and women, which is 265 million...
18
Nov 2011
11:59 Comments (1)
My opinion on Korean football

Professional Football

Gerard Nus

The first thing I must say is that in order to understand the basis of Korean football you have to know something of the social and historical context of the country, the history of football there and the area around it. South Korea, where I am working, has over the last few decades has improved its standard of living...
17
Nov 2011
12:17 Comments (1)
Euros 2012 Play-offs

Professional Football

David Serrano

15 November was the chosen date for finally deciding the last 4 teams that would make up the participants in the 2012 Euros to take place in Ukraine and Poland next summer.

So Croatia, Portugal, Czech Republic and Ireland have all booked their places in the XIVth tournament between European national teams...
15
Nov 2011
00:54 Comments (3)
World Cup 2014 Qualifiers in South America

Professional Football

David Serrano

It was the third round of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in South America where the Paraguay win over Ecuador, 2-1, and the draw between Colombia and Venzuela, 1-1, stood out as well as the Uruguay and Argentina matches...
14
Nov 2011
11:35 Comments (10)
World Cup 2014 Qualifiers in Asia

Professional Football

David Serrano

The fourth round of matches in the third group stage of Asian qualification has already eliminated some teams from the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014. There was bad news for UAE, Indonesia, North Korea, Singapore, Tajikistan and Jose Antonio Camacho’s China who all won’t be going to the next World Cup, despite there being 2 games left.
17
Oct 2011
16:02 Comments (3)
Different countries, different styles

Professional Football

Xavi Valero

Style and efficiency don’t always go hand in hand and we often hear interesting debates regarding how convenient it is to prioritise one or the other when, as coaches, we take on both the complexity of the learning process and the need for keepers to perform. If we look at football in different countries and observe in detail the solutions that each goalkeeper uses to face similar game situations...
07
Sep 2011
11:30 Comments (6)
Stamina training in a football team

Professional Football

Paco de Miguel

Performance in collective disciplines is very different from what occurs in individual disciplines. In team sports is really complex to design plans and workout routines to improve analytically the sport man biological-functional system. This is certainly the approach that any coach should have before to make the planning. In a discipline where the continuous interaction of variables is present at all times, is not possible separately stimulate cognitive components with fitness or coordinative ones. Almost all tasks have to be planned taking into account the internal logic of the game.