In the world of soccer there are different ways to prepare and measure the level of the players. One of these are the friendly matches, which serve in different ways: to compete during a preseason, to prepare for a tournament, to increase the pace of competition or to measure the level of the players.
At SIA Academy, as in all teams around the world, these matches are fundamental for our players to measure themselves against other young players, demonstrate their physical, technical and tactical progress and even end up being opportunities for scouts or coaches from other teams to become interested in them.
What are the logistical steps involved in arranging a friendly?
At SIA Academy we already have several well-known academies around the area, so it’s easy to get in touch with them. The idea is to prepare the match 6 weeks before or a month before so we can plan it in a good way. For example, if we want the match to take place in September, it is already scheduled in August.
Then, the process is to call the academy we want to have as a rival, check their availability, define if they come to our facilities or we move to our facilities and after that, we agree on the day of the friendly. If it is at the SIA Academy, the opponent arrives at least one hour in advance, we go down to the locker room, all the players change and go out to warm up, and then the match starts.
How do you prepare the players for the matches?
The way we prepare the SIA Academy kids for a friendly match is by planning and approaching the week with the game in mind, so there is a pre-game and post-game. On a training level, the pre and post-game is low load.
Now, at the analysis level, we also do a pre-game in which we detail everything we have been working on during the week and the last recorded games, to know what has been done right and wrong. After the friendly, we also analyze and explain to the players what has been done well and what can be improved.
What is the format of the matches?
Following the traditional rules of soccer and taking into account the friendly nature of this type of match, the format of the games is the traditional one. That is to say, the competition time is 45 minutes in both the first and second half and 11 against 11 in each team.
However, it is important to emphasize that, although the match is friendly, there is always a Federation-level referee. With the referee himself and the opposing team, the number of changes that can be made is agreed upon, normally in these games an agreement is reached to have free changes.
What was the most recent friendly match?
During the fifth week of the 2023 summer campus, the young players who are living their high-performance experience had the opportunity to play a friendly match at the SIA Academy facilities, specifically on the natural grass field that meets all the regulatory dimensions.
The game was very good in terms of level. SIA Academy’s opponent was a group of 11 or 12 players from U-learn Academy, who knew each other and had been working together for quite some time. We made up the team with players who had only been on campus for two days, so they didn’t know each other very well. However, the victory was 3-2 for SIA Academy. Tactically our players were up to the task of applying the 4 concepts that we were able to work on, while physically they did not have any problems.
How do these games influence the SIA Academy kids?
Mainly, what we are looking for with these friendlies is for the boys and girls to see that there is a progression in them, that is to say that they are looking for results to know what they have improved and what they still need to improve. If a good match is played and a good result is obtained, it is surely a symptom of individual progress of each one of them.
For the young players, the competition is very important, even if they are friendly games, because it is through these that they can develop what they have worked on during the previous weeks; basically, a reflection of what they are learning and acquiring at the Academy.
What is the objective of these friendly matches?
The objective is to generate a complete analysis of the players. Mainly to make a tactical analysis, but also a physical one, because it may happen that the match went badly because physically they did not arrive in full condition and to determine the reason for and the extent of the injury.
Now, everything is analyzed tactically and collectively, but one of the main objectives in these matches is also to work individually afterwards, that is, to sit down with each of the players to analyze their performances, explaining to them the highest points and those that still need to be worked on.
