So I went to the Owasso @ Bixby match the other night. The game started just as the front blew in so the GKs had a devil of a time. Owasso scored first off a corner that the Bixby keeper just absolutely butchered. He called for the ball, his D clears out and then he waited and the ball never reached him. Not sure who put the ball in but it went into the net. Not sure if it was an own goal or not but the GK was severely out of position on the corner. At his height he should be in the middle of the goal, about a pace off the line unless an attacker is forcing him elsewhere.
Bixby scored the next 2. 1 was a PK that I honestly thought the kid took a dive. He had the ball in the box and closed down by 3 Owasso defenders...he wasn't going anywhere. From where I was, he wasn't touched and just went down. Owasso GK actually made the save on the PK but it went right back to the shooter. 2nd goal came off a corner that went directly in at the back post. Wind aided. Of course the ref missed the Bixby player who literally ran into the back of the keeper to prevent him from getting to the ball. I would have whistled for a foul in that situation.
Not sure how Owasso didn't score in the 2nd half. But HS kids need to learn, the taller the GK, the lower you should shoot. Will is going to get to anything waist high or above. He's 6'4 with decent reaction. What he lacks is a reliable pair of hands and an ability to get down quickly. 2nd half the Bixby coach wasn't messing around with the wind at all. CB took all of the goal kicks. Most weren't even close to getting to MF. One punt, I watched the ball and it went about 15 yards forward and then took a left turn and went over the touchline by 25 yards. I think Bixby crossed MF maybe 2x with control of the ball in the 2nd half.
My take away is Owasso is a more complete team and they were better suited at working the ball through the MF into the attack. And Owasso has some serious speed up top and they did a good job of exploiting that advantage in getting the ball into dangerous areas wide. Bixby had the 2 best players in #9 Troy Nguyen and #10 Johan Mendez. Bixby lacks speed in the front and a lot of their goals are probably coming from those 2 players beating a defender 1 on 1. Bixby's outside defenders were a mess that night...some really poor decisions in their defending technique. The CB is a nice player. He plays at Blitz so I'm familiar with his game. He plays the 6 at Blitz though and that role seems to be better suited for him than CB as he's able to use his IQ and vision to get the ball moving forward. At Bixby they use him almost more like a sweeper but they start out in a 4 man backline but he always seems to be a little further back to clean up the messes left for him. If teams press Owasso on goal kicks or when the keeper has the ball in his hands, they can easily force a turnover. Press him and force him to play a "long" goal kick and you can be back in the attack almost immediately. Punts, just send a couple players to MF and be first to the ball.
Bixby scored the next 2. 1 was a PK that I honestly thought the kid took a dive. He had the ball in the box and closed down by 3 Owasso defenders...he wasn't going anywhere. From where I was, he wasn't touched and just went down. Owasso GK actually made the save on the PK but it went right back to the shooter. 2nd goal came off a corner that went directly in at the back post. Wind aided. Of course the ref missed the Bixby player who literally ran into the back of the keeper to prevent him from getting to the ball. I would have whistled for a foul in that situation.
Not sure how Owasso didn't score in the 2nd half. But HS kids need to learn, the taller the GK, the lower you should shoot. Will is going to get to anything waist high or above. He's 6'4 with decent reaction. What he lacks is a reliable pair of hands and an ability to get down quickly. 2nd half the Bixby coach wasn't messing around with the wind at all. CB took all of the goal kicks. Most weren't even close to getting to MF. One punt, I watched the ball and it went about 15 yards forward and then took a left turn and went over the touchline by 25 yards. I think Bixby crossed MF maybe 2x with control of the ball in the 2nd half.
My take away is Owasso is a more complete team and they were better suited at working the ball through the MF into the attack. And Owasso has some serious speed up top and they did a good job of exploiting that advantage in getting the ball into dangerous areas wide. Bixby had the 2 best players in #9 Troy Nguyen and #10 Johan Mendez. Bixby lacks speed in the front and a lot of their goals are probably coming from those 2 players beating a defender 1 on 1. Bixby's outside defenders were a mess that night...some really poor decisions in their defending technique. The CB is a nice player. He plays at Blitz so I'm familiar with his game. He plays the 6 at Blitz though and that role seems to be better suited for him than CB as he's able to use his IQ and vision to get the ball moving forward. At Bixby they use him almost more like a sweeper but they start out in a 4 man backline but he always seems to be a little further back to clean up the messes left for him. If teams press Owasso on goal kicks or when the keeper has the ball in his hands, they can easily force a turnover. Press him and force him to play a "long" goal kick and you can be back in the attack almost immediately. Punts, just send a couple players to MF and be first to the ball.