Advanced way of watching football (How to become a good footballer by watching fooball)

Today, I will introduce an advanced way of watching football (on TV). It is very important what you think during the football game. What you can gain from it will differ by what you think during the gamel. Here, I will introduce the way how you can make most of watching football from the point of a footballer.

1. Choosing a good game

What for are you going to watch football? It is to become a good footballer.
To do that, choose a game with lot of plays that will be a good model to you. But please don’t mistaken it. A good model to you means it’s a play you might be able to do. It is not to jump over the opponent and try to head the ball like John Terry when your height is 150cm, or to demand your self to kick the ball more than 40m with accuracy that of Gerard Pique when you are still U-15.

Of course, if you compare the game of U-15 and professional league, it is different in many ways. Ability such as kicking the ball and sprinting, so as the distance of players, and overall the tactics differs. Therefore, if you try to learn something from games way beyond your ability, it is normally useless in your games.

So, choose a game with good plays but is not so away from your level. For example, World cup or nationwide tournament of your age. Those players might have the same problem you have. They play under same pressure, same situation and looking for solution. Try to copy the way how they approach to the problem and you can make use of it on the pitch.

Conclusion 1. Learn from the top level of your age and make use of it in your games.

2. Watch the same game over and over

If you come across a good game, tape it and watch it over and over again. At first, confirm how the goal went and catch the flow of the game. Second, watch 5-10 min before the goal, thinking carefully about why the goal was made. The third, concentrate on one player and follow him during the game.

If you watch the game over and over again, you will gradually know more precise details of the game which you will not recognize the first time. You will be able to watch other player precisely as well, by knowing what will happen next in the game beforehand. Most likely, essence of football is hidden behind those precise details.

The ex- Japanese national team coach Okada was answering to the interview, that he made decision to change the system before the World cup, after watching the national game over 5 times.

Conclusion 2. You will have better understanding of football, by watching the same game many times.

3. Pay attention to one player

Learning good plays start with finding a good player. Of course, a good player means a player with great performance and contribution to the team, but here I will also introduce a way to choose a player suitable for you to learn. That is to choose a player who plays in the same position and is similar to you in physical abilities.

When a player who’s in a same position and similar physical abilities to you is showing good performance in higher level, there must be something to learn from. Try watching him carefully in slow motion from about 10 sec before he gets the ball. Pay attention to every single act he does and do imitation right there. You might come up with new moves and ideas. Also, try to imagine that players vision and then play. Then, you will know the play is more difficult than it looks and recognize you’re not really able to do just a simple play on the pitch.

Conclusion 3. Try to follow a player in same position with you, stop or watch in slow motion when he gets the ball and you will recognize something new.

Having these things in mind while watching the game, even a boring scoreless game will become very interesting.

*Add 1.

There might be an opinion that it is better to watch in the stadium because you will not see the whole pitch on TV. But you cannot stop or watch in slow motion if you watch in the stadium. The advantage to watch the game on TV is you can tape it and give yourself more time to think about football. Watching in the stadium requires higher understanding of football, because you have to understand what is happening on the pitch real time. So, if you want to watch in the stadium to learn more, the best way is to have a person with high understanding as a commentator beside you. Watching in the stadium have its good and bad.

*Add 2.

I have come up with this way of watching football, when I was watching the play of Cesc Fabregas during U-17 World cup 2003. It was astonishing how Cesc, who is not so different in height with me, rather slender, is making pass in the mid field without loosing the ball. I wished to play like him and understood structure of his football little by little, by carefully analyzing him.