. . . . . . The Daily Soccer . . . . . .

Here's my new posting strategy...start the timer, 5 minutes later hit the post button. Oh, that's what you thought I was doing already, huh! Well...

Took in the Crew/Everton match last night, second half only. It was more interesting that I thought. I essentially watched the spring training Everton reserves vs. the midseason Crew reserves/injury-rehabbers. So it's unfair to compare the teams other to say that if the Crew reserves can hang with anyone, that's an overall good sign. And they didn't play that badly. But what I noticed more than anything else was that the Everton players, and teams from Europe in general, have mastered the 7 yard low-flying chip pass.

Here's the situation...you're on the ball and you have two defenders crawling up your back. You spot your mate a few yards away beind you. And instead of trying to thread a little short/square pass to him on the ground, you (the enlightened European player) instead hit a little chip upon a quick turn that goes no more than two feet in the air but also stops right after it goes about 5-7 yards due to the excessive backspin. What this little cheeky pass does nicely is get the player out of a tight spot but also gives the ball to your teammate stopped on a dime. If I had a nice YouTube video, this all would make sense. Hopefully you can envision what I'm saying.

The point is, I don't see stateside players using this trick often They should. (Bostrom)