Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network 

Show Name: Pitch Perfect

Episode Title: International vs. Club

Episode #7

You are listening to Pitch Perfect the podcast with your host(s) Me.

In this episode of the Podcast we discuss: the difference in International soccer vs club soccer.

If you watch international soccer, the last world cup for example, you would see that there is a slight difference on how teams play, more specifically club teams and international teams. You could see that play is definitely slower and they keep possession more. If these were your thoughts about how the game is played, you’d be correct, and there are stats to back this up. 

• International teams play more passes per sequence (3.9)-(3.3)
• International teams are slower to progress the ball towards the goal (1.45 mps)-(1.64 mps)
• International teams average 12.5 sequences of 10 or more passes, club teams average 8.6

Although this may sound crazy and very strange at first, there are definitely reasons as to why this is the case. The first and biggest reason for all of this is due to the playing time and consistency of the squads. Club teams have full pre-seasons and months of training in order to teach and commit to the coaches preferred tactics. National teams only ever have a few weeks at a time during international breaks, and a few weeks is being generous. Most of the time, they get a week or 2 at a time with 2 or 3 games during friendly international breaks. And they get very minimal time to prepare for major tournaments and games. The trophies in International soccer are more wanted and more meaningful then club competitions. Most major international competitions take place once every 4 years, like the World Cup and Euros. There is also a certain pride in representing your country, which you grew up in and have a very strong connection to for the most part. 

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