Concentration for tournament--"When to possess versus attack"

Parent/Girls (parents, please show girls),

We have been working on, for some time now, "possession soccer"-- specifically by building up from our backs/defenders.  The girls understand the concept, and do a pretty decent job of it.  There are still technical issues that sometimes limit our tactical success in possession.  Some girls are still having difficulty making accurate passes with their left foot.  We'll continue to work on skill/technical issues every practice.  But again, they are getting the concept of possession soccer.

Over the past two weeks, we have been working on "attacking soccer".  For those who are more familiar with basketball, I would describe the differences in the two as such...:

An example of "possession soccer" in basketball would be when the gaurd dribbles the ball up the court, and the opposing team already has their defense set up.  The team with the ball would then pass around the perimeter, while guards are making cuts to the basket, forwards are checking in the lane to get open, Center is posting up, etc.  Maybe the ball is thrown into the forward, but he/she is being defended really well, so she passes it back out to a guard.  Constant passing and ball movement, with some penetration, in attempt to find a good shot.

On the other hand, an example of "attacking soccer" in basketball would be when a team is pressing and might steal the ball at half court.  If that player who steals the ball sees an advantage, he will quickly look to play forward to score.  The key words are "advantage, forward, and quickly".  This is all done since the defense is offbalance and the offense might have a 3 versus 1 opportunity.  The offensive players have to be fast in making their runs and attacking the basket in order to NOT allow the defense to catch up and get organized.

This would translate in soccer when one of our girls steals/intercepts the ball, ussually taking place in our attacking or middle third of the field, and the other teams defense is not organized.  We have been working on how to quickly attack the goal, passing combinations to make this successful, and quick runs from all different positions, including our defenders, to play "numbers up" (meaning we have more offensive players than they have on defense) and look for the quick counter attack goal!  Here is a video again on attacking soocer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxluDr_U7k

Attacking soccer MAY sometimes appear as "kick and run".  In some instances, if we look up and see a mismatch, we will play the long ball forward.  It's not "kick and run" in terms of "unorganized soccer", but it is more of a quick organized attack.  And yes, sometimes it can be as simple as one long pass forward to another player for a quick strike on goal... So, our biggest focus for this tournament will be to see the girls be able to make good decisions on Attacking Soccer versus Possession Soccer!

LASTLY, we are playing some very good teams in this tournament.  I go into every game expecting the girls to do what it takes to win by giving nothing less than 100% effort.  We are playing teams all in the Buckeye League, with one team being in the 1st division, one in the 2nd division, and the other in the 3rd division.  So, it will be extremely good competition for us!  Looking forward to a fun weekend.