Soccer Coaches, Players Are Changing the Game

“Kids have been exposed to more and more soccer, and they’re digesting it and understanding it.”

There was a time when high school soccer coaches would implement a playing style and a formation, and neither of those would change from the first preseason training session straight through to the final whistle of the last postseason game.

If you lined up in a traditional 4-3-3 formation (four backs, three midfielders and three strikers), or a slightly more defensive 4-4-2, that’s what you stuck with. All season was spent working players into those roles, with little thought of adapting a system to the players themselves. But welcome to Maine high school soccer in 2018, where coaches not only adjust formations from game-to-game, they’re also doing so in the middle of matches with regards to the score or the situation.