Men’s soccer’s opponents trying to play chess, not checkers

VCU's possesion-oriented style of play has experienced growing pains the past two weeks after starting the year 5-0.
VCU's possesion-oriented style of play has experienced growing pains the past two weeks after starting the year 5-0.

Adam Stern
Executive Editor
Commonwealth Times Sports’ Twitter

You don’t have to be a soccer guru to see that head coach Dave Giffard employs a style of play as hell-wreaking as Shaka Smart’s Havoc.

Comparable to Smart’s self-described style of play because, like Havoc, it allows his team to dictate the tempo of the game, Giffard’s possession-oriented style is an anomaly in college soccer mainly because most coaches either figure their team isn’t good enough to play it – or they’re scared. The essence of the strategy is to employ such quick, skillful and smart players that you can methodically pass your way up the field until you score a goal.

Two weeks ago, when VCU was 5-0 and nationally ranked for the first time in six years, the strategy appeared to be working like clockwork for the squad. But when the team faced Coastal Carolina that following weekend, the Chanticleers used a style of play so unusual and unheard of that Giffard had not only never seen it before, he had never even considered it.

The explanation of what Coastal did could merit a long but explanation, but the short one is they did everything they could to stifle the Rams’ possession-built game by playing an extremely defensive, suffocating style. The most important thing to take away from the game, though, is it worked as Coastal Carolina sneaked out 2-1 winners in overtime.

And, after losing two further matches this past weekend against UAB and Gardner-Webb, the team has now dropped back out of the rankings. But as the team moves forward this week, with the conference slate set to open Friday night versus Northeastern, the squad has had time to reflect and move on.

“Other teams you play against aren’t going to just let you win because you have the ball more, they want to figure out a way to win too,” Giffard said. “So you have to credit the players and coaches on other teams for coming up with ways of stopping you.”

But, Giffard said, that doesn’t change VCU’s system for style of play moving forward whatsoever.

“As a coach, certainly I need to broaden my thoughts of what might happen, but also as teams try different things and gimmicks to stop you from playing, sometimes you just need to realize as a coach, you just need to stay the course and not worry about the crazy things they do,” Giffard said. “And be good enough where it doesn’t matter.”

Yet even with the 5-0 record, it’s not as though things were perfect for VCU anyways. For example, the Rams gave up a goal off of a set piece in their 2-1 win versus Richmond. In the three games they’ve lost, they’ve also given up a set piece goal. Perhaps that trend began emerging early on in the season but it was shielded by the wins.

“When you’re scoring three or four goals versus people, some of the things you’re not doing right get hidden,” Giffard said. “And when its 0-0 for a longer period of time, all the things that aren’t quite right, they can become big deals.”

And while the three-game losing streak is certainly a big deal in some respects, the team is still in pretty solid standing just over a third of the way into the season. With a 5-3 record in what is only Giffard’s second year in charge, the team is certainly moving in the right direction.

“We’re a year and a half removed from being at the bottom of the CAA,” Giffard said. “And not only are we further along, but we’re taking the onus to carry the game; we’re doing what very, very few teams in the country even try to do.”

Photo by: Chris Conway

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