Respecting your opponent enough to...

Over the past two weeks we have had two games that ended with a 10-0 scoreline for us.

Here is my approach in those games - ask our players to respect the other team enough to... play at their best, both collectively and personally, to pressure the other team and win the ball back, to play pretty soccer and use good patterns of play, to be respectful toward the other team, commit no fouls, tolerate absolutely no laughter or demeaning behavior, and to celebrate our successes professionally.  I also attempt to get everyone involved as equally as possible. In one of the games we put a hard 1 goal per player limit, and subbed players off as they scored. In the other, as long as a player was playing at a high level, playing unselfishly, they remained on the field, but we made sure all of our players got significant playing time.

I was pleased with our attitude and our professionalism in both of those games, and, per the above, I think we succeeded at holding those ideals.

Hopefully our opponents respect that approach. 

The other benefit to OUR team of these game is the need to rehearse certain attacking plays and try to improve our efficiency in the attacking end. Our game this week, for instance, will be very competitive, our chances limited, and thus, we will need to be very efficient in cashing our chances into actual goals this week.