How to Best Develop Your Soccer IQ

A great soccer player doesn’t get by on their speed, endurance, and technical skills. Plenty of young players possess these attributes in spades, but only some possess the final components to a successful career, the components that separate good players from great players. The first is having an elite mindset. The second is their soccer IQ.

When we’re talking about soccer IQ, we’re talking about the ability to make good decisions during play. Great soccer players have already decided what their best option is before they get the ball. They know exactly what to do to move their team forward, whether that means passing to a certain player, moving the ball to a certain spot on the field, or setting up a specific play. Off the ball, they anticipate what is going to happen next and make a decision to alter that future to best help their team.

This is the power of a high soccer IQ. When you can make decisions at a faster rate, the team moves forward at a faster rate while your opponents are catching their breath.

Here’s how today’s young soccer players can develop their soccer IQ:

Watching High-Level Players in Your Position to Boost Soccer IQ

The best way to develop your soccer IQ is to see more situations – the goal is to be familiar with any situation you might find yourself in so you have a good idea how to react before it happens. The easiest and fastest way to do this is by watching professionals in your position. This is a very different experience than casually watching a soccer game on TV. Instead of following the ball, you’re specifically focused on the behavior of one or two players.

First, pay attention to the decisions they make when they have the ball. From this perspective, you can see which scenarios they choose to keep the ball, and which they choose to immediately pass. You can see how these decisions are clearly influenced by the position or movements of certain teammates, or their own position on the field. The player is ultimately trying to move their team forward, and the way they choose to do this depends on what’s going on around them.

As you do this more regularly, try to decide what they should do in a given situation – anticipate what the best option is for them.

When you eventually find yourself in a similar scenario during one of your own games, the footage you watched will guide your decision. Instead of having to take your time to think of the right move, you’ll already know what to do because you’ve seen the right move in action.

Watch What They Do When They Don’t Have the Ball 

Watching professional footage allows you to understand how your position fits into the larger puzzle, or how every decision you make affects the flow of the game. This includes your behavior when you’re not touching the ball. The average player touches the ball for just 4% of the game. So, what should you be doing for the other 96%?

Footage of professional matches shows you how great players consistently put themselves in positions to support their teammates, even when they’re nowhere near the ball. What is the player in your position doing when their team is on defense? What do they do when their team is in transition?

Eventually, you’ll be able to see recurring trends in where the player generally chooses to position themself, and how they generally move when the ball moves a certain direction.

How Video Analysis Builds Soccer IQ

The problem with watching soccer on TV is that the cameras just follow the ball, so you can’t always see what the player in your position is doing. Thankfully, today’s athletes have access to a variety of video analysis programs offering curated footage of professional games.

These clips are specifically chosen to show high-level players in different positions making good decisions in common scenarios and important moments of the game.

The more footage you watch, the more familiar you become with different scenarios and reactions. Based on this knowledge, you can consistently put yourself in advantageous positions while making good decisions at a faster rate, since the footage will be fresh in your mind.

The value of video analysis for today’s athletes inspired us to create BGTV. In addition to extensive footage for every position, BGTV features former pros breaking down each clip, explaining why the decision was correct for this specific scenario. We’ve found that it’s much easier to remember a player’s behavior when you know exactly why it’s worth remembering in the first place.  

To learn more about video analysis services like BGTV, contact us at Beyond Goals Mentoring.