Over the course of the first few games of a soccer season, it's easy to see which teams partook in preseason tournaments, friendlies and scrimmages
A team's cohesiveness, communication, style of play can all be improved by leaps and bounds simply by scheduling a few competitive matches before the season.
Many clubs, leagues and collegiate leagues run preseason tournaments for this specific reason.
Scrimmaging to Find a Team Identity
Style of play, method of attack, method of defense, formation. All of these things can take a long time for a soccer team to grasp collectively. Even if they have been playing together for years, the team is always different from season to season. Almost every team at every level has at least one or two new players from one year to the next. On the youth level, a players skill level or skill set can change over night, as well as a player's height or overall interest in the game.
It's for this reason that a coach must look at every season as a new team.
A team can practice their styles of play all they want, and will gain invaluable experience executing the methodology of their team by doing so.
However, to truly grasp the concept a team is trying to strive for, as well as make any minor changes or corrections to how the players play together as a unit, the team must be in action against another team.
Of course, team chemistry, communication and that sixth sense a player can develop about where his teammates all are or what his teammates are thinking, can only be developed through playing together over time.
Scrimmage to Evaluate Players
At a soccer tryout, the coaches are looking for the best possible players available, or maybe the best players at a certain position. Once those players have been selected and made the team, the challenge of fitting them into the teams formation and style of play becomes of the utmost importance to the coach.
Again, using those players in practice can give the coach some information on what the best role for the new players will be. It will also give the new players some insight into what they may be called upon to do and how each position fits in to the team's overall psyche.
However, in an 11-on-11 match, a new player can be instructed on exactly where to be and what to look for at his position. It is also a chance for him to try all the positions to get a feel for how the team operates as a whole.
In addition, as a season wears on, coaches tend to lock players in positions. A new season is a time to give players opportunities to play positions they are not used in very often. Players will sometimes want to try new positions and a preseason scrimmage is a great time to do it.
Experimentation in Scrimmages
If a coach ever wants to try out a new formation, or a new style of attack or defending, a practice game is the best chance to do it. There's only so much he can learn from practice and the players can not get a feel for the potential changes until they see it in 11-on-11 action.
