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Picture of teachers soccer team

How teachers play football

Article by Tokuzane Miname, Raphaël Bédard and Hikaru Yamada, SEcondary students

Every day at lunchtime, teachers and students play football in the school grounds. 

I am one of the many students taking part in the matches, and it is one of the most exciting parts of my day at EIM. Unfortunately, it is rather difficult for us students to defeat the teachers, which is why I came up with the idea of analyzing their different playing styles and applying this knowledge into our daily game. My procedure was that of watching the match from the third floor of the school building, which made it easy for me to observe the movements of the players, as well as the situation of the game.

The football field is not quite big enough to call it a proper pitch. It is smaller than a regular football field, which makes the game increasingly more difficult. Students usually form teams according to their grade, most of the time in the MYP level. We divide the 30 minutes of allowed time into the number of existing teams, which can change depending on the day and situation. The objective is to have equal amounts of playing time for everyone.

Teachers’ features

MR.Branco- Our lovely chemistry teacher 

  • Technician   

  • Side attacker

    • Usually located deep on the right side

    • Dribbles just short of the line

    • Uses lifting when dribbling

  • Ground-crawling shot

  • Waves of skill

    • Sometimes as good as Lionel Messi

  • Often the starting point of the attack

  • Strong counter play

    • Often shoots by himself when in on goal

Mr. Latkowski - A big Charleroi fan 
  • Often plays the position of number 9

    • Number 9 : Positioning yourself closest to the opponent's goal, and when there is  an opening, receive the ball and aim for a shot at the goal

  • Striker

  • Frequently makes mistakes on the teacher’s side

    • Target

  • Doesn't make mistakes when playing as keeper
    • Also wide-eyed
Mr. Jo - A philosophy connoisseur
  • Advisor of TEIMS
    • Absent during Tuesday games due to TEIMS meeting

  • Frequent passing with high, floating balls

  • Technician
    • Has been spotted lifting with ease\
Mr. Waters - A head of team 

  • Control tower of the team

  • Man-marking the most dangerous person

  • Often dribbles and shoots from the left side of the pitch

  • Pays strict attention to foul play
    • should not play foul or too aggressively on him

  • Seems mad judging by his eyes, especially towards the end of the match, showing high eagerness for victory

  • Often shifts the ball slightly to the right in order to get an opening for a shot on goal
    • Difficult to get behind
Mr. Schuchewytsch - The unlikely sportsman

  • Astonishingly powerful shot

  • Uses brute force to stop opponents in defensive play

  • Successfully makes use of shooting/kicking feints

  • Tends to shoot by himself when in on goal

Teachers’ attack tactics

  • Keeper often throws the ball in order to initiate the attacking play when there are no open passing options

  • Efficient back passes in direction of the keeper, causing difficulty for the defending team

    • Chasing and pressing the keeper results in the teachers gaining a one player advantage, which makes the counterattack challenging for the students 

    • Recurring passes to the player (on the teacher’s side) located high on the pitch, which allows fast counter attack to ensue

  • Back passes aimed towards Mr. Branco help the teachers with time to reset, prepare, and reconstruct their attacking play

  • Passing trajectories are easy to read

Teachers’ defense tactics

  • Block shaped defending structure
    • Not letting us attack from the middle
    • Successfully lead and drive us near the edge of the touch line, reducing our  attacking opportunities
    • Students are recommended to adopt a defensive play style similar to Manchester  City’s (as shown on the right) 

  • Valuable one-two passing technique mastered and often utilized by the teachers

  • Constant movement in the student’s side is essential 
    • Disorganization throughout the field creates a path for shooting opportunities
  • Longer legs than students, a factor which is out of our control, but certain strategies can help us find a way around this

Why do we struggle to defeat the teachers?

The teachers have : 

  • Solid, organized defensive play and speedy attack

  • Higher skill and technique standards

  • Superior passing quality 

  • Active and effective team communication

  • Strong counter attacking
    • Lead counter play when one teacher is open and positioned high on the pitch

How could we improve our attacking play? 

  • Develop various movements to give and receive passes with pinpoint accuracy
    • Backwards passes, overlapping passes, one-two passing technique
  • High quantity of passes to initiate discord between teachers and students, making it harder for opponents to track, intercept, and retrieve the ball from our possession

  • Dribble past one teacher as a way to create a numerical advantage in our side (3 students vs 2 teachers)

  • Abrupt, unexpected shots on goal, to catch our opponents off guard

How could we improve our defensive play?

  • Man-to-man defense, each student constantly covers and tracks their respective teacher
    • Intercept teacher’s pass trajectories
  • Not chasing or pressing the keeper, maintaining cover on the teachers 
    • Teachers will not be able to obtain a numerical advantage as they will not be in measure to properly receive a pass from the keeper, which will significantly slow down their attack 
  • Discuss between teammates to decide who is going to mark which teacher
    • Prevents confusion in student’s side when teachers change position

Conclusion

Despite analyzing their playing styles, my team and I still do not manage to defeat them in daily games. However, that does not make me bored when playing. After writing this article and gathering the knowledge I learned from my work, I became more thoughtful, reflective, and excited during my match. 

Finally, to conclude this paragraph, I would like to thank Raphaël and Hikaru for helping me with my article.

EIM Community

At Montgomery International School, most of our students come from abroad, speak two or three languages and add much to the character of the school. We also attract Belgian families and long term expats who are looking for international openness and quality teaching and learning.

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