If you have been watching soccer for a long time like I have, then you should have already realized that having the best soccer players on your team doesn’t mean that you’re going to win titles.
A team of brilliant soccer players who do not have chemistry among each other might lose to a team of average players with great chemistry among them.
With that said, building chemistry among your teammates is one of the essentials of building a team that is capable of winning respected soccer titles.
How to achieve team chemistry in a soccer team?
You might already know how important it is to build chemistry among your teammates, but if you’re not sure how to do it, then the following suggestions might come in handy.
1- Learn your teammate’s strengths and weaknesses.
If you don’t know what your teammates are capable of, then it’s very hard to improve your chemistry on the field with them.
Each player on the team should know the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates for the team to function properly.
For example. If you know that your teammate has awesome finishing abilities, then you might try and throw the ball towards them whenever you see them very close to the opponent’s goal instead of passing the ball to someone else.
If you know that your teammate isn’t very good at dribbling, then you might decide not to pass the ball to them whenever they are surrounded with a bunch of the opponents, and so on.
If you know your teammate’s strengths, then you’ll know when to send them the ball for them to put their skill into action. If you know your teammate’s weaknesses, then you’ll be able to help them avoid performing poorly in front of their teammates and in front of the audience.
But how can you learn your teammate’s strengths and weaknesses?
If you play with your teammates a lot, then you already know what they are good at and what they are bad at, but if a new team member joins the team, how can you figure out their capabilities and limitations?
Here are some methods you can use:
- Ask them politely. Your new teammates might be happy to share any information needed in order to achieve better chemistry on the soccer field.
- Watch their previous matches if there exist any recordings of them while playing soccer
- Arrange a few friendly matches against other teams in order to learn your new teammate’s capabilities. This strategy is widely used among professional soccer teams. They usually request friendly matches against other teams whenever they buy new players or new managers.
2- Encourage your teammates whenever they feel down.
During a soccer match, players make mistakes. The best soccer players in the world can make mistakes during matches. Mistakes during a game can drastically affect the performance of a player.
With that said, it’s extremely important that you directly go towards a friend who made a mistake during a match and let them know that it’s completely normal and that it happens with everyone.
Also remind them of how good they are and remind them that their awesome talent is needed now more than ever.
A few words of encouragement can help your teammates transform their mistakes into power boosts that can help them perform the best way they can throughout the whole match.
3- Praise your teammates when they play well
One of the best ways to build great chemistry among team players is by acknowledging the great efforts that your teammates are putting to win the game.
If one of your teammates scores a goal, run towards them and appreciate their effort. If one of the defenders blocks a very dangerous ball, applaud them. If the goalkeeper saves an almost inevitable goal, congratulate them.
These simple acts can help maintain respect among team players. Such acts can help the teammates gain confidence and feel respected, and I believe that chemistry between players is built upon respect.
4- Trust your teammates
Trusting your teammates is one of the fundamental requirements to build team chemistry. If you don’t trust your teammate to perform well, then you won’t be able to make use of their full potential, and you’ll lose your teammate’s trust too.
If teammates do not trust each other during a soccer match, then their chances of winning any game are close to zero.
5- Create long lasting friendships with your teammates
Becoming friends with each of your team players can help build a great chemistry among your team on the soccer field.
Take the MSN case as an example.
Lionel Messi(M), Luis Suarez(S), and Neymar(N) were one of the best trios in the history of their team FC Barcelona.
These 3 players were a goalkeeper’s nightmare. They have built such a strong chemistry among each other to the point that they knew where each of them was positioned at the field during a match without even looking.
These players were great friends outside of the soccer field. They used to hang out together outside the football world, they went on vacations together, ate together, they drank together and so on.
Being friends outside the field means being friends on the field too, and usually friends have better chemistry when they play together.
With that said, I would like to conclude this article by re-emphasizing the importance of building chemistry among your soccer teammates. The more you respect each other, and the more you trust each other, the better chemistry you will have and the better results you will achieve during any soccer match.