An obvious principle of sports is the attempt to gain an advantage to prevail in a game. With a worldwide player base of a quarter-billion people -- dwarfing all other sports -- soccer more than any other game has a rich pool of talent. This presents a distinct challenge as you seek an advantage as an equal contributor to your soccer team. Inspirational examples from small nations like Japan to soccer giants such as Brazil can point the way to areas where you can excel.
Physical Fitness
Especially in terms of cardiovascular endurance, your level of fitness creates an advantage. The ace in the hole for the U.S. men's and women's national teams has long been fitness. Even at an amateur level, fitness makes a huge difference. Veteran coach Roy Rees in "Coaching Soccer Successfully" recommends running, power walking, aerobic dance, jumping rope, swimming and cycling as options for cross-training to improve your cardiovascular endurance. Fartlek training, a continuous run with bouts of sprinting, also builds your endurance, and you can build on fartleks with soccer-appropriate sprints of 10 to 40 yards.
Understanding the Game
A mastery of tactics, or understanding the game, can augment physical fitness and allows older players to remain competitive against younger, fitter ones. Tactical mastery is the hallmark of players from Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Players with average fitness and technical skills can shine in understanding the game, providing consistent and reliable support for teammates. Such players provide value to a team despite sometimes lacking the flashier skills of more technical players.
Ball Control
A mastery of the techniques of soccer, such as ball control via dribbling, passing and trapping, is a cornerstone of enjoying the game and creating an advantage. Players from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina traditionally show excellence at technique. The ball seemingly stays glued at their feet as they magically pop it up, down, sideways and backward. The more you work on basic ball control, the greater your advantage during competition.
Advanced Coaching
Selection to an Olympic Development Program or youth academy attached to a professional club allows a soccer player to separate from the rest and profit from extensive coaching. Youth academies attached to Ajax in Amsterdam and Barcelona in Spain find teen players such as Wesley Sneijder and Lionel Messi and groom them into elite champions. National programs such as that of Japan, despite working with a tiny pool of female players, create world champions by identifying worthy players and polishing their game.
Lofty Goals
Playing for something larger than yourself gives you an advantage in competition. Dedication to your team rather than individual success pays dividends, as demonstrated by Spain's evenly talented team that snagged the 2010 World Cup. And playing for the chance to bring cheer to your country, as Japan's women's team did in 2011, can provide a motivational advantage. Japan's Nadeshiko -- the women's team's nickname is the name of a pink flower -- cheered home fans by winning the World Cup final, after gaining goodwill for a gracious banner thanking the world for its post-tsunami support.
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