Take skill, balance, poise and allot of hard work and combine them with great instincts and innate ability and you get....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYUtKKbBTkw


...unreal

Three players are required. With creativity you could find a way to incorporate more players. The following outlines the basics.
Two players situate themselves 25 to 30 yards apart. The third players works between them.
The ball starts with one of the outside players (A) and is played into the middle player (X) who plays it back to (A). (A) plays a long ball over the top of (X) to the other outside player (B) who settles it and touches it to (X). (X) plays it back to (B) and (B) plays a long ball in the air to (A). A to X to A to B to X to B to A etc etc.
Turn this into a semi juggling exercise where the players attempt to play the ball in the air and trap/receive the ball before it bounces or after 1 or 2 bounces. Use one to three touches to control the ball and execute a good pass.
Work on passing the ball with proper pace, good direction (hitting the chosen target) and should have a reasonable trajectory, meaning don’t just kick the ball in the air and hope it gets there.
Eventually players will be able to execute this drill using just 1 touch, two touches when necessary.
Different twist. A plays to X, X turns the ball (with 1 to 3 touches) and plays to B. B plays to X, X turns the ball and plays to A.
Make the drill success oriented. Play the bounce. Keep the ball alive. Move to get in position to make the pass easy for your teammate. Work on first touch, settling a ball in your space where you can then make a good accurate pass to your target.
Excellent for touch and developing passing and receiving. Really focuses on the first touch as players must control the ball in their space and use the first touch to set up the second which could be/should be a pass.

Possesion is important at any level of soccer. Controling the tempo and momentum of a game requires the ability to connect several passes consequetively to escape pressure, change point of attack, and create opportunities on goal.
A great way to develop possesion is by incorporating it into training sessions.
5 v 5 in a 40 x 40 yd grid is a good place to start. Restict players to 2 or 3 touch, or even better to 3 seconds with the ball so as not to inhibit creativity. To create competiton you can have 5 consecutive passes equal a point and play games to 3.
Once the game of possesion is understood and accopmplished a great twist is to create small goals around the grid; a completed pass through the small goal scores a point (can't go back to or through the same goal consecutively to score). This works very well with 5v5, 8v8 or 10v10 full field. Now the team has a goal or tactic in mind. Encourage your team to switch points of attack if the goal they are attacking is well defended.
The tactical creativity can be enhanced with a little analysis and thought.

Training with a small ball is excellent for developing skills. A smaller ball will help players enhance their eye-foot coordination, increase focus on the ball and refine mechanics used to recieve (trap) and controle the ball.
Small ball training can be done individually or in group sessions. Juggling is an excellent way to train individually. Check out www.brasilianfutebol.com/applications/juggling.asp.
Soccer-Tennis is also a great game to play 1v1 or 2v2. Take a look at www.soccer-tennis.com
Small ball training is also ideal for tiger ball situations (3v1 or 5v2) or sessions of keep-away, 3v3 to 8v8 with no goals ( try putting together 5 touches consecutively for a point).

Try some small ball training. It develops touch, refines control and builds confidence on the ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfF63HksSnE

Sick goals made to look so easy.

Will it work? Does he have the draw? Can he make a difference? THe difference being influencing kids off the fence to play soccer, train hard, set goals and try to emulate a player like him.
THe MLS campaign begins in March.
I hope Beckham is at least a shot in the arm. The US gets better all the time. We need to keep making strides toward a higher goal.