TrainEffective

Reis is preparing for his Premier League return!

The 20-year-old centre back knows the biggest challenge won’t just be technical - it’ll be handling the speed, power and intensity of English football.

After impressing in La Liga with Girona, he’s using his summer to rebuild his body 💪

Ben White is putting in the extra hours, training alone to make sure he’s ready for the challenges ahead.

The best players don’t wait for the season to start...they prepare before everyone else.

Are you doing the work when nobody is watching?

He Benched His Best Players… And Won 🤩

Belgium were 2-0 down and heading out of the World Cup...

Then in the 56th minute, Rudi Garcia made one of the strangest decisions of the tournament...

An incredibly weird decision that had commentators, pundits spectators thinking...

“Is this just capitulation from a manager who knows he’s going out?”

Rudi took off arguably Belgium’s two best outfield players:

Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.

And to be fair, they weren’t having great games.

But when you’re 2-0 down and desperately need goals, these seasoned trophy winners are still two of the first names you’d expect to keep on the pitch.

The easy decision would have been to trust their reputation.

Leave them on and hope that one moment of quality changes everything.

But Garcia judged what was actually happening in front of him and made the decision.

And it wasn’t paying off.

Belgium still looked dead and buried until the 86th minute...

That’s when super sub Romelu Lukaku scored.

Just three minutes later, Youri Tielemans equalised.

And deep into extra time, Tielemans scored the last minute winner from the penalty spot.

Belgium won the game 3-2.

Managers have to make tough decisions under huge pressure.

Sometimes involving the biggest names, the strongest personalities and the people everyone expects you to trust.

Had Belgium lost, Garcia would have been destroyed for those substitutions.

Now the conversation is about Lukaku, the comeback and the penalty.

Very little is being said about the decision that changed the game.

Garcia took a risk that could have defined his tournament for all the wrong reasons.

It worked and that gets far less attention than the criticism would have if it failed.

I guess that’s often how leadership works.

Brave decisions can disappear into the final result.

But..fair play, Rudi Garcia. 🇧🇪

He turned down Manchester United as a teenager...to go to Harvard. 🎓

Yesterday, Matt Freese kept a clean sheet for the USA against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup. 🧤🇺🇸

And on his LinkedIn profile? “Board Director” is listed above “Professional Athlete.” The priorities are clear 😂😂

At 18, Freese had the opportunity to join Man United – for most that sounds like the easiest decision in the world to accept.

But after a lot of conversations with his parents, he chose Harvard instead. He studied economics, played college soccer and later left early to sign professionally with Philadelphia Union.

His football career wasn’t an instant rise either. He spent years as a backup before moving to New York City FC, becoming their Player of the Year and eventually earning the number one spot for the USA at a home World Cup.

Yesterday, he made four saves as the USA beat Bosnia 2-0, even playing much of the second half with ten men.

His story is another reminder that there isn’t one perfect pathway in football.

Some players enter the world’s best academies early and others develop through university, smaller clubs, loans, setbacks and years spent waiting for an opportunity.

Matt Freese still became a pro footballer. He still reached the World Cup.

But… he just went through Harvard first. 😅

What a journey!

Harry Kane once sat down with José Mourinho in Tottenham’s All or Nothing documentary.

During the conversation, Kane said: “I want to be Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.”

At the time, it sounded incredibly ambitious.

Kane was already one of the best strikers in the world, but putting himself in the same conversation as two of the greatest players ever felt like another level.

Six years later, he’s arguably the best centre-forward in world football and could finish the year by winning the Ballon d’Or.

Against DR Congo, England were heading out of the World Cup until the 75th minute. Then Kane rose to score a brilliant header with intelligent movement. ⚽️

A few minutes later, a rocket of a second goal fuelled by grit.

England’s hero when they needed one most. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Will he ever be viewed in the same category as Messi and Ronaldo?

A few major international trophies would certainly strengthen that argument.

But a Ballon d’Or this year is a genuine possibility. And that says a lot.

There’s something powerful about declaring an ambition that sounds almost delusional. Then accepting it may take years of training, setbacks and relentless consistency before others start believing it too.

At first, the goal sounds unrealistic. Over time, the work makes it impossible to ignore.

Well done, Harry Kane 👏

Do you think he belongs up there with Ronaldo & Messi?

Youri Tielemans’ performance vs. Senegal today reminded us of what Mourinho said on the most important skill a player has to have in football: Mentality.

Games like these are exactly where we see the top players perform, and Tielemans did not disappoint. 2-0 down against Senegal in the 2nd round of the World Cup, and he’s able to score and assist, and then he tops that off with a last minute penalty to send Belgium through to the next round.

The truth is these are skills that young ballers have to develop to reach the elite level of football, if you’re team is losing, you can’t get caught panicking, or with your head down, you have to keep fighting and push to bring the game back… because in the end, this is the difference between a regular player and a top player! 🤝

Lionel Scaloni on coaching Messi 🐐

When asked what instructions he gives Messi before a game, he couldn’t help but laugh:

🗣️“Seriously, do you think I need to tell him ‘run there’ or ‘manage the ball like this’? That’s absurd.”

When it comes to players like Messi, the best coaching is just letting him do what he does best ✨