re: Advice for my son's soccer development. [wall-o-text]

I want to underscore make sure he is having fun. Another point of interest. You cited the boys age at 9. Puberty does wierd things to young male soccer players suddenly losing touch not as fast etc. He will bounce out of it just make sure he continues to have fun. Finally, he needs to understand that 95+% of soccer happens when the ball is not at his feet but his movement effects the game. It is harder to do on TV but if you take him to a game have him not watch the ball in the game but watch a forward.

I'm not asking him to play his 24 year old #10 in the Makelele role or his two defensive mids as wingers.

A lot of the suggestions here are great and much more helpful in the long run, but I figured I'd throw this hat in the ring. It seems like he's really lacking in vision because he's not sure what to look for or what he should do. He's going out there and playing the way he's been taught to play. He also seems both unselfish and worried he'll do the wrong thing instead of taking reasonable chances. I struggled with that when I was younger until I realized that's what the game is about. It shouldn't be stressful. It should be fun. Now, the game is almost relaxing and a great workout for me, and that's why I love playing so much.

As crazy as it may seem, things like watching the sport consistently and even playing FIFA games will teach him what to be looking for more often. Obviously, FIFA could also teach him to just lob pass it every time, but what those things do is show him where players are supposed to be positionally, show them outcomes in lots of situations, and generally, helps them understand the game a lot more.

Since he's never been exposed to good coaching until recently, he's probably got a lot of bad habits or a lack of knowledge of what to do without actually having to think about it and weigh the options. He isn't at a level where others on the team are able to communicate his options with him very well either.

He just needs to be comfortable with letting the game come to him. There's a reason everyone says it's such a cerebral game and call people like Messi a "genius". These players know what's likely going to happen, what their opponents will do, and what they're going to do long before they actually do it. The sport is a game of perpetual motion, and that's different than the "one play/inning/possession at a time" of American sports.

Even on FIFA, new players tend to struggle with knowing where to go or waiting for the ball to get to them to make that decision. If I'm playing co-op with a friend who is new at the game or unexperienced with the sport, I end up always having to tell them "Listen, you know you can start to make your play before the ball gets to you, right?" They usually never thought about watching where the ball should go next instead of waiting to get it first.

I'm not saying watching the sport and playing FIFA are going to turn your kid into a phenom or is the best way to learn the game. It's a great way, though, to have them familiar with what it is they're supposed to be doing and how the game is actually played. My cousin's pretty talented and around 12-13, and when he was younger, I gave his dad this advice. It ended up working well for them because not only was he exposed to legitimate resources but he also learned how to enjoy the game as it's played without all of the "technical" stuff. I know this is a wall of text response (as usual for me), but really, the best way to get someone playing good football is to have them enjoying and loving good football.