Team USA: Preparing for the World Cup

Pierre Barrieu

The aim of Team USA’s fitness programme over the four months leading up to the World Cup is to:

1. Have players peak physically by June 12

th

2006 for the kick off against the Czech Republic.

Critical factor: design a cardiovascular fitness programme coupled with the adequate
workload periodization.

2. Prevent or limit injuries – ensure the coaches will have a healthy roster of players available at

the time of competition.
Critical factor: create a specific preventive weight-training routine, including placing stress on
appropriate warm ups and cool downs (23 players should be ‘game ready’ for our World Cup
opener)

3. Improve speed and quickness.

Critical factor: Every day speed and quickness exercises are to be undertaken straight after
specific warm-up.

The following information will explain the physical fitness programme that Team USA will go through as
the players prepare for World Cup 2006. One month prior to the World Cup, we will be able to bring the
entire team together for one last training camp. For nineteen straight days, we will have one more
opportunity to prepare the team and to evaluate our prior preparations.
The schedule over the next five months is as follows:

Sunday, January 29

Norway

Los Angeles win 5-0

Friday, February 10

Japan

San Francisco win 3-2

Sunday, February 19

Guatemala

Dallas

Wednesday, March 1

Poland Kaiserslautern

Wednesday, March 22

Germany

Dortmund

Tuesday, April 11

Honduras

Cary, NC

Thursday, May 10

W. Cup Training Camp starts Cary, NC

Tuesday, May 23

South Africa

Nashville

Friday, May 26

Colombia

Cleveland

Sunday, May 28

Turkey

Boston

Mon-Wed, May 29-31

OFF

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Players are home with individual running programmes

Thursday, June 1

Travel to Hamburg, Germany

Once in Germany, we will practice in the morning (around 90 minutes). Then the
players will have weightlifting/conditioning (individual, not mandatory) every day
at 17:00 in the hotel fitness club
Monday, June 12

Czech Republic

Gelsenkirchen

Saturday, June 17

Italy

Kaiserlautern

Thursday, June 22

Ghana

Nuremberg

Conditioning for Football

A football player by definition is not like a track and field athlete or even a long distance runner.
Whenever football players run, they like to run with or after something. This “something” is usually a
football! This is the reason why fitness coaches, in my opinion, have to meet three criteria in their
workout, and ultimately must consider the manner in which they present the workout to the team in order
to get the best out of the players.

1. Establish trust with your group: You have to prove to the team that your training sessions

work; they need to know that you know what you are doing.

The fact that I have been working with the team for 5 years now helps tremendously. Most of
the players lived through long and painful hours of conditioning and felt the benefits as they
found their way to two Gold Cup titles and the World Cup quarterfinal back in 2002.

In the players’ minds, and according to many observers, our fitness level was the main factor why we
were successful in Korea/Japan 2002

“The team tried and sometimes managed to speed things up, but I don't think we're yet at the level of
fitness of the U.S. We couldn’t compete physically against this USA Team,” says Portugal Coach Antonio
Oliveira talking about his team after 3-2 loss in Suwon, Ulsan, South Korea, June 21 (Agence France
Presse).

Oliver Kahn goalkeeper and captain of Germany’s team stated “The Americans pushed us to the limits
(…) considering they had two less days of rest (than us); their fitness is simply incredible.”

2. Even when you have established the trust through results, you always have to find a way for

your workouts to make sense to the players.

Sharing your scientific knowledge seems to work well. Whenever you set up a conditioning
exercise, you should be able to explain to the team: a) why you picked this exercise, b) why
you chose the precise moment to do the exercise, and c) why this exercise will help them on
the football field. For example, working on aerobic power will help at least during the last
twenty minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, the fitness coach will always be a privileged target for players’ frustrations. However, it is
important to accept criticism in good spirit as much as possible, as long as they work hard and get the job
done.

3. Cooperation between the coaching staff and the fitness coach is crucial. There is more to

fitness training than simply taking fitness sessions. Duration and more particularly intensity of

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every day practices, combined with friendly games add up and ultimately affect the overall
fitness level of the player. Finding the right balance of tactical and physical training will help
secure the physical integrity of the players and help them achieve their physical potential at
the same time.

A player could be 100% ‘ready’ and peaking from a physiological standpoint, but it would be worth next to
nothing if he/she is suffering from a small injury. When competing at the World Cup level, every player in
our team will have to be physiologically, physically and mentally 100% ready. The saying “You are only as
strong as your weakest link” applies to fitness for football. A team is efficient is every player is at the same
stage physiologically.

The January and February period

The structure of the American professional League (Major League Soccer, MLS) is such that
most of the players are left alone by the time their season is over (anywhere between November 1

st

and

November 15

th

depending if the team makes the play offs or not, and also how far it goes in the playoffs).

This period lasts until the club’s pre-season training starts, which for most of the teams is February 1

st

.

This intermission represents a tremendous amount of time away from the playing field. Therefore, we had
to set up an off-season training camp for thirty domestic players who are part of the National team pool.
This camp has taken place for the last three years at our National Training Center in Carson California;
the climate of Southern California is evidently a big plus, at this time of the year. As the fitness coach, I
play an important role during this particular camp where the emphasis is placed on fitness especially at
the beginning.

Some people think that it is a big advantage for the USA to be able to hold such a camp, that all this
training together helps a lot in terms of building a team. Yet, only half of our roster for the upcoming World
Cup, at best, will be made up of domestic-based players. In addition, we would rather have our players
training and playing in a good environment eleven months out of twelve as is done all over the world. It
will also allow the pool to grow, considering that not only the squad of 30 players but also every player in
our country is being given the opportunity to get better by practicing.

Four years ago, in January of 2002, this January camp coincided with the preparation for the Gold Cup
camp. I put the players through a very hard aerobic power training phase. I believed such a training
phase 5 months prior to our main goal facilitates the work that needs to be done by the time the pre-
World Cup training camp starts.

When applied to our domestic players, the work done in January will carry on to their clubs pre-season
and the first month and a half of the MLS (which starts April 1

st

) until we get them back in camp for a

second, as intense if not more, aerobic power phase. The players were tested in January and will be
retested on days one and two of the May training camp.

As our roster will be an even mix of domestic and European based players I still need to solve the other
half of the problem: our European based players. Back in 2002, a lot of people claimed that the big teams
could not fight with the same weapons because their star players were exhausted from a long season.
While I agree in some cases with such a statement, I could not believe that people attributed our success
to the fatigue of our opponents as 75 per cent of our starters were foreign-based players who reported in
camp as late as May 15!

Moreover, Zinedine Zidane was playing his best football on May 15

th

, when he scored a wonderful left

footed volley to give Real Madrid the Champions League title, before reporting to training camp for the
French team three weeks before the opener. Critics say it is too short, I am saying this is ideal! Here is a
player at his peak, entering a training camp where you can finally monitor his training volume, without the
pressure of any official games for a change. To the contrary what happened was that he played two
weeks later in an exhibition game against South Korea, was injured after forty minutes and consequently
only ended up playing two games in the World Cup. People should not be allowed to blame overload for

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such an injury and such conditions and something else could have been done in camp to prevent such an
occurrence.

To go back to our players, I have established contacts with their club fitness coaches in England,
Germany, Holland and Belgium. Around mid-May, I usually request a physical assessment from their end,
and then design a pre-camp programme for my players to follow, so that after a week of camp in May,
every player is at the same stage from a cardiovascular standpoint. The “acclimatization period” is usually
around a week. As a side note, it is always very interesting to compare the characteristics of the fitness
work depending on the country the individual is playing in. Some countries would put the stress on the
lactic energy system, Italy traditionally being one of them while some others will stress the aerobic
system, Germany being one example. My philosophy is in between (see cardiovascular training) and
relies on mainly hard high-intensity medium-duration running.

Testing

The battery of tests that I used for the Men’s National Team include: Cardiovascular (Aerobic capacity
and power), Body weight, Body fat, Flexibility and muscles balance/strength ratios tests. Blood tests and
dental tests are also performed.

Cardiovascular Training

The following is a description of the work I have my players do from a cardiovascular standpoint

I favour individualized workouts. Here is one example.

Day 1: Testing - Leger Boucher Shuttle Test (University of Montreal). We correlate three observations
with the January results

Figure 1. Players performing the shuttle-run test.

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Day 2: Testing - 6 minute test whereby the player is asked to run as far as he can in 6 minutes (Ex. 2)

Players are equipped with heart rate monitors to record their average and final heart rate. If you
combine these two field tests (or add another test called the Control Aerobic Test), you can come
up with a gross idea of the V0

2

max (a capacity), but also maximum aerobic speed and, more

importantly, the heart rate at this speed.

The next step is to identify the aerobic threshold for each player. Without giving the laboratory
details, it is usually around 80% +/- 10% of the maximum aerobic speed. You can also obtain a
more precise estimate by finding the heart rate corresponding to a concentration of 4 mmol.l

-1

of

blood lactate.

Figure 2. Players Performing The 6-Min Run.

After obtaining this information, you can then design practices to try to identify for each player at what
speed the lactate threshold is reached (Phase1).

The next phase will then move this threshold up to a higher value of V0

2

max or maximum aerobic speed

(Phase 2).

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When compared to a car, the capacity corresponds to the volume of the tank, while the power is the
horsepower. Applied to fitness, once the tank is large enough (to play 90 minutes at a high level pace),
you then try to increase this pace. The term aerobic “power”, limited in time, is then employed as opposed
to aerobic “capacity”. Both a national team football player and a marathon runner can run 90 minutes, but
the performances of each are going to be limited by the ability to maintain the highest pace possible and
to pick it up as becomes necessary. This ultimately translates in practice into numerous sprints of various
durations and rest in between.

Therefore in cardiovascular training, it is the work/rest ratio that truly matters, even more than the
exercise itself. In other words, it is how long you have to run, and at what pace, with how much rest, and
for how many sets. Consequently, players have target times, target distances, or target heart rates to
achieve. All are based on the intensity of training, which corresponds to a different speed for each
individual. Only the psychological aspect of fitness development forces the coach to vary the nature of
each practice to get the best out of his players, but physiological bases and training principles remain the
same.

Table 1. An Example Of A Training Work-Out.

VMA of:

308 M/mn or 18.5

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

%

VMA

85 85 85

Target

HR

(bpm)

180+ 180+ 180+

Duration 10’ 10’ 10’

Target distance (meters)

2618

2550

2507

Location 400

400

400

Number

Laps 6.54 6.37 6.26

Pace

1’31” 1’34” 1’36”

Group 4

Group 5 and 6

85 85

180+ 180+

10’ 10’

2456 2320

400 400

6.14 5.8

1’37” 1’43”

Example: This day the players had to run for 10 minutes, 3 times with 2 minute 30 seconds rest in
between runs. On this day they were all expected to function at 85% of the maximum aerobic speed, but
it still equates to different paces.

Later in camp I incorporate fitness with the ball. The intensity is kept on target by using heart rate
monitors.

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Figure 3. A typical training drill.

The drill illustrated in Figure 3 is very hard work, but I always consider myself being blessed working with
the American team and the exemplary work ethic that these players demonstrate day in and day out.
Hard work is part of the American mentality and it shows during our practices, and my work in general.

Periodization

Coaching fitness, whether it is for a national team or for a club team, means being confronted with the
double challenge of getting players fit, and getting them fit at a precise date. In the case of the World Cup,
the difference resides in the very short duration of this particular tournament. The World Cup can be only
nine days long if you don’t get through the first round! Compare this to League play in Europe, which lasts
up to ten months and where if you lose one game, you have an opportunity to improve in the up coming
weeks/months.

When it comes to designing your fitness programmes, most of the literature available applies to weight
training, not to running or football. Most fitness coaches access information inspired from Eastern
Europe by authors Zatsiorsky and Medvedev; the rest is part of everyone’s personal touch. The other
theoretical tool used was a training process called compensation and overcompensation (Figure 4), in
which every working period, you will overcompensate or improve the equivalent, as long as you provide
the adequate and needed amount of rest to “overcompensate”, for the adaptations to occur. I keep
building my own theory by consulting a network of colleagues, whether they are professors, fitness

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coaches or working for federations, with whom I reciprocally and constantly exchange professional
experiences.
Here is a concrete example of how we adjusted the fitness programme design for the World Cup 2002.
Most of the fitness programme methods are based on a four-week cycle, where a three-week training
period is followed by a light (or “unloaded” as it is called when applied to periodization) week. However, I
have noticed over the years through my personal experience, as both player and coach, that after a
prolonged three-weeks or more of high-intensity aerobic training, the peak period will not occur on week
four, but rather in mid to late week five. The other golden rule is that the human body, from a
physiological standpoint, can only peak three to four times. Consequently, the last big “running day” for
us was Sunday, May 29

th

in Korea, a week before our opening game. The remainder was maintenance,

polishing of speed and most of all active rest by diminishing the volume of practice. This is how we
designed the Team USA workout and ensured late week five corresponded with the Portugal game.

Figure 4. The Decompensation / Over-Compensation Process /

© www.soccerconditioning.net

Resting level

Resting level

Resting level

Overcompensation Process

Effort

W3

W2

W1

W2

W3

W1

= POTENTIAL INCREASE

= POTENTIAL MAINTENANCE

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The decompensation process is the phenomenon by which the human body during physical exercise
depletes most of its energy stores. As the athlete recovers between training sessions and sufficient rest
is provided, these energy stores will replenish, exceeding their initial values. A training method is then
designed to take advantage of this extra energy available. This is called over-compensation.

Numerous researchers have shown the effects of over-compensation on adenosine tri-phosphate,
testosterone and protein stocks. The process of compensation/over-compensation is one of the bases of
interval training.

Working on Speed

I try to maintain or develop my players’ speed every single day, by working on different aspects. As there
is more to speed than pure physical speed (analytical speed, speed of action/reaction and speed with the
ball, among others), speed work is done on the field and in the gymnasium.

On the field:

Speed exercises are performed every day after the warm up for 10 minutes

Figure 5. Players Perform
Speed Drills As A Group.

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In the weight room:

Part of our criteria in picking our hotels is that the fitness facility has to meet our standards.
Players have access to the gymnasium whenever they feel like it. However, every day at 17:00 a formal
weight lifting session is organised. The players follow a fitness programme for 5 weeks - 2 workouts per
week.

The goals of the programme are to:

1. Improve

performance (absolute strength, dynamic flexibility)

2. Prevent injury (core stability, core strength, muscles strength ratios)
3. Improve individual physical abilities in order to improve team performance.

Working and trying to achieve these goals will improve the player’s speed, in combination with the work
done on the field.

Conclusion

For the USA national team, focusing on fitness is important. It has been shown in the past, as the USA
team was one of the fittest at the last World Cup. Michel Platini (FIFA Executive and former France
Captain) declared, citing the USA and South Korea, that “With similar level of fitness, the most talented
and experienced team wins. If there’s a difference in the level of fitness, this World Cup has shown that
the fittest team will win.”

Fitness is one part of the team concept and the team plays at its best when physically and technically
sound. The latest international tournaments also have reaffirmed the new physical dimension of high-
level football. Being fit and strong is one thing but, to be truly successful, you have to be fitter and
stronger than your opponent and be able to expand this level of conditioning over a determined period of
time, while keeping your players healthy.

Pierre Barrieu has been the fitness coach for the US National Team since 2001, after spending
two years coaching of the University of Virginia. He also assists the Under-20 and Olympic
coaches with their fitness work. He is a certified coach from the USA Track and Field and USA
Weightlifting Federation. Previously, he was a fitness coach at FC Metz in France. He can be
contacted at [e-mail].

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