Blog Written by Head Coach Andre Luciano 

MADRID, Spain — Today was rejuvenation and match preparation day at Atletico as teams prepared to recover from last nights game and for Sunday's match up.

Unlike college soccer in the United States, teams take a mandatory two days in between games, with the exception of heavy league, cup and the Champions League schedule for those lucky enough to be involved. A heavy rotation of players are used for games in these situations, with players who are currently sitting on the B squad coming up for a few games. This is standard practice in top flight soccer and is an opportunity for a player to make his or her mark on a team. Therefore, being prepared is always of the highest importance to these players and one of the main reasons they are motivated to stay sharp.

I have an opportunity to watch the A team train in a rejuvenation mode against the B team in an 11v11 situation. Each group of players understand that their role is to make the A team as strong as possible. The B team endured a full session and sent their top 11 players to train against the 11 players who did not play the evening before. The collective is more important than the individual goal.

My next opportunity to watch a training session will be of the Women's Atletico team. They currently sit in first place on the table in Spain, and have made a rapid rise to the top in the past two years. A heavy financial investment into the players and an organized goal by the staff, has created a cohesive and motivated team who is looking to dethrone F.C. Barcelona as the Queens of Spanish soccer.

Oddly I only see 11 players on the field, but it is a highly functional session of patterns and finishing that last for roughly an hour. I am introduced to the training staff and they indicated that "sadly we only have 11 players available today as 10 are with the National Team this week." I had to laugh to myself.

Tonight I leave to watch some more games and training with 2nd Division teams in the area. Friday night under the lights.

Until tomorrow.