Direct Play or Possession

ball on the ground, diagonal passing (preferably the attacking diagonal), minimal touches, and switching the point of attack
-----------------------------------------------------
Technical  .Tricks Skills

Possession. Ball on the ground

Curved and Diagonal runs and passes.
Running through the ball.
Crosses.
Switching play.
Switching the point of attack
-----------------------------------------------------
Top level US players have more tricks than David Blaine. Sadly, unlike David Blaine, they insist on using all of their tricks in every game. All 200 of them.

Possession coaches think that 20 passes in midfield and back to an open defender is good soccer.

It‘s not. It‘s Liverpool under Roy Evans again, when a nation of Koppites collectively groaned when Steve McManaman passed the ball back 40 yards to John Scales - every time. It‘s no surprise to me that McManaman‘s finest moments are goals scored where he got the ball in the defensive half and dribbled directly at goal and plowed a screamer into the top corner from outside the box.
There is very little game intelligence in US players. They don‘t know when to play the long ball and when to play short. Defenders consistently hold onto the ball too long under pressure, or blindly boot it forward regardless of the situation or options. Look long first. Then play the short options.

Why would every run be in a straight line? The Winning Formula clearly states the importance of curved and diagonal runs and passes.

Technical excellence. It doesn‘t exist. There isn‘t even a striving for it, judging by the college games I watch on Fox and ESPNU. First touch doesn‘t exist, and the movement to abolish/ban/abandon the art of trapping a ball dead means that every reception is sure to end up 5 yards away from the where the receiver actually needs the ball.

Running through the ball. If I hear that phrase one more time, I‘ll hold my breath until my head explodes. Supposedly top players running through opponents when the ball is a 50/50, getting turned or missing the bounce, and then having to sprint back to catch the ridiculously fast forward who is now about to pound the ball 40 yards over the bar.

Delay and contain, people! Principles of Defense. Get those right and your attack is the only thing to worry about.

Crosses. They‘re not just for Catholics. Crosses must go to players, not to some random area in the box. Players may make runs to areas, for sure. But the ball cannot just be crossed to a patch of grass with nobody near it.

Switching play. It‘s for taking advantage of open players on the opposite side of the field in order to get the ball forward relatively unpressured. Not because it‘s nice to make sure every player in the back 5 gets a touch of the ball. They‘re nice people, I‘m sure. They probably deserve a touch of the ball at some point. But not every five minutes. The goal is at the other end of the field. Getting the ball there to a team mate near the goal, oddly enough, increases the chances of scoring over letting both outside defenders have touches of the ball every 10 seconds, via the two or three center backs.

-----------------------------------------------------

Possession without purpose is what I am talking about as opposed to accurate passes to feet.

If no breakthrough chances were being generated, I‘d say, "The Possession Part is great, but there‘s no Breakthrough Part.  They get the ball forward, run out of ideas, and then lose possession."

A constantly direct style might not be so much an issue if both teams agree to play that way.  But if one plays that way while the other plays more of a possession style, it can be pretty aggravating for the direct style team.  They get the ball and lose it after a pass or two, hoping to score goals through the sheer quantity of brief attacking attempts.  The other team gets the ball, and knocks it around for ten or twenty passes each time.  If I was on the direct team, I‘d be hollering at my teammates to keep the ball a bit longer next time.