Umer Palla

  • Umer Palla

    Nationality Pakistani
    born 7th August, 1990

  • A native of Karachi, Pakistan, Palla began developing a passion and love for the game at a very young age.
    At 10, he joined local club Karachi Flames FC, one of the city’s premier football clubs, and quickly became one of the program’s top players. During this time, he played in tournaments both across Pakistan and abroad in Malaysia. He was also able to attend the Manchester United Soccer School in Manchester, England, where he learned from Premier League coaches from his favorite club. He later caught interest from the Pakistan U-19 National team and was invited to their camp in 2013.

    His career then took him to the United States where he trained first with coaches from the Houston Dynamo and San Jose Earthquakes Academy before playing for the NCAA Division I University of Massachusetts Minutemen, the NCAA Division III Framingham State University Rams, and NJCAA Bunker Hill Community College, who were the 2015 NJCAA Division III National Championship runner ups.

    After his playing career, Palla quickly transferred his love for the beautiful game into coaching, implementing the lessons he had received as a player from talented coaches across the world. He first served as Athletic Director for Camp Nashoba North before joining the Brimmer and May Boys Middle School Team as Head Coach. He also joined the Brookline Soccer Club, serving as Head Coach as well as being named one of the club’s Technical Directors.

    During the past three years of coaching, Palla has worked one-on-one with young players to help sharpen their skills and build on their fundamentals. Through this, he developed the vision for New England Soccer School to facilitate individual player development. NESS targets four major components that coach Palla deems indispensable for progress: Physical, Psychological, Technical and Tactical. Read more here
    Palla’s passion for the game has never wavered, and his knowledge of the ins and out of coaching and player development helps make NESS the best option for taking your game to the next level.

It’s Cool to be Calm

Might just be that, as Elijah goes pretty deep into midfield as well sometimes, particularly when we’re having trouble creating. That might also just be because he sometimes plays like a winger though.

Guess Opponents Move

Always be on the move and watch where your marker is. Vary your movement – run in behind and then come short, or vice-versa. Make your marker feel uncomfortable by running into areas where they don’t want to go. The key is to get a bit of space so you can look for the pass or run with the ball, but once you’ve made a pass don’t sit back and admire it. Look at the Barcelona players: once they’ve released it they make themselves available for another pass.

Staying on the Move

At Europa we work on all different types of passing Moves. If player wants to switch the play with one pass he has to strike through it – technique is more important than power. First you need to get the ball out of your feet, so balance yourself by putting your arm out like you’re striking a shot and then hit through it. Practise by working with a team-mate and pinging long balls to each other.