You've read the books and watched the motivational videos on confidence. You've devised some match objectives and positive mantras such as "I WILL SCORE TODAY, I WILL PLAY AMAZING AND GET A GOAL" in preparation for your match.  You're certain that your hard work combined with your mental match objective of scoring a goal will pay off with a brilliant performance and of course, your name on the score sheet. The match kicks off...

 

The second half whistle blows and you have yet to score your first. You begin to tense up.

 

70th minute arrives... no goal yet. You begin to question your confidence. Anxiety takes over.

 

75th minute! You find a gap in the back line! You receive the perfect through ball! You're ready to celebrate!!!

 

*cue out-of-tune trumpet sound*

 

MISS.

 

The match ends and you're disappointed. Your confidence plummets even lower than before and you're left wondering why you paid $16.99 for that book that promised to "take your mental game to the next level".

Often, players base their confidence on an expectation or affirmation that is completely out of their control. During the match, they have a running evaluation of their performance based on them "having 100% pass completion" or "scoring a goal".

WANTING to score or WANTING to complete all your passes is not a bad thing. It is an honorable standard for one to WANT to achieve these things. The problem arises when your SOLE focus becomes making this happen in a match. During the match, focus should instead be shifted to the controllable factors that give you best chance to make those goals a reality.

“I will be on my toes and alert for any rebounds”
“I will constantly check my shoulder and adjust my body shape”
“I will challenge every header”

By doing this, you create confidence within yourself because these are things you can be CONFIDENT you will execute as you are in full control of whether they happen or not.

The butterfly effect is very relevant in football. Mistiming a tackle by half a second, misplacing a pass to the wrong foot of your teammate, a shot one or two inches wide of the mark, can DRASTICALLY change the course of an entire match. Mentally, players must accept and embrace this fact in order to perform at their best. Instead of creating a burden of expectations, focusing on how a perfect performance should go, release those expectations and focus your thoughts on the "controllables".

It won't matter if you are an underdog coming up against FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, whether Carles Puyol is marking you or the man-child suspiciously too mature for your age group, you can enter any match full of confidence because no matter the opponent (or weather, or field condition), basing your performance on things like "staying on your toes" or "constantly checking your shoulder" are always within your control.

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