I watched the U.S. Men’s National Team play Belgium tonight. It was totally different from every other game they’ve played in this tournament. They barely got shots on net, they made tons of dreadful mistakes, and they seemed, in general, frozen. I had a feeling this game would turn out this way, as a result of President Trump taking time away from managing the country to make a special phone call to the leadership of FIFA to nudge the organization into reviewing its rules for the U.S.
There are human psychological and biochemical forces at play that can cause athletes to rise to or succumb to a challenge, and all of that got thrown into disarray for both Belgium and the U.S., within 24 hours of their match. Belgium benefited from the scenario, and the U.S. did not.
If we take a moment to put ourselves in the shoes of top performers, such as the players in the FIFA World Cup, we need to think about everything that goes into every player being on that field. All the years of mental focus, dedication, and sacrifice it takes just to be considered to be a player at that level, mean that there is a lot of honor on the line.
There’s no question Folarin Balogun suffered a questionable red card call that didn’t need to happen. But that is professional sports, and our player, Balogun, responded like an adult, saying that he needs to live with the call.
Team U.S.A. also did their job preparing for a week to play without their star player. The game plan was made, the roster was adjusted, and players adjusted mentally. The U.S. has an awesome team. They were up to the challenge. But then the last 36 hours transpired, in which the President mounted a campaign against FIFA itself to have Balogun reinstated for the game against Belgium.
Now: imagine being a Belgian player. Your opponents’ country’s President made a phone call to advocate that the rules be revisited for his team. With this framing, as competitors at the top level of their sport, Belgian players did not just compete to make it to the next round, they competed for their honor and the honor of their entire sport. The U.S. President gave Belgian players extra fire I predicted they would bring to this game. Thank you for stepping in, Sir.
The heart of a top performer, an athlete at the pinnacle of their field, is a white-hot fire. When they feel like their honor is challenged, they can and will find their competitive ethos.
Now: imagine being a U.S. player. Your President made a special phone call so you could get special treatment, and have your star player back. The roster gets changed again in the last day before you play the match. Now the world turns its ire toward your team because it looks like you have a special relationship with the FIFA leadership and officiating. Now you’re second-guessing the fire you’re going to bring to the game because every move you make is under a microscope. Are the calls also going your way during the game? Maybe you hold back when you would have pressed harder.
To add another layer, how did it feel for the U.S. team to have Balogun back, as if the President was sure they would lose without him? Is the rest of the team an utter unprofessional disaster without Balogun? Are they just not up to the challenge without Balogun? Why not just send out Balogun by himself and sit the rest of the squad in that case?
The mental cycles go on constantly for both teams, for hours and for days.
I was a swimmer back in the day, and I studied the relationship between Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman. Bowman used to save newspaper clippings of negative press to show to Phelps during his preparation, who would quietly take them in, and go swim his practices with the calm fire of a top athlete.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the French swimmer Alain Bernard, a favorite, with his team, to win gold in the 4 x 100 free relay, said the French team would smash the Americans “like guitars.” Shit talking is one of my favorite parts of competitive swimming. And Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak responded with calm competence, and fire.
Take 5 minutes to watch the race, it will give you the pick-me-up you need today.
The French team would have had a greater chance of winning gold, had they not given Michael Phelps, the greatest athlete of all time, and his team, the rage of being called out publicly. This emotional motivation gave the U.S. relay team an extra shots of adrenaline, endorphins, and also testosterone, which are real chemicals our bodies make, by the way. Because adrenaline, endorphins, and testosterone are real biological chemicals that can make the human body more resistant to pain and fatigue, by talking smack publicly, the French basically provided the Americans with powerful free and natural performance-enhancing drugs. Fools.
In the case of our U.S. Men’s National Team, the head games that they must have been playing in the last 24 hours leading up to tonight’s game could have also altered their adrenal and hormonal state. Stress and second-guessing cause more adrenaline, more cortisol, and more dopamine. That was the state of both teams at the start of the game: Belgium starting out with a deservedly self-righteous emotional and hormonal high, and the U.S.A. in a state of mental fatigue and second-guesses. The U.S. had to overcome themselves, their supercharged opponent, and then still play an amazing professional game to even have a shot.
My point is this: U.S.A. has a team of professional soccer players. They would have risen to the challenge of not playing with their star player. They were deprived of rising to that challenge. U.S. players certainly didn’t need the President trying to call in a favor, providing Belgium with extra reasons to bring all the fire they could muster to today’s match, while at the same time causing self-doubt in their own abilities.
This type of stuff is exactly why the New England Patriots play with extra motivation when you bring up the fact that they screwed with the pressurization of footballs and spied on other teams. Sorry, I had to. But any time a true athlete’s honor is challenged, you should see that athlete respond with fire.
We may have witnessed all of this sports psychology at play in this match. It’s not the full reason for the outcome we saw, but you can’t tell me it wasn’t part of it.
Finally, this information should be useful in how we treat ourselves and one another. Starting within, the way you’re minds voice talks to you doesn’t stop there. It can effect whether your body is producing helpful chemicals for you to take on the day, or cortisol and stress hormones, which, if chronic, can be harmful for the immune response, muscle recovery, and mental focus. The same thing goes for how we treat each other. Are you saying and doing the empowering things that can help your loved ones face their day, or is there improvement to be seen there? These are just some final thoughts to highlight how we can use our minds to get out of our own way, and help the people in our lives, ultimately improving our own capabilities and our relationships.
This is probably the one sports essay I will write this year, but I’m honored if you read it.
Thank you, and Go Bills.
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