Why Teams Blow Their Leads

Hello Footyfam!

I hope this message finds you well.

It’s summertime and the weather is nice. Whether you are playing for fun on the beach, putting in extra work, or grinding in pre-season, take a moment this week to get out in nature and enjoy the amazing summer vibes.

With the Euro’s an Copa America coming to a close in 1 week’s time, we will soon know who are the continental kings. Let’s enjoy this summer of football while it lasts!

Today’s email will be a quick 4-minute read.

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Could Klopp Be The USMNT’s Savior?

Needless to say, the United States’ Copa America performance was… well, bad. It follows an odd situation of their manager, Gregg Berhalter, being let go and then reinstated.

Despite being group favorites and number 17 in the FIFA world rankings, the young squad wasn’t able to push into the knockout stages. Pretty disappointing for the “golden age” of US soccer.

Looking forward to the 2026 World Cup (that will be hosted by the US), it’s obvious that something needs to change. And Tim Howard might have the solution.

He wrote in a Daily Mail article that he’s 100% certain he could get Jurgen Klopp to take over as manager. “After the disappointment of Copa America, after the United States lost to Uruguay and exited at the group stages, I will personally fly to Spain [to recruit Klopp]. I mean it.”

Would snagging a legendary coach like Klopp be what this generation needs to fulfill the “golden age” title?

Turkiye’s Young Guns

The future of Turkiye looks to be very promising. One of their youngsters has been deemed the “Turkish Messi,” and the other signed a 4-year contract extension 10 days after his first team debut.

Arda Güler and Kenan Yildiz are already creating problems on the top level of international football, and they’re both only 19 years old. 

With both of them starting in their round of sixteen game against Austria, Turkiye became the first team to start two under-20’s in a major tournament knockout stage since 1964.

Unfortunately, their Euro tear came to an end with a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands, but we’ll be keeping an eye on them as Güler and Yildiz continue to develop.

Why Teams Blow Their Leads

On a perfect night in 2005, AC Milan took on Liverpool in the Champions League Final.

It’s known as the miracle of Istanbul, but once we break it down, it’s obvious why it happened.

But first, let’s take a second to appreciate these legendary lineups.

AC Milan took ahold of the game in the first minute when Maldini scored after just 50 seconds.

Besides one solid chance from Liverpool, AC Milan was in full control of the first half, and Crespo tacked on two more.

Liverpool were lucky to go into the half only 3-nil down.

When the teams walked out for the second half, Liverpool fans had already admitted defeat. Milan came out like they had already won the trophy, and they played like it too.

Liverpool capitalized.

Not even 10 minutes after the restart, Steven Gerrard put them on the board.

3-1

Smicer found the back of the net two minutes after that.

3-2

After another 5 minutes, Gerrard gets taken down in the box. Xabi Alonso wasn’t able to convert the penalty, but picked up the rebound and tucked it away.

Liverpool leveled the match only 16 minutes into the second half.

What just happened? How did Milan drop the ball so hard?

We see what happened to Milan happen all the time and at every level.

But what causes teams to just turn off and shut down? A little something called flow.

What is flow?

Flow is a psychology term defined as being completely absorbed by the current experience.

It’s the sensation when you’re completely locked in, you lose track of time and space, nothing clouds your mind, and it feels effortless.

As an athlete, this is the most optimal state you can perform in. We’ll get to how you can find your flow state every time you step on the pitch in a minute.

To find flow, you need a couple of things.

First you need the ability to give your full focus to the task on hand. Whether that be training or a match, you need be able to lock in.

Second of all, the challenge needs to match your level of skill.

Your mind and body can fully engage in the task when these are aligned.

If the challenge is greater than your skill level, you start to feel behind, get frustrated, and enter a state of anxiety.

If your skill is greater than the challenge, you get bored and check out.

You need to be in the white space of the graphic above if you want to see the best results.

So why did Milan blow their lead?

The Champions League final is for the two best club teams in Europe to duke it out.

The ultimate opportunity.

The challenge overlapped perfectly with AC Milan’s skill. They stepped on the pitch locked in, and it showed from the first minute.

But once they went up 3-nil, it got too easy. They started to check out because the challenge wasn’t perceived as challenging anymore.

And although they might have been slow to start, Liverpool saw their skill match the challenge of being 3-0 down, and they took advantage of Milan losing interest.

It’s a pretty simple formula.

How to find flow every time you step on the pitch

First thing’s first, you need to love what you’re doing. If you don’t enjoy playing, reaching flow is impossible.

The main goal of these tools are to prime your mind into knowing when it’s time to lock in.

The more often you find flow in training, the easier it will be to find come game time.

Always be striving for it.

1/ Music

Music is the perfect tool to get you to the right level of energy.

You’ll see pros in any sport wearing headphones as they walk into the stadium and as they warmup to help them get to their optimal state.

Some people like to be bouncing off the walls and other like to be dead silent. There’s no right answer, but getting to the right place for you in crucial.

Building a playlist that’s made to your needs works wonders and is one of the most used tools by sports psychologists.

2/ Pregame routine

Similar to music, we’re trying to create a familiar experience every time we perform so our bodies and minds know what’s about to happen.

This can be adding in foam rolling or some band-work in the locker room before you head out to warm up.

Or it can be making sure to get an extra sprint at the end of team warmups.

There are no wrong answers, whatever works best for you.

3/ Mindfulness

One of the most important factors of finding flow is being fully in the moment. Mindfulness is the perfect way to prepare ourselves for this.

After all, mindfulness is the practice of being in and focusing on the moment.

Something as simple as taking seven deep breaths while focusing on your breath or doing a guided meditation you found on Youtube is going to work wonders on your ability to stay locked in.

It’s all about knowing how to bring your mind back to what’s in front of you when it wanders.

For when you’re ready to improve

Build and track processes to level up your life

Until next time,

Footytutor