| How Underdogs Can Win |
|
|
| Wednesday, 18 January 2006 | |
|
Shock, horror the favourite lost. Well it’s not such a shock really. It happens all the time. Remember Roger Federer was an underdog once. Everybody has to rise up the ladder by beating people ranked higher than them. The players that get to the top do so because of a better mental attitude. To take golf as an example there is nothing about Tiger Woods, V.J Singh and Ernie Els in terms of their physiques that makes them the world’s greatest golfers – what sets them apart is their mental attititude. Even in sports which are more physically demanding – let’s take the 100 metres sprint there are milliseconds between the top competitors - the reason why one wins the race and not the other is mental attitude. There is no great physical reason why someone is 1/100th of a second faster. Obviously fitness, strength, coordination and stamina play their part – but the mental game is crucial. Now let’s focus on a team sport, football. The Fink Tank in the Times have calculated that the chances of at least one team from a lower division defeating a side from at least one division higher is 99.85 per cent (ie almost certain) and that the chances that a team beat a side two divisions above them is 48.8 per cent (ie almost 50:50) Now why does this happen. Let’s get the reasons I don’t want to focus on out of the way: 1) it could be that the stronger team have an off day, possibly through overconfidence, possibly by not treating the game as a priority 2) it could be that conditions favour the underdog – eg a poor quality that the underdog who are the home side are used to 3) The crowd – the importantce of the crowd has been discussed before in SuperEngland.Com What I want to highlight is what it is about the successful underdog that we can learn from and benefit us if we are in that situatiuon.
Let’s list out some football examples (I have pruned a list from the BBC : Walsall 2, Arsenal 0 Yeovil 2, Sunderland 1 USA 1, England 0 England 3, Hungary 6 Bangor 2, Napoli 0 N. Korea 1, Italy 0 Swindon Town 3, Arsenal 1 Colchester United 3, Leeds United 1 Hereford United 2, Newcastle United 1 Sunderland 1, Leeds United 0 Southampton 1, Manchester United 0 Algeria 2, West Germany 1 Bournemouth 2, Manchester United 0 Wimbledon 1, Liverpool 0 Cameroon 1, Argentina 0 Faroe Islands 1, Austria 0 Wrexham 2, Arsenal 1 Denmark 2, Germany 0 USA 2, England 0 Bulgaria 2, Germany 1 USA 1, Brazil 0 Croatia 3, Germany 0 So, here is the advice distilled from some comments by giant-killers: * You have to believe you can win – otherwise forget it * Play for the team - let the opposition’s egos destroy themselves * You have nothing to lose –do not fear failure – do not even consider failure * Whoever you are playing whether it’s a non-league team or Chelsea – the skills you require are the same – if you’ve scored from 25 yards with a belter against a non-league team you can do it against Chelsea – if you’ve dribbled brilliantly past Fred Bloggs – you can do it against Wayne Bridge * Remember you know more about your opponents than they know about you – if you have video footage imprint it in your mind when players have dribbled past their defenders, or when players have tackled their attackers. Imprint it when your opponents have been outfought. *You need leadership on the pitch, you need to talk to each other *Prepare, do your homework – make the most of your advantages – to build your confidence on strong foundations. * Remember be focused, clear your mind of everything else but the moment * Remember that adrenalin raises your game – you will have more of it than the favourites. |
|
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 January 2006 ) |
| Next > |
|---|