The game of soccer isn’t just playing the ball with your feet or with your head. The use of soccer psychology means that you can utilize mental tactics to get inside of the opponents head and cause the opponents to perform with less capable and dynamic play. This ability is soccer psychology.

A soccer player must during a match be able to play at their optimum level. This means that the player can make a mistake, mistakes do happen, and proceed on with the match without allowing the mistake to bother them. This “forgiveness” is an important factor. If a player does not “forgive themselves” for making a mistake, then the player will start to tighten up, press harder than they are able to and consequently not play up to their optimum level.

To play at this highest level, individual players must recognize their strong and weak points are during play. It is incumbent that the individual players perform during the match and emphasize the strong points while minimizing the weak points. Once a player dwells on a mistake made by the exposure of their weak points, that player will begin to press and overcompensate for the weak points. This pressing or over extension will further expose the weak points of their game and produce further mistakes and the level of their play will be reduced.

Contrary to many parent’s concepts, soccer is a physical game. Soccer players are routinely kicked, pushed, pulled, slid into and generally manhandled. The referee will be on the pitch to insure that this physical activity is within the rules of “fair play”, however there is still plenty of fair physical contact. It is up to the player to mentally prepare for this physical contact. If a player is consistently subject to discreet shirt pulling or shoulder charges, that player must put the physical play out of their mind and continue to play. Few things provide a mental boost than to be fouled, continue on with the ball and hear the referee shout out “play on”.

Defensive players continually attempt to demoralize offensive players during a match. During one high school state tournament the blue team had a striker that scored an average of 2 goals per game. The white coach was concerned about this player and discussed him at length in the pre-game meeting. The white stopper looked up and said, “No problem coach, I’ve got him”. Blue had the ball to start the first half. The white stopper was on the center circle. The blue striker received the ball and the stopper knocked him down with a hard foul. The referee called the foul and cautioned the stopper. The stopper reached down to help the striker up and said “hi, I’m Rob and you’ll see a lot of me tonight”. At the end of the match, white had won 2 – 0. The striker was ineffective all through the match. He was always looking for the stopper instead of playing at his optimum. The stopper used psychology to take the striker out of the match instead of physical play.

While soccer psychology works for the individual player, the entire team is affected by using soccer psychology. The players must buy into the concept that they are members of a team and individual play is part of the team effort. This team effort and the utilization of all every player on the pitch will provide team success as a whole. This team concept insures that the “stud” players do not need feel pressure to win every game by themselves. The stud player when confronted by a number of opponents must know they have the ability to release the ball to another team mate who has no opponents nearby and can help contribute to the team. Soccer psychology is utilized to both create and reinforce the team concept. This team concept provides any team the opportunity to succeed on the pitch.

Soccer, much like basketball or ice hockey is free flowing. The free flowing aspect of the game requires the involvement of all of the players on the pitch. As in any human endeavor, mistakes are going to be made. The soccer psychology requires that the players accept the mistakes and do not allow them to affect their play. The team concept insures that should one player make a mistake that their teammates will assist in rectifying that mistake. Since all of the players make mistakes there should be no accusations of ineptitude and no finger pointing at the player who made the mistake. The team concept insures that all of the players take the responsibility to help each other and make sure that the mistakes that are made on the pitch do not affect the outcome of the match.

The team concept insures that individual mistakes are remediated by the other members of the team on the pitch. Players must know that they are playing as a team and that their teammates will provide them support when mistakes are made. This soccer psychology builds team strength and causes opponents to view the team as a strong team. When opponents take the pitch against what is perceived to be a strong team, they start the match in a negative mode. This application of soccer psychology insures that the team as a whole plays to the best of its abilities.