Pedagogy - The Pressure of Playing a Knockout Match
Playing in a football tournament is a unique experience. The matches carry much more weight because you've traveled far to participate in the cup, and every game could potentially be your last. This can place enormous pressure on the players or the team as a whole—a pressure to win—which can negatively affect players’ well-being and performance. As coaches, how should we manage these situations to ensure players aren't overwhelmed by this pressure?
I believe there is a big difference between playing league matches and cup matches. A league season lasts the entire year, and as a team, you can afford to have a poor performance in a single game because the season is long, and there is an opportunity to make up for that one performance. Cup matches, on the other hand, carry much more weight because every game could be your last. I have seen, both as a coach and a spectator of teams in tournaments, that some teams completely lose their level of play when it comes to knockout matches, compared to their level in league matches or even during the group stage. For example, in a tournament my team participated in over the summer, we excelled during the group stage with 3 wins, 0 goals conceded, and overall very strong play. The opponents were of a similar level to the teams we usually face, so it wasn't that we were playing against much weaker opposition—we simply performed very well. However, in the first knockout match, the players didn’t play with the same confidence and instead seemed very nervous.
It was clear that the players felt the pressure to perform when it suddenly became a “win or go home” match. The players felt that every action carried more weight than usual because, for example, a mistake like a misplaced pass in defense or a missed clear chance could be the difference between another game or elimination. This led to the players becoming nervous and passive, hesitant to make moves that involved any risk, which in turn made the game predictable and passive.
This was confirmed during the knockout match my team, boys aged 14, was eliminated in. When there were 10 minutes left and we were down by two goals, the players started playing with confidence and taking more risks, as they no longer felt they had anything to lose. In those last 10 minutes, we completely outplayed the opponents but unfortunately couldn’t score, and as mentioned, we were knocked out. However, when the players felt they had nothing left to lose, and the pressure to win disappeared because of that, they had plenty of fantastic intentions and well-executed actions.
So, how can we ensure that players don’t feel excessive pressure and nervousness in knockout matches? Of course, there will always be a certain level of nervousness for players in such situations, but how can we help them manage this nervousness so that it doesn’t negatively affect the team’s play? I would argue that a huge factor is the importance we, as coaches, place on the match. If we, as coaches, build up the idea that the match must be won, it creates more nervousness and pressure on the players. Instead, we should focus more on the performance and the attitude rather than the result, to build a culture where winning is not essential for a good football experience. Winning should not be the main focus in youth football. If players don’t feel the pressure to win—which they can't always control—but instead feel that they need to go out and give their all—which they can always control—then we can reduce the level of nervousness the players feel ahead of knockout matches and similar situations. The desire to win should always be there, but the result should not be the main focus in order to avoid putting too much pressure on these young players.
What are your opinions regarding this? How do you make sure the players don't feel too nervous before a knockout match?