Being an athlete is hard.
It is probably one of the hardest professions you can choose. By the time you are in your mid 30s, you are winding down your career when other people are just starting.
In your teens you are starting your career when others around you haven’t even thought about a career.
So what are some characteristics of great footballers?
Unshakeable knowing/belief in themselves – the great footballers know they will win games. They know they will be in the right moment at the right time that will seal the game. This can be in the first minute or in the 95th minute.
Knowing is just a belief without any doubt. This works for strikers, midfielders, defenders or goal keepers. No one can break their sense of knowing. This may not be there all the time or you may build up to it but it needs to be there for your career to flourish.
If you are not there for your tribe and willing to give all for the tribe, they won’t be there for you. These are the people that become the captains or the club heroes.
They are willing to leave everything on the field. But you must know how to turn this off when you step off the field. No needs a war mentality at home.
Creativity
The greatest footballers are those that are most creative. These are the ones that have millions of people watching them and it only inspires them to greater creativity.
They live for the big moments. A World Cup game is the height of inspiration. Half field passes come off naturally. Goals are scored with little effort.
Goals are saved when they shouldn’t have been. This is a flow state where everything works and you take yourself to a level you didn’t know what was possible. Everyone lives for these flow states.
Skills and rhythm
You must feel the ball. You must understand the weight of a pass, shot or cross. Get used to touching and feeling a ball. FIFA on playstation isn’t the same thing.
Work ethic
You should be the first person at training and last to leave. If the club rooms need sweeping, than you help sweep.
Your level of success doesn’t make you superior to anyone. Keep a sense of humility and you won’t go off the rails.
Even if you get all this right, you may not end up having a career as your body break downs through injuries over time or you don’t the money for the opportunities. But you can take these characteristics that you build and apply it to other areas of life.
Football is a wonderful game and you should cherish the time you have in the game as before you know it, it’s all over. Not everyone around you will believe in your dream so keep it to yourself and show it to them on the pitch.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/au/amp/football/news/paramount-plus-confirm-upcoming-socceroos-world-cup-qualifiers-will-be-broadcast/3tojqqlmqjhc14gsuao41qakt
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Thats very true. A "killer" instinct is important in terms of finishing goals and winning games. The moment doubt starts creeping in, the ball stops being cm perfect. The more doubt you have, the more you are out of position and further off the tempo of the moment.
At work
Roar Rookie
If you want to be a really good footballer; you need a level of selfishness, you need drive and determination, you need to be dedicated, you need to be ruthless and you need to have confidence in yourself where you feel you're better then everyone else on the field. If you're not confidant enough to want the ball or responsibility when your team needs something special, then you're not it,
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/au/amp/football/news/from-a-league-reject-to-italian-prodigy-cristian-volpatos-remarkable-road-to-roma-and-how-australia-missed-out/3cdkn3s5o7rs15o9mkzzp9kh6
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
All the boots are swanky nowadays. I remember when the first white adidas predators came out and caused a stir.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
A swanky haircut and snazzy boots. Get those and settle in next to the phone for the Barca call.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
You said it, not me :laughing: .
Chopper
Roar Rookie
I think great players start by playing in the winter lol.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Probably not but not everyone grows up playing for Barcelona :stoked: . Some A League clubs dont even have their own club rooms to sweep yet.
Ian Nacho
Roar Rookie
Is Messi renowned for sweeping club rooms?
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
If you read Fergie's book he spent a tonne of time on recruiting younger playes like Beckham. He also spent a lot of time on setting up recovery facilities etc. It is an intermingled team effort between manager and player. For example would Henry have been the player he would have been without Wenger. Coaches leave influences on the game so we need to raise coaching standards around the country from the earliest age possible. But I would like to do another article on a great coach and great club if this leads to a good discussion.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Good article ‘Winter’, but players come and go. What is more interesting: What makes a good manager? Especially one who can transition from a good footballer, to a world class great football manager, who was able retire at the top of his game before he was sacked. I can only think of two, Alex Ferguson and Franz Beckenbauer.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Rip. “You’re the painter of your live [sic] Don’t give the paint brush to anyone else,” he reportedly wrote. Wise words
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Yeah most peoples early advisors are dad's with an overinflated ego on what they could have acheived in their own football "career" :stoked: . Plus most junior clubs have very little influence on the kids outside of training and game day. Not much positive psychology or game strategy is ever mentioned by the majority of coaches.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS A 19-year-old whose body was found in the landing gear of a US air force plane has been revealed as an Afghan national team player. - In his final Facebook post, Zaki Anwari wrote about being the master of his own destiny. “You’re the painter of your live [sic] Don’t give the paint brush to anyone else,” he reportedly wrote. - The Khorasan Lions, the Afghan national soccer team, announced the young man’s death on its Facebook page. “Two days before and after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, to go to America and find a better future, he rode on the wheels of the American aeroplane with several other compatriots who fell to the ground while flying with several other compatriots,” according to a translation of the team’s post. “May his soul rest in peace and his memory be remembered,” it added. - https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/afghan-teen-found-in-landing-gear-of-us-plane-was-national-football-star/news-story/641458040c7ac25c9a0a0719422a3650
Midfielder
Roar Guru
It varies a lot however a key to success is having in your early days good advisers .... and someone who you can trust ... A mentor who has trod your path before.... It is often going to the right team in your early days were you will get both game time but not be over played and get injuries...
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Thats true. Just getting then to come to trainings in the middle of July when its raining and cold can be difficult.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Ha Ha. Great article, if you were to be writing a computer program to produce great footballers this might be the brief. The reality is somewhat removed from this imo with the picture far more complex and full of the human frailties that make us all people. The very best players are often the most selfish, they often struggle to bond with their teammates because with selfishness and dedication, the very things that underpin their success, it can make them hard to relate to or understand. And “work ethic” isn’t as simple as being first to and last from training (that’s what I expect from a Captain and leadership group alone tbh), some of the very best players look lazy, actually are lazy - both on and off the pitch - and are often just in time to training, the last out of the sheds, and the first in to their cars afterwards. They can be the last to turn and press at turnover, and tend to focus on their job expecting others to do much of the other heavy lifting. Same in training - they’re interested in working on their stuff, not working on exercises that improve other players. and good luck keeping them engaged in exercises where they don’t see much of the ball. And sweeping the sheds - yeah, good luck there lol. The best players can’t spell “dustpan” let alone find it and use it :laughing: The reality is it’s way more complex with a rich picture of personality, character, flaws, ego, motivators, demotivates, behaviour patterns and Neurolinguistics. We’d all like our best players to follow a set recipe but they don’t, that’s where a good coaching team makes things work in my experience.