Sport Psychology

For over seven years now, I have been a huge Major League Soccer (MLS) fan. My top two favorite teams has to be the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders FC. There are many reasons for me liking these two Western Conference giants. For one, they are both cities that hold special places in my heart. Los Angeles, CA was my place of birth. And Seattle, WA is the home (and hopefully my future home) of my favorite sports teams. But, I was not raised in Los Angeles. For those of you that don't know, I was raised in a little place named Walla Walla, WA up until age fourteen. This is were my story and love of sports begins and returns. Growing up in Walla Walla meant that my teams to root for included the Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle SuperSonics (R.I.P.) and the Seattle Mariners. Although the Seattle Sounders (NASL, 1974) existed way before I was even born, it was not around during my time growing up in Washington state in the late 1980's, 1990's and early 2000's. Even...

The other day, my fiance and I went to go see the Los Angeles Galaxy vs Manchester United F.C. in an "International Friendly". The reason for the quotation marks is because of the different mindsets of the word "friendly". Los Angeles Galaxy was expected to be slaughtered in this match, but ended up scoring two goals before the end of the ninety minutes. Of course, with a final score of LA Galaxy  2-5 Manchester United, this was a disappointment for Major League Soccer (MLS) and American Soccer for that matter. But why is it such an impossible task to beat a European club here in the United States? Perhaps it is due to the legendary status that European football has with the rest of the world. So what are they doing differently? Let us compare and contrast. This is what this journal/blog is about. In European football, games between two teams are played as if it was the final game of the league. This is especially true when you are playing a team from an entirely ...