My immediate response was different than most people. I said, out loud, “We’re fucked.”

What prompted my profanity was the decision hours before the USA soccer team played Belgium and the red card suspension of Folarin Balogun was lifted. The leading scorer in World Cup competition for the USA team was red carded in the soccer team’s previous win. The official call that seemed iffy to start with. Yet the lifting of the suspension was even more baffling.

While most fans of the USA soccer team figured the availability of Balogun enhanced their team’s chances for a win I figured it erased it. I am a junkie for motivational factors, and whether the sport is football or soccer the human conditions that enhance or depress performance are the same.

The USA team would have played the game of their life, at least from a motivational perspective, had they been forced to play without their leading scorer. When they got him back to play, the motivation on the team went from having to overcome to, and you could see it in the pregame interviews, “We got them now.”

No you don’t.

Games won before they start are usually lost.

The USA did what I thought they would do with Balogun in action; they played flat and got blown out by Belgium, 4-1.

In football, I can site many examples of similar situations where a team was preparing to play without one of their stars and then got a game day “reprieve” with him back in the lineup. In September of 2022, the Los Angeles Chargers prepared all week to meet the Jacksonville Jaguars without their starting quarterback. Justin Herbert had fractured his rib cartilage the week before in a contest against the Kansas City Chiefs.

He wasn’t expected to play on September 22.

Then, on game day he made a surprise appearance and played the whole contest. The Chargers had prepared mentally to overcome his loss and were thrown into a motivational trap with him surprisingly available for their clash against the Jaguars.

The score, in football teams, was akin to the one the USA suffered last week. In soccer a 4-1 loss is lopsided, so is 38-10 in the NFL … which is the score the Chargers lost by after the addition of Herbert to their lineup.

Motivation can work the other way too. If a team is expected to have their starting quarterback and then a game day situation prevents his start his team often rallies in his absence.

On November 20,1989, the Denver Broncos were in Washington to meet the Redskins in a Monday night game. We had delivered the Broncos plus the points as a play that night. In 1989, all of our selections were delivered by phone. It was less than an hour before kickoff that we learned that Denver Quarterback John Elway was puking in the locker room and may not play.

The question in our office was whether we should tell the clients who had not yet called for the pick to skip the game … or even try to contact the clients that had already gotten the pick by phone to get them off the play.

“If you are the Broncos right now,” I posed to my staff that evening, “Are you more or less prepared to play this game motivationally without your starting quarterback?

Let it ride,” I said expecting the motivation would compensate for the loss of the future Hall of Fame signal caller.

It did.

The Broncos defense played inspired football, limiting the talented Redskins to ten points, and backup QB Gary Kubiak guided the Broncos to a 14-10 victory.

Motivation. I still think it is the key to success, and I know that our soccer team would have had a much better chance of beating Belgium if the suspension would have not been reversed. Once their star was back, the team was doomed on the most important factor in determining the outcome of a game.

Motivation.

Looking for opportunities like this in the NFL is why I love what I do so much.

So do my clients.