62 official unbeaten matches at home, in an extended run since the 1975 Copa America, and a single defeat overall in the last 15 competitive matches, in addition to the Confederations Cup title last year.
This was the case of Brazil Luiz Felipe Scolari before Germany crushed it by surprise by seven in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup, in what was later known (1) as “Mineirao” or “The Agony of The Mineirao”, relative to the Mineirao stadium on which the match was held.
In fact, there were many doubts about Scolari's ability to lead the national team in the World Cup before he took over in 2012. Some considered his appointment as hypocrisy to the fans and resorting to easy solutions, even though it was Scolari who won the tournament in 2002.
But doubts soon disappeared after the team’s performance gradually escalated, and with it hopes rose to get rid of the specter of the Maracanã that had been hanging over the minds of Brazilians for 64 years since the defeat against Uruguay in 1950, and of course the 2014 tournament was only the second tournament organized by Brazil in history, and the first in history. Launch since the Maracanã earthquake.
Back from the dead
For this exact reason, the press used the word "Agony", which is the agony of death, and that defeat was tantamount to announcing the death of the majority of the members of this generation, if it may be considered a generation at all. There are at least 10 players from Brazil's list in this World Cup who did not wear the national team's shirt after that night.
(1)
The Brazilian death also had digital dimensions.
This is typical of such scandals.
Liverpool's seven raised their tally against De Gea to 17 goals in four matches over two seasons, similarly Germany's seven, and then the Netherlands' triple in the third and fourth place match, raised the total of what the Selecao received to 14 goals;
The highest for any homeowner since the start of the tournament.
(1)
Just imagine that before this moment Brazil had conceded only 4 goals in 6 matches, and then 10 in two matches after that.
This is the embodiment of what sports psychologists call "Collective Team Collapse", which they define as "a sudden sharp collective decline in the team's performance caused by a critical situation that affected its style and the relationship of its members with each other, and thus lost control of the course of the game, and made it difficult They have to get back to their previous level."
(2) (3)
Matt Furness, editor and analyst for The Analyst, believes that the reason for this "critical situation" was the unforeseen absence of Neymar and Thiago Silva from the match;
The first was injured in the back after a reckless intervention by the Colombian Juan Camilo Zuniga, and the second received an unnecessary warning after intercepting the Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina in the same match.
(1)
Furness goes on to say that raising Neymar's shirt during the team's group photo before the start of the Germany match was tantamount to an acknowledgment of weakness and helplessness without the most important playmaker in the team, which gave the Germans the required moral boost on the one hand, and at the same time "affected the team's playing style and the relationship of its members with each other." .
This was the hardest part of it.
The inability to understand and explain, as there was nothing in the Brazilian march before this moment that indicated this defeat at all.
In fact, the Selecao entered the match with equal fortunes, supported by the legendary mass back who distinguished the matches of this World Cup, and for the same reason, the Brazilians did not succeed in explaining that defeat until the moment.
non-periodic international
Dr. Susan Whitbourne, who has specialized throughout her career in studying the behavior and mentalities of football fans, believes that the fans' emotional response reaches its peak in the matches of their national teams, compared to clubs, for example.
During the World Cup itself, researchers noticed an increase in levels of testosterone, the male hormone, and cortisol, the stress hormone, in both Brazilian men and women, and German hospitals recorded a greater number of cases of heart problems among men.
(4) (5)
This is due to the so-called mirror neurons in the brain, which are primarily responsible for empathy and a sense of sympathy for the feelings shown by others.
These cells feel more familiar when you support your country's national team than Manchester United, for example.
(6)
Of course, this seems like a complicated way of telling you the obvious, which is that your enthusiasm for your country's national team - surprisingly - will exceed your enthusiasm for a team that consists of more than 10 nationalities and plays in a country that you have not often visited before, but the example of Brazil had only one purpose;
Examining the effects of a similar defeat on a team that was not expected.
This is what we can describe the seven Liverpool by at least.
The important question now is: How do you forget such a defeat?
Answer: You never forget it.
Jamie Carragher is a legend for this
pic.twitter.com/bBr34iMrA4
— Bhavs (@bhavss14) March 5, 2023
In a previous study led by Dr. Vanessa Vergen - the German paradox - in 2017, I used a remarkable statement by Dan Quinn, coach of the Atlanta Falcons, after they lost the Super Bowl in the same year, when he said: "Loss is in the past, but I'm not over it yet."
(7) (8)
The Falcons were leading 28-3 until the second half, then lost 28-34 at the end.
Of course, this is another example of a "collective team collapse" that neither Dan Quinn nor his players understood.
In the worst case scenario, the player or coach remains trapped in this feeling of helplessness, and what is meant here is the inability to understand specifically, simply because it means that his abilities may betray him again, and this leads him to question everything that preceded that moment, until it becomes the most important thing he is known for.
Brazil's goalkeeper in that match, Julio Cesar, stated something similar after his retirement in 2018, saying:
"Even now, when I'm alone, I can't escape thinking about it. I can imagine the headlines when I die: Julio Cesare, goalkeeper of the 7-1, is dead."(1)
Stand for a moment and imagine that the man who contributed to 28 titles throughout his career as one of the most crowned players in the history of the game, including a hat-trick with Inter in addition to a title for the Copa America and the Confederations Cup with the national team, and like the Selecao in 87 matches, this was his feeling upon his retirement;
That one match was the most famous for which he would be known.
(9)
Forgetting forgetting
However, there might be another answer: Dan Quinn couldn't get over his defeat because he probably acted like all professional athletes do in such situations;
Try to forget it.
This is the basic problem of forgetting, that it is an automatic, spontaneous act that does not require any effort.
In fact, we are not sure that it is correct to describe it as an “action” in the first place, because how do we forget things?
Of course, being busy with other things helps, but there is no such thing as trying to forget.
The real magic of forgetting is that it happens without even trying.
So it failed with Cesar and the generation of Brazil, whose footballing death was announced by the Germany Sevens, and therefore it will fail with everyone who tries to bypass it in the same way often, because everyone confuses forgetting and transgression, and the most important difference between those concerned is that transgression is preceded by understanding.
This is what no one does after such a defeat.
Who wants to analyze a match in which they conceded 7 goals from a historic rival?
Exactly the opposite is happening;
Trying to avoid everything related to the match, or rather, escaping from the memory of it, and escaping is not synonymous with forgetting, of course.
This instinctive behavior leaves a person a prey to his imagination, and whenever the victims remember - so to speak - the match, their minds manipulate them, adding details and omitting others, so they end up with a distorted version of what happened, exaggerating in self-flagellation or vice versa;
Exaggerate your opponent.
This is an understandable part of the process of dealing with trauma as described by the Kübler-Ross model.
The only problem is that the same model stretches over the years as it did with Cesar.
All this time transforms a defeat in 90 minutes into something like the ghouls and witches you used to hear in your childhood, and you only realize their truth after you reach puberty, after years of unwarranted terror.
(10)
This is what makes the first and most important step of all is to kill these fantasies by subjecting what happened to serious analysis.
The internet is full of reports and analysis giving you the usual common sense advice such as “you gotta hang on”, “don't let defeat get you down”, “don't let the doubt get to you”, and “now you can buy our guide to recovering from heavy defeats from your historic opponent” For only $44.99.
(1112)
This is all beautiful and wonderful, but of course it is not useful.
Caesar must have tried to hold himself together and not let defeat affect his level or doubt seep into him, and he may have bought the evidence as well, but he did not benefit anything.
These tips are like someone telling you: "If you want to be a great player, you have to train."
Well, that's fine, but then what?
How do I train?
How often do I train?
The paradox here is that this question is the same question that everyone asks after similar defeats: What exactly happened?
The problem - surprisingly - is not that the answer is impossible, but quite the opposite.
Any of them can go back to the game, analyze it and extract all possible answers, but what really prevents everyone is embarrassment and fear, in addition to the hysterical ridicule that will be exposed to anyone who tries to think about such situations.
The good news is that Manchester United can really analyze and understand what happened.
Indeed, that was exactly what Ten Hach did following Brentford's early-season hat-trick;
He sat his players in the conference room and watched the game together and reviewed some footage, then he took them to the training ground to run the kilometers that the Brentford players beat them in the match.
(13)
How did they do it?
A lot of humility, and a lot of courage too.
The second paradox here is that in the aftermath of such humiliating defeats, arrogance may take hold of the loser, so the players exchange blame, trying to deny themselves the accusation. Correction, as he did after the Brentford quadruple when he ran with his players.
(2) (7)
Truth and nonsense
Two-thirds of the world's crap is generated by social media platforms following similar matches.
You know how it goes;
How legends are made from 90 minutes, how “memes” and “comics” attack the loser, and how the result erases any correct behavior that its players did during it.
The logical first step is to detach from the hysteria and look at what happened objectively, no matter how painful it may be.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher is still not over the 7-0 win against Manchester United 7️⃣😂 pic.twitter.com/KNPxTtim4a
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 7, 2023
This is what will reveal to the Manchester United players that they made a very good first half, which will reveal to Ten Hach the mistake of leaving one of the Liverpool backs free while pressing, and how that caused the first goal, and it will also reveal the change in the way Liverpool pressed in the second half with Elliott joining the lead trio, which contributed In the second and third goals, Bruno, Shaw and Lisandro's psychological, mental and professional collapse after the fourth goal will also be shown.
(14)
Thus, the myth turns into a reality that can be refuted, studied, and learned from, and thus negative feelings are invested in a clear plan of action with specific measurable and experimental steps.
This is what helps collective sports teams overcome similar defeats, and this is what they never do because they are embarrassed to relive the events of the match, or because they succumbed to all the exaggerations of the media and the masses after it, or because their imagination deluded them that the defeat occurred for unexplainable reasons, or because they did not They are still in the stage of denial and are not ready to admit that what happened actually happened, and the result is that all attempts to forget backfire, so do nothing but remind them of the bitterness of defeat.
This is the real difference between a fan and a professional player.
The latter is required to learn from his mistakes, and there is no way to do that except by studying and analyzing them, and in that process an additional advantage is giving him the humility necessary to continue in these competitions.
This is something that players like Bruno and Shaw need to learn, for example, because their overwhelming desire to win, and their exceptional competitive spirit, make the impact of those defeats stronger on them than others.
This is what Dr. Vergen noted in the same study.
It is the highly competitive players who suffer the most from humiliating sports scandals, simply because they cannot accept them and therefore cannot get over them.
(7)
In the end, analysis and study are what transform "our mother the ghoul" from a mythical being that embodies your worst nightmares, whose limits are the same as the limits of your imagination, into a logic that can be dealt with, discussed, and subjected to experiment.
Analysis and study are the only way to turn things upside down, because - believe it or not - these defeats are often a double-edged sword, and just as the "death drunkenness" of the loser causes another kind of intoxication for the winner.
A kind that makes him incapable of analysis and study in turn, drowning in post-match hysteria and its glorious moments, and at that time the imagination does what he did, and delusions of what did not happen, so he believes that the result expresses the difference in the real level, and this is the mistake that the loser does not have the luxury of committing.
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Sources:
1- About that match: Brazil 1-7 Germany - The Analyst
2- When Everything Suddenly Stops Working: The Causes of Team Collapse in Team Sports - Frontiers
3- How to deal with heavy losses - Online Soccer Academy
4- Football;
A mix of mixed feelings - Tech Talk
5- High altitudes and overwhelming lows;
Is being a sports fan good or bad for your health?
Conversation
6- What happens to your body and brain when you watch sports?
- NBC News
7- When you watch your team fall apart;
Coaches, Psychologists, and Players Analyzing the Causes of Team Collapse - Frontiers
8- Quinn on the Super Bowl: "It's in the past, but I'm not over it yet." - NFL
9- Julio Cesar's March - Transfermarkt
10- The five stages of dealing with trauma and grief and how to deal with them - CNN
11- How do you cope with losses without losing confidence?
- Soccer Psychology Tips
12- How do you see lessons in defeats?
Peak Performance Sports
13- How did Manchester United come back from the dead?
The truth behind my face, Eric ten Hach - Al Jazeera
14- Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United;
Analysis - Football Made Simple