Wisconsin Soccer Player turned englishman has a blog on ESPN

"Credit to us though, it's not like we haven't been close or haven't been in every game, we just haven't had the breaks.

Out of our first nine games, we have five draws and four losses. We have hit the crossbar on more occasions than I can count, given away two penalties late in the game to lose. One was literally at the last whistle of the game against Bolton, the other a horrible call by the referee who gave a handball in the box, while the replay clearly showed the ball hitting our player's face and going out of play."

What I find interesting about this quote is that it shows a necessary trait of any type of pro athlete. They honestly believe that they are just as good as everybody else. You have to believe just to survive...but seriously they haven't "been in every game." They are clearly not as good as the other teams, but to admit that as a player is to not be able to compete mentally. It's this whole idea that if you can trick yourself into ignoring the evidence you can often overcome it. Nobody would break a world record if they didn't ignore that fact that nobody can run that fast.

It's a bizare mental game.