"The 4-1 scoreline has dealt a huge blow to the players of Gil Vicente, and even the 'pep talk' the head coach gave them during the halftime break had no effect."
Morale greatly affects how players fight for the ball.
During the World Cup knockout game between Brazil and South Korea in Qatar, everyone thought that Brazilian players would get injured by the South Koreans, who are notoriously dirty players.
However, Brazil stunned the Koreans with two goals in the first ten minutes.
At that moment, both the fans watching the game and the South Korean players themselves could feel the huge gap between them and their opponents.
So much so, that the South Korean players couldn't even muster the energy to play dirty.
After all, you only play dirty when you see a glimmer of hope for a win.
When there's no hope at all, the players truly don't know what to do with themselves.
Therefore, for a lengthy twenty minutes, the Gil Vicente players almost completely gave up on attacking.
