2022 World Cup: Jamal Musiala to take to the stage in Qatar

Behind Jamal Musiala's slight frame and quiet nature lies a highly-focused individual with the mental strength possessed by very few players.

The 19-year-old is already a league and Champions League winner, but this month he will play in his first World Cup after being included in Hansi Flick's 26-man Germany squad.

For Musiala this tournament is not a chance, but rather a stage.

Carlon Carpenter, a performance analyst at sports data business StatsBomb, believes Musiala's intelligence in and out of possession and his clarity of thought make him so special.

"He always seems to have a clear picture in his mind when playing in high value areas of the pitch where space is at a premium," Carpenter tells DW, adding that perhaps Thomas Müller has been a positive influence in this regard.

"He's not a simple 'get it and give it player' but every time he gets on the ball he has a good setting touch to move the ball from under his feet and then play it forward."

Indeed, earlier this season, Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann expressed similar thoughts to ESPN.

"He's able to use both feet when dribbling, have quick movements when the ball is at his feet to get into free spaces by dribbling, but the most important step this season is he's brilliant in defense as well."

Winning habits

Part of the reason for this is how Musiala approaches improving.

Based off a foundation his mother helped him developed as a boy, Musiala has created a system in which he turns pressure into fun without sacrificing his competitive edge.

This summer, unhappy with his first touch, the teenager spent a lot of time working on the first moment of control that allows him to move when controlling a high ball. He's also been putting in a lot of work with his personal coach to improve his breathing techniques so as to increase his stamina and his blood work is regularly checked to make sure his nutritional values are where they should be.

"Creating habits and systems automates our processes," said clinical psychologist and emotional fitness consultant Dr Suzanne Brown, who has worked across both the men's and women's top divisions in England.

"If we have a system in place, much like creating a 'what if' scenario; you list the things that might possibly go wrong and how you would cope with that. Then, when/if that occurs in the game, we're mentally more fluid and quicker to react as we're not having to trawl through our list of options whilst under pressure."

With that system in place, it's easy to see why Musiala is faster than those around him. But his focus on enjoyment is equally important.

"We don't play if we don't feel safe. Play is fundamental to learning," Brown says. "If an athlete is reporting that they approach training/games with play at the heart of this, then this is a positive sign. Competition and play are not mutually exclusive; we can want to win but do it in a way that is playful, joyful, with flair."

Watch just one game of Musiala and it's clear that is how the teenager wants to win. The benefits that come with that approach extend well beyond being a better player too.

"We also know that play within teams is marked by a reduction in hierarchy, increase in creativity, pro-social behavior, improves memory and cognitive functioning, fosters team collaboration and releases hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. These are all hormones that contribute to positive mental wellbeing," Brown continues.

That doesn't mean Musiala has lost his competitive edge. When playing golf with his friends recently, they laughed at him on the tee for his form. Musiala's response was to get a coach and come back six weeks later better than everyone else.

His competitiveness is further sharpened by research. Fascinated by the strategies of how players and coaches in basketball's NBA cope with pressure, Musiala has recently read Phil Jackson's Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success and Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, as well as Tim Grover's Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable.

Grover's concept of being either a cooler (someone who does the job and no more), a closer (someone who delivers great results) and a cleaner (someone who has prepared for every eventuality and just does rather than thinks) is of particular interest to the youngster.

Ready to deliver

Carpenter believes that while Musiala has very few weaknesses, his shot selection near goal is an area of potential improvement.

"He's over-performing his xG by close to half," Carpenter explains, referring to the popular metric of expected goals (xG), a measure of the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood it will be scored from a particular position on the field during a particular passage of play.

"For that to stabilize and for him to keep on scoring he could make sure his shots (which are largely inside the box) are taken from more central areas in the goal. He's currently taking them quite wide of the box, which limits his effectiveness."

All in all though, the data shows the value of the work Musiala has done and that remains in a class of his own.

"Pretty much every metric you evaluate attacking midfielders for, he excels at," Carpenter adds.

The numbers prove how good Musiala is. The psychological work the teenager does gives him an edge. Now the youngster hopes to be the difference maker for Germany on the biggest stage.

Edited by: Matt Pearson