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I played eleven-a-side football (soccer) and five-a-side football for many years in amateur leagues. There was always a real buzz in the lead up to a big game and, from experience, the key to ensuring a good performance was to make sure that I'd prepared well. At professional level, of course, pre match preparation becomes all the more important.

In terms of per match requirements, I'd class them in several categories:

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The week before the game:
Turn up for training and take it seriously. It's difficult to find that required level of intensity in matches if you're not also focused during training sessions. If your team doesn't have mid week training sessions (as is quite often the case at amateur level), then consider going out for a couple of training runs or gym sessions.

One thing to note, though, is not to overdo the training, especially in the day or two before the match. I played briefly for a football team whose coach used to have us train on Thursday evenings. Most of the teams in our league played twice a week so, given that we could only do one day, our coach (in his wisdom) decided to try to cram two sessions worth of physical training into the one evening. When Saturday morning came around my legs would still be sore from all the lactic acid and rather than being well conditioned we are too drained to play to the best of our abilities.
The night before the game:
Don't drink too much. This is an obvious point but for amateur footballers the temptation is to go out with the boys and one drink becomes two, becomes ten. I'm sure I once heard a quote from legendary footballer and alcoholic George Best that he played better when hungover. However, from personal experience, I can tell you that this isn't true!

It's also good to try to get a good night's sleep to refresh your batteries, so that late night spent out drinking and visiting a night club may have a double whammy effect upon your subsequent soccer performance.

The morning of the game:
Make sure you have some food but nothing too heavy. I've never been a fan of breakfast but if you play on an empty stomach then your energy levels won't be maximised and you may find that you are running on empty for the final twenty minutes. It's worth noting that at professional level, nutrition has become as big as physical training in the way that clubs prepare their players. Foods that have high energy-boosting benefits are favoured such as pasta. Also, remember to drink lots of water so that you are

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