Abstract
Background: Mental fatigue can impact physical demands and tactical behavior in sport-related contexts. Small-sided games (SSGs) are often used to develop a specific sport-related context. However, the effects of mental fatigue on physical demands and tactical behaviors during soccer SSGs have not been aggregated for systematical assessment.Objective: This systematic review (with a meta-analysis) was conducted to compare the effects of mental fatigue vs. control conditions in terms of the total running distance and tactical behavior of soccer players during SSGs.Methods: The data sources utilized were PubMed, PsycINFO, Scielo, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. The study eligibility criteria were established based on PICOS: (i) Population: healthy youth and young adult men soccer players with regular training practice and belonging to teams with regular competitions; (ii) Intervention: exposed to mental fatigue-induced protocols only before SSGs; (iii) Comparator: control conditions (passive or active not promoting mental fatigue) before SSGs; (iv) Outcomes: physical demands (total running distance) and tactical behavior (attacking behavior accuracy, pass decision-making accuracy, and space exploration index); (v) Study design: counterbalanced cross-over design; and (vi) only full-text and original articles written in English.Results: The database search initially identified 111 titles. From those, six articles were eligible for the systematic review and meta-analysis. Results showed no significant effect of fatigue on total running distance (ES = 0.13; p = 0.307) and tactical behavior (ES = 0.56; p = 0.079).Conclusions: A non-significant effect of mental fatigue on total running distance and tactical behaviors performed by soccer players during SSGs was found in this systematic review.
Highlights
Mental fatigue is defined as a psychobiological state in which feelings of tiredness and a lack of energy occur, often after long periods of highly demanding cognitive activity or stress (Boksem et al, 2005)
The results of our meta-analysis showed that a mental fatigueinducing protocol applied previously to performing Small-sided games (SSGs) had no significant effects on total running distance in comparison to the control groups
Since mental fatigue is a psychobiological state arising from prolonged periods of taxing cognitive activity (Marcora et al, 2009), this raises a number of questions
Summary
Mental fatigue is defined as a psychobiological state in which feelings of tiredness and a lack of energy occur, often after long periods of highly demanding cognitive activity or stress (Boksem et al, 2005). In the case of team sports (e.g., soccer), it may negatively impact technical performance (Badin et al, 2016), tactical behaviors (Kunrath et al, 2020), and decision-making abilities (Smith et al, 2016b). Considering such a list of potential effects, growing attention has been focused on the effects of mental fatigue on players’ performance. Mental fatigue can impact physical demands and tactical behavior in sport-related contexts. The effects of mental fatigue on physical demands and tactical behaviors during soccer SSGs have not been aggregated for systematical assessment
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