You gotta have heart

I asked Arturo Alvarez what precipitated his dynamic season this year at FC Dallas.

I think I’d have to say it was self-confidence. I think that was what was kind of lacking in the few years before. I think this year, I went in there and got the chance to start and I took advantage of it. I think that what helped me the most was that I was really confident. Every time I’d get the ball I’d go at people and know my strengths. Obviously, I worked hard and it paid off.

I also asked about his reputation as an outstanding practice player who would get hesitant in actual games, "What'd you do this season, pretend every game was really practice?"

Pretty much. In practice, I would just go out there and have fun. I guess in that transition from practice to the games, for some reason I was scared to do the things that I could do and would just come naturally. But this past year, that just opened up and I’m looking forward to that opening up even more and hopefully next year I’ll have and even better year than this past year. Confidence is the most important thing for a soccer player. Obviously, the coaches and the other players, you’ve got to have a good friendship with them, but I think confidence is the main thing.