Getting their excuses in early

If you are facing a competitor who has beaten you 8 out of 13 times, do you:

1. complain about the opposition being poor losers thus giving said opposition extra motivation?
2. focus on your game and do your talking on the pitch?

In the run up to the women's 400m Olympic final in Beijing, the fastest runner in the world's preparation consisted of focusing on one of her competitors - needless to say, she did not win the Olympic gold as was expected.

La Albiçeleste, de Mannschaft are running scared.