Read the following paragraph. Hector’s soccer team did not play well that afternoon. Time and again, they lost the ball to the other team. They could only watch helplessly as their opponents scored goal after goal, while Hector’s team failed to score a single point. It seemed as though every attempt Hector and his teammates made to succeed was futile. Hector overheard one of the players telling an onlooker that this was the worst they had ever played. Hector knew it had been a bad game, but surely this was an exaggeration.

Which of the following phrases provides a context clue for the definition of the word exaggeration?