The World Cup in Qatar is now heading into the knock-out stages and say whatever you like about the event but it has produced some amazing displays of beautiful football. More importantly, the teams that have played the most amazing football have been the least expected ones. It started with the Saudi’s coming back from a goal down to beat two-time champions, Argentina, which has one of the best players ever on its squad. Then, four-time champions Germany got rudely beaten by Japan and then, it was the turn of Cameron, to upset world soccer’s perpetual powerhouse – Brazil.
The spate of giant
killing is part of a healthy sign. It shows that the global pecking order of
world soccer is not a stagnant thing. The minnows of world soccer have been
working hard to get themselves onto the world stage and the tournament in Qatar
provided them with an opportunity to show that. It also has been a message to
the powerhouses of world soccer that they can no longer take the smaller players
for granted.
You could argue
that sports reflect life and if you were to look into what happened in the
three games, there is a valuable lesson. A look at the statistics of the three games
shows that the losing powerhouses actually dominated the game. They had most of
the possession and more shots at goal.
If you boil
down football to its basics, the idea is to put the ball into the other guy’s
net and ensure that the other guy does not get the ball into your goal. Keeping
possession of the ball does make it more likely that you may score but possession
without action is pointless.
If you look at small
countries and small companies, you will notice that they focus on the things
that they can “sore.” Singapore, for example, tells everyone that it does not
have natural resources. What it does have, however, is geography and Singapore
has focused on making the most of it. Our port and airport remain a source of national
pride.
The second
point is that small countries can score when they refuse to be intimidated by
the bigger player. The Saudi-Argentine game is a good example. Argentina was up
a goal at half time, curtesy for Mr. Messi. One might have expected the
Argentinians to “shut the gates” after half time and to save their energy for
future and stronger opponents.
However, Saudi
Arabia’s French-born coach had other ideas, as can be seen by his now famous
speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBEE_R5qgtM
Quite often,
people get focused on the “brand” of the opponent rather than on the opponent
itself. There’s no doubt that Mr. Messi is a magician with the ball. However, he
is as human as the rest of us and the damage that he can do to opponents can be
limited. After half time, the Saudi’s found a way of neutralising the threat he
posed and focused on the important thing – getting goals.
Just as small football
teams can work wonders if they focus on playing the game rather than on the
reputation of the other side, small countries and companies need to remember
that their bigger competitors are just that – competitors. They are not part of
a divine force and if the smaller player focuses on the main objective, they
can work wonders.
This World Cup
has shown that smaller teams can work wonders can create upsets and the larger
powerhouses have been shown that they cannot treat their opponents as a joke
Small countries and small companies should take note.
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