By Mathew Briggs
I
may not be a sports fanatic, or follow closely the exploits of the likes of Messi
and Rolnaldo or understand the schematics of the UEFA Champions League or FIFA
World Cup. But one thing I know is - I am big fan of the Super Eagles. I try my
best not miss their matches. Their encounter with France was of no exception.
Four days ago I sat glued to a TV set for more that 90 minutes hoping and
praying we (Super Eagles) would win that game. But alas, we were beaten 2 - 0.
Till today those goals keep replaying in my head.
I had two options, to either feel bad for our
failure or to see this as one of my numerous learning opportunities and instead
focus on deriving insight and inspiration from this depressing encounter. I
chose the latter. Below are really key lessons I relearned from that encounter.
In
the first half we played strong, we shook their defence, we had more ball
possession, and nearly 80% of people I communicated with during the early phase
of the match were positive we would win. But alas, with several minute into the
second half and few minutes to go, our hopes of moving to the quarter finals
were dashed with 2 goals. What surprised me were not the two goals we conceded,
but France's strategy. It occurred to me that they had been conserving their
energy for the latter part of the match; they also tricked us to underestimate
them by not coming on strong. At the same time, building a very strong defence,
so even though we had more ball possession, we couldn't score. With few minutes
to go, they started playing with more energy and vigour, their performance and
speed increased.
To my surprise France started playing world class football, there passes became sharper, at that juncture, our players were already tired plus they were taken unawares by the spike in France performance level given that the French had physiologically made them to underestimate them. I believe France adopted this strategy after watching our march against Argentina, paying more attention to how fast we equalized. They knew that they stood a higher chance to score a goal at the tail end of the march leaving the Super Eagles with no time to equalize after having noticed that we always wear out during the ending period of a match.
The strategy was simple - Take them by surprise and never give them room to recover. On understanding this I smiled and gave a standing ovation for France.
To my surprise France started playing world class football, there passes became sharper, at that juncture, our players were already tired plus they were taken unawares by the spike in France performance level given that the French had physiologically made them to underestimate them. I believe France adopted this strategy after watching our march against Argentina, paying more attention to how fast we equalized. They knew that they stood a higher chance to score a goal at the tail end of the march leaving the Super Eagles with no time to equalize after having noticed that we always wear out during the ending period of a match.
The strategy was simple - Take them by surprise and never give them room to recover. On understanding this I smiled and gave a standing ovation for France.
The
point is – To win; you need a strategy
not just any strategy, a brilliant strategy. We all want to win in life,
win that juicy promotion, win that scholarship opportunity, and win the heart
of the love of your life. We all want to succeed in life, but have you sat down
to build a winning strategy? How you intend to get from where you are to where
you want to be, have your understudied your opponents, the risks and challenges
you would face on the way; and have you built a contingency plan, or do you
just live life by chance, moving towards any direction the wind of life pushes
you?
You want to excel, who do you need to know, what role are they going to play in your life, and at what time, what knowledge and insight do you require to get there, what steps are you making to reach for stars? What strategy are you building to outsmart your stumbling blocks?
As you build your strategy, stick this into your head - "Brain will always win over might". Just like France defeated us using their brain over our might, so it is in life. Design a brilliant strategy that is focused on working smarter instead of harder. As a popular saying goes - "If na by muscle bricklayer for become billionaire”. Never forget that Smart people never stay poor.
You want to excel, who do you need to know, what role are they going to play in your life, and at what time, what knowledge and insight do you require to get there, what steps are you making to reach for stars? What strategy are you building to outsmart your stumbling blocks?
As you build your strategy, stick this into your head - "Brain will always win over might". Just like France defeated us using their brain over our might, so it is in life. Design a brilliant strategy that is focused on working smarter instead of harder. As a popular saying goes - "If na by muscle bricklayer for become billionaire”. Never forget that Smart people never stay poor.
The
most important battles are fought in the mind: When
France scored the first goal. I could feel how demoralized our players were;
they lost their cool and their performance dwindled... It was evident the
French didn't just score they damaged the psyche of their opponent. It was evident
our players lost hope, and they didn't believe they could equalize. This was
evident in the way Osaze carelessly left the ball to go off to corner kick
which eventually lead to the second goal.
The point is, there will be moments in life when your faith will be tested, when you will be put through fire and brimstone; when the light at the end of the tunnel, instead of getting brighter will shut right in your face. You'll feel like there is no need to hope again. In moments like these, it is very crucial you never say never; hope again, never stop believing in miracles, and never give up. Because the moment you stop believing, in that same moment you fail before even failing.
If possible, reach for greatness; let your set back inspire you and drive you. Let it make you better. The good thing with this approach is that even if you eventually fail, you would've have failed with class. Something the Super Eagles did during the encounter with Argentina, though they lost by one goal, but we still applauded them because they fought to the end; they played good football throughout.
Finally, it’s not about how you start but how you end. The end result is all that matters in life. No one cares about how hard you've toiled, how many attempts or shots you made to achieve success; they don’t care to know how you started brilliantly; all they care about is the results, end results.
It is evident that 70% of the time we played good football, we had more possession, we dribbled, and we were on point. But at the end we lost and we lost woefully, we made terrible mistakes. That is all we remember – the mistakes, Yobo's own goal, Mikels poor performances, Osaze's misjudgement, Enyema's poor judgment that lead to the goals etc.
The world celebrate heroes, they celebrate winners, they never care about failures. Do whatever it takes that is just and within the confines of your conscience to succeed.
In all be smart and NEVER SAY NEVER.
The point is, there will be moments in life when your faith will be tested, when you will be put through fire and brimstone; when the light at the end of the tunnel, instead of getting brighter will shut right in your face. You'll feel like there is no need to hope again. In moments like these, it is very crucial you never say never; hope again, never stop believing in miracles, and never give up. Because the moment you stop believing, in that same moment you fail before even failing.
If possible, reach for greatness; let your set back inspire you and drive you. Let it make you better. The good thing with this approach is that even if you eventually fail, you would've have failed with class. Something the Super Eagles did during the encounter with Argentina, though they lost by one goal, but we still applauded them because they fought to the end; they played good football throughout.
Finally, it’s not about how you start but how you end. The end result is all that matters in life. No one cares about how hard you've toiled, how many attempts or shots you made to achieve success; they don’t care to know how you started brilliantly; all they care about is the results, end results.
It is evident that 70% of the time we played good football, we had more possession, we dribbled, and we were on point. But at the end we lost and we lost woefully, we made terrible mistakes. That is all we remember – the mistakes, Yobo's own goal, Mikels poor performances, Osaze's misjudgement, Enyema's poor judgment that lead to the goals etc.
The world celebrate heroes, they celebrate winners, they never care about failures. Do whatever it takes that is just and within the confines of your conscience to succeed.
In all be smart and NEVER SAY NEVER.
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