Five Lessons From The 2010 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA 2010 World Cup has ended on a high with lots of credits to the host, South Africa. The party is over and the clearing up has now begun, along with the reflection on what happened, remorse by the 'losers', regret on what could have been and new resolve for the future. The next four years will be one of soul searching and debate by all the world's teams as to how they can do better.

However, there seems to be five major lessons to be taken from the tournament and, in order of importance, they are:

1. The TEAM is the essence of winning anything, not the individual.
Long before the World Cup began we heard how great players like Ronaldo(Portugal), Rooney(England), Messi(Argentina) and Kaka (Brazil) would shine in the competition. We would be exposed to their genius and marvel at it. They would inspire the rest of their teams to victory. Like hell. They were all sent packing by virtual unknowns such as Gyan (Ghana), Klose (Germany) and Andres Iniesta(Spain). What was significant about these winning players was their complete acceptance that the team mattered much more than the individual and they all supported each other. Each was but one player in it, no matter how they individually performed.

For example, Cesc Fabregas (Spain) set up the winning goal that Andres Iniesta crashed into the net. Then he quickly removed his shirt to show the memory of a player who should have been with them but had died of a heart attack in August 2009 - Daniel Jarque. At that supreme moment of triumph, the team did not forget one of their own and the simple inscription on the t-shirt ("Dani Jarque, always with us") ensured that the dead team member shared in that amazing moment too. A greater team spirit one could not have witnessed. Since Spain's victory, as before it, the focus has been on the whole team, not just the guy who scored. He merely completed the hard work and effort of his other teammates. Iniesta did not do it all by himself. He just happened to have the skill for making that goal just as his teammates exhibited their skills in other aspects of the game. When there is too much emhpasis on any one team player it demoralises the others who are likely to believe that their skills are not appreciated, which then affect team cohesion, communication and performance.

2. With the increasing use of technology and a growing global audience, the World Cup competition, as we knew it, is over
The 2010 World Cup was on a different level and scale from what it used to be when it was dominated by the usual South American and European teams. The World Cup has grown so big, with so much potential for national identification and promotion, it is no longer just the pinnacle of a popular game but a real source of national pride. Every country will now want a piece of that global action and they will be fighting very hard to get it. It means that the usual teams (like England, Brazil, Argentina etc) who would have expected to head for the finals almost automatically will now have a hard battle on their hands as countries like the USA, Ghana, Spain and Netherlands (those who have been in the background) begin fighting for centre-stage. Making it to the quarter-final, let alone the final, will be a very hard task for some teams in the future, as competition for the 32 coveted spots in the World Cup finals begins in earnest.


3. Good football will always win out
It was clear that Spain and the Netherlands had different playing styles. For the Netherlands it was a more aggressive approach, stopping the Spanish progression by fair means or foul, while for the Spaniards the aim was to get that goal through a natural rhythm of playing and passing. The Dutch style led to a lot of fouls, yellow cards, a sending off, and the odd vicious encounter while the Spaniards took home the prize with their persistent and professional play. Winning or losing at this level of the sport should be done with dignity and mutual respect. Not conducted like a market brawl, because only one team can ever win.

4. Technology is needed for ensuring that any decision relating to a goal is the right one
England was disallowed a perfectly good goal at a crucial point in their game. Who knows what might have happened if they had drawn level with Germany? One cannot underestimate the motivating power of coming from behind to level the stakes. A goal is the ultimate objective of football. It cannot be left to chance anymore because referees are not supremos. They are fallible human beings. Time for technology to do its job where goals are concerned. One cannot put total emphasis on getting goals in this competition then pretend that a goal doesn't really matter at crucial moments of the game.

5. Anything is possible when we have self-belief and feel ready for it
For the past six years since South Africa was awarded the World Cup games to host, the army of naysayers has been casting the most dire predictions about the outcome: the stadia wouldn't be ready, violent crime would be rife, the public wouldn't support the games, Africa wasn't ready for staging the games...and so on. Today South Africa can boast hosting one of the most successful games of all time. In fact, attendance at all the matches totalled 3.15 millions, second only to the American-held World Cup of 1994 which had 3.58 millions; the vuvuzela which is now worldwide was introduced; the welcome of visitors was second to none and the sheer scale of the organisation and the professionalism was breathtaking to see. South Africans today can feel proud of themselves having asserted the country globally as a future venue for any event, which can only help them economically in the long run, while also affecting the perception of the continent as a whole.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was an impressive display of gamesmanship, a fine example of sports at its best; a unifier of countries and a showcase for individual and team potential, not to mention the economic benefits it now affords at all levels of organisation. Long may it continue.



Photos courtesy of FIFA.com

English football Debate (1): Did you say "the beautiful game"? When a perfectly valid goal is disallowed, the game is downright ugly.

The World Cup 2010 football game between England and Germany, where a very able English team was massacred 1:4 on a hot June day, will be long remembered for a host of reasons, not least that it could lead to radical changes both in perspectives in Britain and in FIFA playing procedures.

People involved in football (players, managers, referees, commentators and officials, in particular) love to extol the virtues of the sport as 'the beautiful game". Officials maintain that mistakes made by the referees in their adjudications are as much part and parcel of the appeal of the game as the game itself, hence why video replays have been resisted in settling questionable judgements. One is inclined to agree with that perception of overlooking referee fallibility, with so many aspects of the game to judge during any match, except in one major respect: when it comes to goals.

A goal is not just an accidental part of a game. It is the raison d'etre, the lynchpin, the whole point of football. Nothing else matters in the game. Without a goal one cannot win. Thus every single action of the players, no matter how artistic, skilful, dramatic or attractive to watch, has only ONE objective in mind: to ultimately score a goal and outdo their opponent. Fortunes rise and fall on a player's ability to bring that goal to fruition, or to prevent it from happening, regardless of his role on the field. Players themselves are paid huge sums in transfer fees based on their reputation for getting, or preventing, those goals. To have a crucial international match in the most important tournament, where the stakes are extremely high for participating countries - financially and patriotically - and then wilfully ignore a bad decision around a perfectly good goal is crass to the extreme, and makes the game rather bitter for those on the receiving end of that judgement.


The Power of Scoring a Goal
Those who say that Germany would have won anyway, which makes the disallowed goal of little consequence, know very little about emotional health. We are ruled by emotions, no matter how rational we might try to be. The higher the stakes the more emotional we become. I would go as far as saying that England might have won the game, or even taken it to penalties, if that goal was allowed, not because I am British too, but because of something else entirely: the power of any scored goal to lift players' spirits, to immediately increase morale, to motivate them even further, to reinforce faith in their abilities and to affirm what is possible.

Had England been allowed that goal at that most crucial point in the game when they had just started their fightback, a goal that would have equalised the score with Germany, we would have seen a different game from the players. The minute it was disallowed, their spirits took a nosedive and, play as they might, their subconscious resentment at their perceived injustice got in the way of their craft. They simply lost their motivation, no matter how much they tried to get back into the game - an entirely natural and unfortunate reaction when we are hit with the enormity of an action we feel impotent to affect. It is quite a different emotional feeling of NOT scoring at all than to score a goal which is not allowed. The first feeling is one of frustration at being thwarted in one's efforts to score while the second is one of injustice. Two completely different emotions.



The concept of justice in any form is very important to the human psyche. It is as old as time itself, and sought after in every aspect of our lives. One does not mind being frustrated in one's efforts through not scoring. Demoralising, yes, but not earth shattering. One knows one can always do better; that the onus is on the person to improve their act. Not so with a sense of injustice. That takes the responsibility from the personal level to a social one, involving a more powerful third party. Unless justice is perceived to be received it leaves feelings of gross impotence, victimhood and personal inadequacy. When it also happens on the world stage, in front of millions of people, the effects can be devastating because they are magnified beyond measure.

It is no coincidence that Mexico also lost their game with Argentina, being beaten 3:1, when both teams were 0-0 approaching full time. Once the referee allowed a clear offside goal in favour of Argentina, it would have been downhill all the way for the Mexicans in motivation, morale and a feeling of injustice.

In fact, it would have been better had England not scored that goal at all because they would have had to concede to themselves that they were crap on the day; that the Germans were the better team. But so long as that goal was disallowed, that doubt will always remain as to what the real result would have been. The Germans were certainly on form, but anyone would look even more masterful against a demoralised side silently grieving over a perceived injustice.

It is nonsense to have video replays in commentaries which are not allowed to influence a clear error in judgement, especially when everyone can see the glaring faux pax. That disallowed goal has gone viral on the Internet, casting a very long shadow over the whole tournament, especially when refereeing, in general, had improved, and everything was going so well. The president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, who has stubbornly resisted any use of technology in matches, has apologised for referee errors (saying he 'deplored' seeing those mistakes on the replays) and promised to reopen the debate on using technology in the future, though for disputed goals only.

Well, if he wants the game of football to remain 'beautiful', and credible, technology is now an urgent imperative, because there is nothing beautiful at all about downright injustice. In fact, it leaves only nasty memories and is really rather ugly.

Why I love Paul Potts and Lewis Hamilton

Two unlikely heroes have emerged from the UK to leave a trail of feel-good feeling strewn across the country in the most unusual way. The first winner of Britain's Got Talent, Paul Potts, moved reality shows to a new level when he was crowned the undisputed king of talent in the programme. Yet he couldn't have been a more unlikely winner at the beginning.

Paul Potts appeared on stage at the audition looking pained, dishevelled and grim-faced to hide his uneven teeth and clearly uncomfortable. Not too attractive, one might say. A former victim of bullying, and clearly lacking in confidence and esteem, he would not have looked out of place as an lost orphan. In a world focusing on beautiful celebrities and spurious interpretations of beauty, Paul would have been firmly placed on the near side of ugly. When he told the judges, including the dreaded Simon Cowell, that he was going to sing opera, they cast unbelievable sideways glances at each other, unable to hide their disbelief. This would be over quickly, they must have thought, red buzzers at the ready. He was way down the audition list towards the end, so they were not in the best of moods. They questioned him briefly and he began.

What followed next was sheer poetry and fantasy, being so unexpected as to be unreal. He began to sing Nessun Dorma and in a few moments the audience had tears rolling down their eyes. I felt goose pimples all over my body and was suddenly very tearful too. He had the most incredible voice I had ever heard. I have never liked opera but I knew from that moment onwards I would follow Paul Potts to any concert he did. His voice was mesmerising. Apparently he spent £12,000 on lessons and thought they were wasted as they didn't lead him to much. But little did he know that he was being prepared for such an amazing moment in his life, that the money was the best investment he did. He brought the house down and went on to win the final. The judges were naturally speechless. At the time of writing, more than 3 million people had seen his video below.



Paul Potts might have won £100,000 and the chance to perform before Her Majesty the Queen, but his win has far greater implications for two important reasons. First, the final show on TV had 12 million viewers, the highest for a long time on such a show. The audience simply lapped up his talent. People obviously want to hear of positive things, not just depressing news of killings and maimings. Second, people love the underdog because they too can live vicariously through those winners, to dream of their big day. British society is also in transition and if people like him can help to remind us of what is beautiful, wholesome and really important, that is no bad thing. Paul Potts, a humble mobile phone salesman with a big dream realised that dream, and, in the process, will be helping an awful lot of people not only to see a new perspective on entertainment, but, most important, a new perspective on their world. Many people will be the richer for it.

It is interesting that in the same week another unlikely champion emerged from Formula One racing. Cheeky, bright, articulate, very talented and the Black champion ever, Lewis Hamilton, raced home to take the sport by storm, both in Europe and in America, seemingly with the greatest of ease. These two amazing young men in their own way offer tremendous inspiration for an awful lot of people in the UK. Most important, Lewis Hamilton and Paul Potts have shown the value of having a dream and being passionate about it, no matter the costs. If you believe badly enough, and dedicate time and effort to it, things will happen in time. Paul got into debt paying for his lessons. His wife must have wondered what on earth it was all about. All that money they could ill afford must have seemed a waste. This week she found out just what was possible. Lewis had started in the sport almost from the toddler stage, with a doting father who held three jobs at one time just to help him move closer to that dream. The stuff of books and legends.

Young men, and women, all over the country now have permission to dream, not just about being famous for being famous, but to realise that dormant talent they night possess and dare not admit before now. For the first time in a very long while it feels truly good to be British. Cheers to Paul Potts and Lewis Hamilton. Good Luck!

A Light of Hope for Madeleine

A LIGHT FOR MADELEINE!



On Thursday 3 May 2007, little Madeleine McCann from the UK was taken from her bedroom, from her parents and her family while on holiday in the Algarve. As a mother myself, I am not sure what I would have done if my child suddenly vanished. It must be the most awful feeling of desolation and impotence, with not knowing being the hardest part. My heart goes out to Kate and Gerry McCann. I hope they find the courage to keep hoping for her return. This candle is my personal tribute and prayer for Madeleine to be found safely.
Love and Faith conquer all.

This candle will burn in hope until Madeliene is returned to her family. May she be protected from all harm by the ocean of love and prayers that surrounds her. Please feel free to leave comments of support. Thank You.