Soccer matches are all about scoring goals and being winners. As a result, soccer can hold up a mirror to life since many humans also want to achieve goals and to be winners in the game of life. There is much to be learned about life in general from soccer players, managers and commentators.
When you listen to commentators on soccer matches, the key words they use again and again when teams are winning are words about character and attitude like belief, excitement, confidence, effort and so on. Soccer skills and strategies are important but mean little without the right attitude.
Team managers urge their players to show focus, determination and maximum effort. They tell them they should expect to win and not to show too much respect for their opponents no matter how famous they are.
I love listening to the comments of the great soccer managers. They have all been to hell and back. They are praised and popular when their teams win. They are criticised and even sacked when their teams fail to win. They know the heights of elation and the depths of despair. They have to find ways to deal with both and to keep motivating their teams to win.
Gordon Strachan took over as manager of Celtic, one of the top two clubs in Scotland, in 2005. It was not long before he experienced “the worst night of my life”
Bratislava beat Celtic 5-0 in the Champions league, the top European competition. His watch stopped after the match and he still wears it to remind himself that it was the worst night of his life. Celtic, the pride of Scotland, had been humiliated by a less famous team.
Other failures seemed small to him by comparison. We can all learn to deal with difficult situations by reminding ourselves of worst situations in our past or by imagining how much worse our lives could be than they actually are.
None of us knows for sure what will happen to us tomorrow. We could be seriously ill or even dead. Gordon has faced this possibility already. He told the media that on his gravestone he would like these words carved:
“This is better than that night in Bratislava.”
He uses the humour of exaggeration to deal with the criticisms of the media when things go wrong. A reporter commented when his team lost a match in Scotland:
“Bang, there goes your unbeaten run. Can you take it? “
“No,” said Strachan. “I’m just going to crumble like a wreck. I’ll go home,
become an alcoholic and maybe jump off a bridge. Hmmm….I think I can
take it, yeah.”
He knows the importance of positive thinking if you wish to achieve success.
One reporter foolishly asked: “There’s no negative vibes or negative feelings here?”
Strachan replied: “Apart from yourself, we’re all quite positive round here.
I’m going to whack you over the head with a big stick; down negative man,
down.”
Strachan often speaks with disarming honesty and schoolboy cheek. He is ready to admit that he and his players are not always at their best. He is ready to face reality. Facing up to reality is a key characteristic of the successful.
When he managed a team in England, a reporter asked him: “So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?”
Strachan replied: “What areas? Mainly that big green one out there….”
Strachan has had his defeats but recently he has led his latest team, Celtic, to undisputed victory in the Scottish Premier League. He is widely accepted as a great manager.
Another great manager now works in the English Premier League. He is Jose Mourihno, the manager of Chelsea. He came to England in June 2004 and soon showed his confidence in himself and his players. He wants only to be judged by the results. A good manager wins. A bad one loses:
“I’m not a defender of old or new football managers. I believe in good ones and bad ones; those that achieve success and those that don’t. Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one”
He soon proved himself to be a ‘special one’ in England as well as in Portugal, his native country. As the name ‘the special one’ suggests he believes in himself in a big way. A key factor in his success in England is his self-belief and a rich Russian backer who allows him to buy the best players in Europe. You can safely bet money that Chelsea will win almost all their matches.
The odds are not great but you could put