Are You Playing NOT to Lose

Paradox of African Football

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you greater than any obstacle." -Christian D. Larson

I watched the 2014 World Cup with a sense of shock at the way the African teams performed in the tournament. Do you know what they were doing?

"They were playing not to lose. And the truth is that you can’t win by playing not to lose"

 I know that some of you might be comforting yourselves with the false notion that the Africans tried. Trying is not enough. Check the football history; they have been trying since the 70s. I asked myself, what the problem is that makes the African teams fail to go all the way in the tournament. For starters, all the players taking part are human beings and none is a robot or Super computer programmed with excellent football algorithms like we see in some chase tournaments. The same African players are able to play in the European leagues and contribute significantly to the victories in such tournaments such as the European championships. My personal conclusion is that Africans have not mastered the Psychology of Winning when they are in their native teams and fail to stay motivated to win. As individuals, they are brilliant players but as an African team, they are a bunch of losers. May be we can say that subconsciously they believe they can't win. African teams must realise that Physik does not win the game. Look at the likes of Messi or Gotze, if being huge and physical was the issue, then Argentina and Germany should not have been in the finals. This should tell us that something else is at play. The game should be 80% Psychological and 20% physical. Take the example of driving a car, If the driver does not psychologically master the vehicle, he or she cannot physically navigate the car no matter how small the vehicle may be. If one can physically kick a ball that does not mean they can play efficient football. The psychology of the player controls the body reflexes towards the ball and the game in general and the two (mind and body) must be aligned through the right training in building the right mental and physical skills. You can train the foot through the mind otherwise the foot would not know how to kick the ball in the most effective way.

What can I say! Until the game of football in Africa stops being taken as a pass-time sport or extra curriculum, Africans will always remain fans of the world cup trophy and not champions of the World!

Remember this my friends; In whatever you are doing, your professional or work life, in your business or anything, do not try to do things in order to survive but play in order to win. Run the race with the passion of victory and do not run because something is chasing you or you are running away from something.

"Don't allow a charging vicious dog remind you that you have the ability to run faster than light and Jump over a 5 mt high wall fence"

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