Soccer is life. Hardly an unexpected thought for those across the world who call the beautiful game their passion, but undoubtedly more so for those who don’t.
Maybe these other people were never that good at the game, or they grew out of it, or it was never a big part of their lives to begin with. They might think, “Look, soccer is a game played, nothing more,” and of course in a way they are right. Soccer is a game, but it is also so much more. It could not captivate the attention of the world if it wasn’t.
That extra part, the thing that keeps us all coming back for more, is the human element. It’s what truly entertains us, and is what turns a game into something closer to a religion. If you pay attention to the game, to its subtleties, you can learn an incredible amount.
We are soccer fanatics. Most of us have played the game our entire lives. We have seen how the game reflects life, how personalities manifest themselves on the pitch, and in our relatively short lives we have learned many valuable lessons from it. These are the most timeless of them all:
1. You can play a perfect game and still lose.
Photo: dailystar-uk.co.uk
As a game, soccer is not under your complete control. We are all victims of fate or randomness, whatever you like to call it. Sure, you may score a hat trick, but the other team might score 4. You may lay pass after pass at your teammates’ feet, with such regularity that you might swear you are creating your own dogma, but that doesn’t mean they will control them. Your defense could play an absolutely perfect game, allowing no shots on goal, but your forwards could be inept athletes and your keeper could bumble a pass and let the ball into your own net, so you lose 1-0.
This is life in a nutshell. Tomorrow, we could all be struck by lightening, or diagnosed with cancer, or win the lottery, or become the object of a supermodel’s desire. S*** happens - the bad and the good - and you had better come to terms with the fact that it will keep on happening until the end of time.
2. Control the ball. Don’t let it control you.
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Do not let the facets of life you can control, control you. As a wise man once said, true serenity is accepting the things you cannot change, but having the courage to change the things you can. We should all pray for the wisdom to know the difference.
Is Lionel Messi the best player in the world because he always lets the ball dictate what he is going to do? Of course not. And you should do the same. Be proactive in life. If you don’t like someone, stop seeing them. If you like doing something, do it some more. Only you know what makes you happy, and it’s up to you and no one else to make whatever that may be a part of your life.
3. The 5 Ps: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
Photo: nikesoccer | Twitter
Back in high school, I had to be able to run 5 miles in order to make the soccer team. Not just varsity, but any soccer team higher than the freshman team. It was not a surprise, everyone had to do it every fall during tryouts, but one year I decided to not do any conditioning over the summer. None at all. Needless to say, the 5 mile run that year was a marathon straight from hell that I couldn’t even finish, and I didn’t make the team.
You need to keep yourself sharp - whether that means keeping yourself in shape or keeping your mind nimble - and you need to prepare for the tests that you have the luxury to see coming. Do whatever you have to do; practice fundamentals, read a book, play sudoku, study, learn code, learn a language, talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to. Whatever, just do it.
4. 90 minutes can change your life.
Photo: wtvox | Twitter
Life is nothing more than a succession of moments. Shocking, we know. Every once in a while, a moment becomes the moment, and suddenly you have an opportunity that could change your life. It could be an unexpected encounter, or an interview that you have known about for months. Either way, if you play your cards right, you may wake up the next day and realize that your life is suddenly on a path that you never expected, maybe never even dreamed it would be on.
5. “Behind every kick of the ball there has to be a thought.”
That quote is from Dennis Bergkamp, and its message is simple: be methodical, not reckless. Your actions are important, and you will only start to do important things once you start treating them with the deference they deserve.
6. “Out of your league” is motivation, not condemnation.
We have all heard of things being “out of our league.” Girlfriends, boyfriends, jobs, cars, actual leagues: they all are treated by society as status symbols. Just because you are not rich or successful or talented enough to attain what you want today doesn’t mean that the door has closed for eternity and you are doomed to remain locked out.
Look at Southampton. The club is currently engaged in a heated battle for Champions League qualification. Yet, as recently as 2011, they were in the third division of English football. The third division. Did they turn things around by quite literally saying that the EPL was permanently out of their league? No. You should never hide behind that excuse either.
7. You need to be able to trust your teammates.
Photo: barcastuff | Twitter
Have you ever heard of the professional footballer than never passed the ball? You havent, and neither have we. It is impossible to succeed in soccer, let alone life, without understanding that you have to use your teammates. No one has ever conquered the world by themselves, and no one ever will.
8. Be able to recognize strengths and weaknesses.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane should never play in goal.
Someone who is good at finishing but cannot mark a man to save his life should play forward, not defense. Someone that can talk the socks off you but not navigate a simple algebra problem should be a sales person, not an accountant. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things, just recognize when you are bad at something. This goes for yourself and everyone you interact with.
9. The right coach makes all the difference.
Photo: nurhando | Twitter
It is possible to make it through life without the advice of someone wiser than you. You know what else is possible? Driving from one coast of the United States to the other without a map, but that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, does it?
Find a mentor that you respect, someone with wisdom and intelligence, someone whose word you actually listen to, as opposed to immediately doubting it as soon as they are done giving it to you. There is no reason to go through life learning everything the hard way. People enjoy giving help, enjoy receiving it.
10. The end is relative.
Smart people agree. Photo: HelenEinstein21 | Twitter
A soccer game never ends after exactly 90 minutes, it ends whenever the referee wants it to. Sure, he or she has to add a minimum amount of extra time to account for stoppages throughout the game, but that is just a minimum, a guideline. A referee won’t end a game when a counter attack has just entered the final third, or while a shot from midfield is still rolling towards an open net. The point being that only you can dictate when you want to stop doing something, to give up. Don’t cut yourself short just because you are “too old” or “too young” to be doing something. Don’t stop trying because you have failed at something 7 times already. The ability to try is one of the few real gifts that every person has, don’t cut it short.
11. Rules are meant to be broken.
Photo: Noudi_AlSadhan | Twitter
The super clubs of the world don’t care about Financial Fair Play. A hand ball won Argentina the World Cup, and is now known as "The Hand of God.” Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, and Neymar all dive. Diego Costa, Luis Suarez, and John Terry stomp, bite, and more or less cross the line in the name of winning.
Someone once said, “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.” Taken literally, this goes against everything we were taught about honesty and good will. And certain kinds of cheating are unarguably...well...bad. However, not every "rule" in life was written by someone wiser than you. In fact, most of them weren't. Most people, including the ones writing rules for the rest of us, are constrained by "what is" versus empowered by "what could be" - and so the process of growing up is essentially a series of revelations that the things we always believed to be immutable truths are, in fact, as fluid as water.
Which is to say, when it comes to improving your life, you shouldn’t be afraid to do what others say you cannot - even if it sometimes means breaking the rules.
This guy gets it. Photo: RemaxAgentFL | Twitter
12. Maintain your composure.
There is a time and a place for everything, including emotion. Don’t let them get the better of you. You didn’t miss that break away chance because you weren’t talented enough, you missed it because you let the moment get to you. That said, learning how to maintain your composure during a soccer match will help you immensely in your professional life. Not letting your mood dictate your performance is an invaluable skill to have. Emotions are important because they help you build relationships and get the most out of life. Emotions let you reap the rewards of hard work, but they are not for hard work itself. You do not work because you are in the mood, you work because you need to.
13. Never be afraid to shoot.
We all could learn a lot from Mario. Photo: futbolizados | Twitter
It was Arsene Wenger that said, “If you do not believe you can do it, then you have no chance at all.”
You have got to believe in yourself in everything you do, and the first step to believing in yourself is removing any fears that are keeping you from doing so.
There are two kinds of fear: the rational kind that inspires respect where it is needed, and the irrational kind that needlessly cripples. Too many people don’t achieve what they want in life because they are afraid of doing so, of what they might have to sacrifice or how it might change their lives. Do not fear. Instead, act. Then you will know what deserves your respect, and what has been holding you back.
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