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PRODUCT.|PHILOSOPHY.|LIFE.

The Beautiful Game

It is funny how we think. Or maybe its just me. I invariably tend to draw metaphors from what is happening around that I take an interest in, in order to put structure to my thoughts. Right now, I happen to be neck deep in the 20th edition of the Fifa World Cup, so naturally I'm writing about The Beautiful Game.

Last week, I happened to be watching the highlights of Mexico against Cameroon, and one of my cousins said to me after looking at the final score (1-0 to Mexico), "They played for 90 minutes and only one goal was scored?!". Many people do not really get football, so here's Matt Diffee's words to them:
Now, as many have said, it's hard to truly appreciate this stuff if you've never played before, so if you haven't, try this. Imagine you're running as fast as you can. I mean a full-on panting sprint. Now imagine doing something else with your feet at the same time. Seriously, imagine it. It's hard to wrap your head around the idea, isn't it? Now imagine there's another human trying his best to stop you. Imagine that other human is a brawny Brazilian nicknamed Hulk. When you start to see it that way, you realise that football isn't all about the goals. It's about all the amazing little things that happen along the way. That's why Pele called it the beautiful game. 
It is no wonder that many many analogies and examples for team work are drawn from the football field. You will often find people finishing their task and then waiting for the next task to arrive in their inbox before getting back in the groove of being productive.

This is similar to a footballer passing the ball to a teammate and then standing still, or wandering on the field aimlessly, until the ball is passed back to him.

Football is not played by just the person who has the ball at his feet. The whole team needs to move in sync and every player has to work hard to be in a position where he can receive the ball from a teammate and advance on the opposition's goal.

The goal is scored only when the entire team knows exactly what to expect from each other, trusts each other, or when the opposition is poor. And the opposition is never poor.

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