I've just realised it's been three days since I did my last post. Where did that go? I have watched some of the football but have being doing other stuff too. I'm afraid my enthusiasm for this World Cup seems to have lasted about as long as that of the England team's, although having written that, thinking back to their first two games it's hard to see that there was any true enthusiasm there in the first place. I wonder if they'd have played better if they'd been in a tougher group - I've heard it said that it's harder to play well against a poor opponent, but I'm not sure I buy that. They're supposed to be professionals and true professionals give their best whatever the situation. Given the struggle they had even to be 2nd in what was thought to be an easy group, perhaps they were lucky to reach the final 16 and didn't deserve to be there. Having said that, would the outcome have been different if the second England goal, from Lampard, had been given, as it should have been? Perhaps, but I didn't see anything that gave me any confidence that would have been the case. At any rate, FIFA must surely now be forced to adopt the technology used in so many other sports to back up the officials. Whatever, the referee's shocking mistake shouldn't have happened, but I doubt whether the course of the competition was truly impacted.
So, with so many top level players how come they never gelled into a top level team? Have they all got too big for their boots and are unable to put the good of the team ahead of their own individual agendas. They should by rights be a lot stronger as a group than they are as individuals. It's down to the manager to make sure that happens, but I'm not placing all the responsibility for failure onto Capello. It's more complex than that, surely. I've no idea, really, but over the course of the last week a thought has occurred to me. I know nothing about football, but I do know a little about team management. There is a management theory relating to team development that says that teams go through four stages of development:
1. "forming" - the initial stage, where everyone is sussing out their team mates and relating to each other very politely and perhaps rather distantly
2. "norming" - learning more about each other, beginning to work together but also starting to find the points of difference
3. "storming" - where the power struggles take place with team members jostling for position and where points of friction come to the surface and are resolved
and 4. "performing" - where the roles and dynamics within the team have settled down, the creative tension is harnessed as a positive force and the team benefits from the different personalities and abilities of the members.
It's the manager's job to pick the right team members, help the team go through the first three stages as quickly and effectively as possible and get them to the last stage. Not all teams get this far.
I have a theory that removing John Terry as captain earlier this year (but keeping him in the squad) and the even later loss of Ferdinand as captain and from the team through injury effectively meant the team were back at stage 1 when they started preparations in S Africa, the John Terry press conference and ensuing shenanigans were the storming stage which never settled into a "performing" team. Perhaps Fabio didn't give them enough freedom to work through the tensions to get to that stage, or perhaps it was just too late by then. Or perhaps it's nothing to do with that at all and they just didn't deserve to be there at all.
Anyway, it seems as though the South American teams will ensure many of the remaining matches are entertaining for the true football fans. I wonder if there'll be any European teams left in semi-finals?
That's it, from your slightly demotivated amateur pundit. I don't think I'll be making this a long term occupation, but here's a bit of light relief to lift the spirits: South African Homesick Blues
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