In The News: World Cup Upsets

I’m not the keenest follower of football, but even I can tell that the first round has provided what’s known as an ‘upset’ or two, in that some of the biggest teams are falling to draws or losses with teams with much lower rankings than themselves.

It’s a case of David & Goliath for many of these teams. France are out by now, with only one point from a possible nine. England and Italy are struggling for their lives and Spain are erratic, losing one and winning one. I’m sure it makes for a much more exciting game for those who are truly devoted, and even for the casual observer like me it certainly spices things up!

Speaking with a friend who reads the sports papers slavishly, it struck me that the larger teams who are suffering these failures all deal with their problems in very different ways, with varying results.

On a personal level, crisis management is something we should all be skilled in. When having trouble at work, having problems with the latest batch of bills and also when handling a partner who is treating us badly, or who has thrown us an emotional  curveball, it’s essential that we have the toolkit to deal with the issues that arise because, if we don’t, we’re in constant danger of falling apart a little.

France dealt with their problems in the worst way possible. Public in-fighting, players going on strike and refusing to train. This was self-destructive behaviour writ large. Rather than deal with their crisis, they went into turmoil – the footballing equivalent of hitting the bottle. Clearly not the way to go.

England on the other hand are bottling it all up, simply insisting that everything is fine and promising they’ll get their act together in time. At the time of writing, that’s yet to be proved. In my experience, simply sitting on your problems is no way to deal with them. A problem left to stagnate can only get worse. Time will tell what England are doing behind the scenes to sort themselves out.

But when it comes to a shining example, Spain are the ones to be inspired by. A lacklustre loss to Switzerland was followed by a thumping 2-0 victory over Honduras. Spain were in trouble, but they went back to square one, analysed and worked on their problems and came back fighting with constructive and positive action. Just as you can, if any problem is afflicting you.

If you look to one country for personal inspiration, then make it Spain!