Lessons from a Soccer Game
Like millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people across the globe, my wife and I were glued to our television set when the United States men’s soccer team played Iran. The game was a nail-biter, with the Americans edging the Iranians by a score of 1-0. Wow! Did my wife and I whoop and holler when the final horn sounded that ended the game and sent the United States to the knock-out round of 16!
Soccer is a beautiful sport, played by some of the most gifted athletes in the world. As a child growing up in Udine, Italy, I can still picture the kids in our neighborhood playing soccer on the dirt road in front of our house. My brother probably played with them but I was too young. I watched sitting on our porch steps with envy as they passed the ball, made shots on goal and screamed with delight when one of them scored.
My dad never encouraged my brother or me to play soccer because he had grown up with American sports, such as football, basketball and baseball and didn’t appreciate the skill required to play soccer. By the time I had children of my own, however, our culture had changed and soccer had become a much more accepted sport among Americans. When our two boys entered elementary school, they enjoyed playing soccer and played throughout their early school years right up until the 7th or 8th grade.
Even when our boys no longer played soccer, I never lost my love and appreciation for the game. The sport requires skill, intelligence, stamina, discipline and teamwork, important traits not only for soccer but for a successful life. In addition, a soccer game doesn’t have the countless commercial breaks that often adversely affect the flow of a college or pro football game. A soccer game consists of two 45 minutes halves with a short break for half-time. During those two 45 minute halves there are no interruptions for commercial breaks, no 30 seconds or so between plays and no time outs. The players compete on the field the entire 45 minutes, with a few extra minutes of time added to compensate for player injuries. For 45 continuous minutes the players are constantly moving, sprinting up and down the field, passing the ball with uncanny accuracy and strategizing how to exploit the other team’s weakness. It is physically grueling and mentally taxing game, not unlike a championship chess match, with an added physical dimension. No wonder many call it the most beautiful game on earth.
Please don’t misunderstand. I love the American football tradition, but the all too frequent interruptions to the game have become distractions to the sport itself. In the average American football game there is less than 11 to 14 minutes of actual playing time. A viewer spends 3 or more hours sitting in front of the television set watching more than 2 hours of commercials, players walking back to the huddle or players in the huddle or listening to announcers talking about a variety of things. It’s a great game to play but watching a game on television requires a lot of free time, a community of friends to visit with and lots of tasty snacks.
Average NFL TV Broadcast - Wall Street Journal
The 90 minutes soccer game between the United States and Iran lasted less than 2 hours. Only the half-time break interrupted play. For 90 minutes millions of spectators around the world watched dazzling plays being made by incredibly talented players. No wonder soccer is the most popular sport in the world.
The most intriguing aspect about the American/Iranian game, however, was the political backdrop. America and Iran have been adversaries ever since the shah was overthrown back in the 70s, and since then there has been increasing acrimony between the two countries. Some people saw the game as a contest between a freedom loving country versus an authoritarian regime.
I don’t think the players saw it that way. Yes, there was fierce competition between the two teams as the players battled for every ball, contested every shot and used every means available to win. But there was sportsmanship and respect demonstrated by both teams. At the end of the game the players from America and Iran sincerely congratulated and embraced each other.
One particular photo of the American Josh Sargent hugging the Iranian Ramin Razaeian caught my attention. The picture shows two exhausted and fierce competitors with their arms wrapped around each other. One team was victorious on the scoreboard, but both of these players realized that when you compete and play your heart out with passion and skill, as each team did, there are no losers.
The photo of the two players embracing has stayed with me. The soccer game wasn’t some grand ideological battle or some political tug-of-war to prove that one country was superior to another. It was a game between young men, playing a sport they loved, who were testing their skills against each other, competing with every fiber of their being and thankful for the opportunity. Their minds were unencumbered by geo-political considerations, religious convictions or cultural wars; they were simply young men playing the game they loved.
There are many lessons to be learned from watching a soccer game like the one we saw this past week. Foremost among them is that in every contest between competing teams, one team will end up on the short end of the score. But even in victory, humility is a virtue, and even in defeat, there is no shame when everything has been left on the field. When the game is over, shake hands, wish each other well, and move on to the next contest.
Competition makes us better and stronger human beings. We are made in such a way that we want and need to test ourselves against others. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but we must always show respect for those we compete against, play fairly, abide by the referee’s judgement and accept graciously the outcome, win or lose.
If determined players from nations around the world can compete with the fierce resolve to win for their country, yet embrace and congratulate each other when the match is over, maybe governments can learn something from these athletes too. At least that is one of the lessons I took away from watching the World Cup that gives me hope.
