GOM World Cup Diary #19 – Whatever Happened To Taking A Chance?
The World Cup finally came alive yesterday.
Not simply because Canada scored a dramatic late winner against South Africa.
But because the tournament itself has changed.
The calculators have been put away.
Nobody is worrying about goal difference.
There are no third-place tables.
No qualification permutations.
No wondering whether somebody else’s result might rescue your tournament.
From now on, it’s beautifully simple.
Win…
…or go home.
I must admit, I rather like it.
For the past couple of weeks we’ve watched teams defend as though their lives depended on it.
Eleven men behind the ball.
Settling for a point.
Keeping things tight.
Trying not to make mistakes.
It was understandable.
In the group stage, avoiding defeat can be just as valuable as chasing victory.
But not anymore.
If you’re a goal behind with ten minutes to play, there isn’t much point in losing cautiously.
Eventually, somebody has to take a chance.
Canada did.
They kept pushing.
Kept believing.
And right at the end they found the goal that takes them into the quarter-finals.
It got me thinking.
Whatever happened to taking a chance?
Modern life often feels like one long group stage.
We play it safe.
We stick with the familiar.
We don’t apply for the job because someone else might be better.
We don’t start the business because it might fail.
We don’t tell people how we really feel because they might not feel the same.
Sometimes we’re so busy trying not to lose that we forget how to win.
Of course, I say all this as someone who still parks at the far end of the supermarket car park to avoid somebody opening their door into mine.
Apparently, I’m quite happy encouraging everyone else to take risks.
Just not anywhere near my car.
Perhaps that’s why I enjoy knockout football so much.
It strips everything back to the basics.
No safety nets.
No second chances.
No complicated mathematics.
Just courage, commitment and the belief that one moment can change everything.
Sometimes it does.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
But you’ll never know unless you have a go.
Canada discovered that last night.
Maybe there’s a lesson in that for the rest of us.
After all, the biggest risk in life isn’t always taking a chance.
Sometimes it’s spending so much time playing safe that you never discover what might have happened if you’d just gone for it.
Anyway, what do I know?
I’m just a grumpy old man.
