Ricardo Guerra – Qatar 2022 semi-finals The will to never surrender. In this postmodern, image-focused day, where each person may believe that they are the center of the world, there are numerous occupations where diva-lovers of the limelight may be found.
Soccer is no different. This year’s World Cup featured a number of teams that appeared to be controlled by some of these narcissistic people.
No matter how technically skilled such individuals may be, as we have seen throughout this World Cup, they are harmful to the cohesive dynamic of a squad, eroding team morale and the collective spirit of a group of players.
Sometimes, their presence during a game might even split a team, preventing them from accomplishing their goals on the field.
But in order to lead a team to victory, a head coach must inspire them to work as a unit, putting aside their own preferences in favor of the demands of the team.
Thus, managing the diverse personalities that make up a team and figuring out a means to assist them cohere is one of the biggest issues facing any head coach in professional sports today. The development of a cooperative attitude might be extremely difficult in a group of players that have narcissistic inclinations.
The World Cup makes it even more crucial to control players’ narcissism because of the high pressure environment.
Many teams lack psychological direction because their head coaches can’t motivate their players to see beyond their egos and get past the tedium that consumes them both on and off the field.
Because they lack the pedagogical abilities to help their players evolve spiritually, they are afraid of upsetting these difficult people, or they have their own selfish reasons for standing by while the inmates run the cell block, these coaches fail to prioritize the needs of the group over those of the self-absorbed few.
Despite having coached teams in past World Cups, several of these so-called coaches still commit the same errors.
The teams with challenging personalities—even those with a plenty of individual talent—have already left the tournament, as was to be anticipated.
Most of the teams still competing in the tournament are blue-collar, tough teams that are distinguished by resilience and a reluctance to give up.
The athletes on these teams stand in sharp contrast to the divas who have already left Qatar and are being followed by their entourages of stylists, makeup artists, and Botox practitioners.
Maybe these people would feel more at home competing on separate stages.
Argentina, Croatia, Morocco, and France are the four teams still standing, and they all exhibit a great degree of teamwork, tenacity, and refusal to concede defeat.
These teams are characterized by players working together toward goals that go beyond the interests of any one member.
One of the most challenging and hardest to measure aspects of athletics is will, or the psychological fortitude of a certain team or athlete.
Football experts and pundits frequently consider factors like individual talent, technique, fitness, and tactical prowess, but many spectators of the game let these factors slip by unnoticed. This may be because these factors are best observed when a team is under pressure, in times of tribulation, defeat, or extreme adversity. Every beneficial traits that the losing side exhibits typically go unrecognized since we have a tendency to focus on the victors rather than the losers of any given match.
Contrast the powerful driving force of will with the unnecessary worries that rule other teams’ on- and off-field squads, including media appearances, sponsorship deals, and starting positions.
The success of the team is incompatible with a dispersed focus made up of conflicting individual aspirations since it results in chaos in the locker room.
A lot of credit should go to Argentine coach Scaloni, who was able to create teamwork and coherence among his players—qualities that were lacking in the team that competed in the most recent World Cup in Russia.
After overtime, the Argentinians’ cohesion and sense of camaraderie were evident to everybody. All players consented to take the penalty kicks that would decide the outcome of the game, according to the local media in Argentina.
Despite all that happened throughout a game intermingled with periodic disagreements, they acted as a team, with each member prepared to take the risk for the others. Similarly, Emiliano Martnez collapsed to the ground sobbing after his great effort during the game and Messi went to embrace him.
After the team’s triumph over Holland on penalties, Martnez, the goalie, was praised by everybody.
In contrast to more recent national teams that have participated in the World Cup, Argentina’s current squad has a unified attitude and a degree of selflessness. Although their collaborative dedication has helped them get thus far, they still have a difficult semifinal matchup against Croatia.
The Croatians are a force to be reckoned with, despite having played two arduous overtime matches prior to their semifinal encounter against Argentina, the first against Japan in the Round of 16 and the second against Brazil in the quarterfinals.
They frequently had the upper hand in their game against Brazil, and they never gave up when they fell behind.
By abandoning the frantic, high-tempo game Croatia had been playing throughout the group stage, Croatian coach Zlatko Dali made it plain that his team had changed direction. Beginning in the Round of 16, they began implementing more Systemic Economical Cohesive Play components (SECP). As a result, their method has evolved into one that is more subtle and balanced in intensity.
They are not pressing as hard, and occasionally they have slowed down the tempo of their game on purpose. They have benefited from their newly discovered restraint.
The Croatians are a team with a lot of character and a clear sense of self. Their unity may have its origins in the fighting that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which helped create their nation’s history.
Luka Modri, one of the world’s most talented and technical players as well as one of the smartest on the field, has discussed how the Chetniks’ murder of his adored grandpa had a profound impact on his personality.
Other players have experienced the agony of such historic events either personally or indirectly. Finding a shared experience that might more effectively inspire a group of guys to perform remarkable achievements would undoubtedly be difficult.
Throughout the tournament, the Croatians have already demonstrated a great deal of tenacity, resolve, and mettle. No matter who prevails in the semifinal game, by making it this far in the competition, they have already beaten the odds.
Credit for their accomplishment should go to their head coach, since the current squad consists of players who are very different from those who participated in the final game against France at the last World Cup in Russia.
French people are French people.
They have already demonstrated the effectiveness of their football coaching method and ideology as the reigning champions. They may be the most evenly matched team in this year’s competition, able to play all facets of the game in an equally satisfying manner.
This equilibrium could eventually provide benefits. However, they must first go through the unbeatable Morocco team.
Morocco’s defensive strategy is faultless from a tactical standpoint.
They perform in close proximity to one another, compactly and in tandem. They play sacrificially for each other and to encourage one another, to be more specific.
The Moroccans have displayed strong defense in every game, allowing just one goal throughout the campaign. Sofyan Amrabat, the representative of the Moroccans’ renowned defensive strategy, is in the head of their defensive line.
Amrabat is a perfect example of the Moroccan side’s dualism since he can use either half of his personality depending on the play at hand. He has the strength and vigor of a bulldozer and the grace of a Rolls-Royce.
He continuously uses his robust and accurate tackling abilities in connection with his great technical distributive skill to patrol the area in front of his goal as if it were the entrance to his fortress.
His entire style of play is similar to that of the late, great Colombian player Freddy Rincón and the legendary Brazilian defender midfielder Mauro Silva. Amrabat is enjoyable to watch as he plays.
No player more accurately captures the tenacity of the Moroccan defense.
The religious identity of the squad is distinctive, peculiar, and a force to be reckoned with, and it also serves as another extremely important characteristic of the Moroccan team that is frequently ignored by western mainstream media.
A team can become cohesive and develop a sense of identity via the use of a common set of values.
When the team members bow in prayer after triumphs, it is evident how unified they are as a result of their common religious beliefs.
The entire squad read the Surah Al-Fatiha in the team huddle prior to their penalty kicks against Spain. Moroccan identity is unmistakably created and rooted in their religion.
It is an enduring belief that has stood the test of time and proven tenacious, forming a strong relationship between the team’s members.
It is challenging to forecast the results of these two semifinal games.
Tight games after close games have been seen as we have advanced through the competition’s final rounds, demonstrating the equality of these teams.
In the semifinal matchups in the second round of the World Cup, one game may determine whether a team advances or is eliminated, and anything can happen in such a situation.
However, a team’s collective will may determine whether they succeed or fail.
Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist who lived through the horrifying atrocities of a concentration camp during World War II, observed that the captives who managed to survive such inhumane circumstances were not always the most physically fit, cultured, or well-prepared. Instead, those who survived were individuals whose drive was greater than themselves, whether it was the desire to be able to write a book detailing what happened in those appalling conditions or to see a kid again.
A struggle of wills will occur in the semifinals. The squad that is able to raise the demands of the group rather than the egotism that is so pervasive in professional sports may be the one to proceed to the finals.
The team of guys who have a stronger conviction than the rest that they are competing for something bigger than themselves may end up being the ones to lift the coveted World Cup trophy.
An exercise physiologist that works with professional soccer clubs is named Ricardo Guerra. He graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a Master of Science in sports physiology.
He has worked with several football clubs in the Middle East and Europe, as well as the national teams of Egypt and Qatar. He served as Olympique de Marseille’s exercise physiologist in 2015, when they faced PSG in the French Cup final. Ricardo has both a UEFA license and the highest coaching license granted by the Football Association (England). He’s a doctoral candidate and the writer of two new novels. His email address is rvcgf@hushmail.com.
