The game of luck

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 11:07:52 +0000

By SIMON KULUSIKA

When the author P was a civil servant, he visited R one of his friends of school days. 

He found him sitting under a ramshackle shelter busy entering certain information on his newly acquired government diary, or journal or blog as it is called in today’s computer style.

On inquiring as to what he was jotting on the diary, his response was things to be accomplished at selected dates throughout the year.

P was impressed by the discipline that seemed to be some of the qualities of this simple civil servant. P asked his friend as to the most important thing he entered on the diary. He said getting married on such and such date.

The marriage was planned to take place nine month later on that roasting afternoon of their encounter. P told his friend, they better start preparing for that memorable event for it to be successful. He nodded approvingly.

Then he inquired whether P was planning to get married. The short answer was ‘not in the offing,’ because at the time he was an internally displaced person and his meager salary was not enough to allow him take a frog’s leap into matrimonial venture.

P left his friend continuing to fill his diary. He was wondering as to whether his friend’s plan would not need some kind of luck in order for it to be realized. The story that follows informs someone that in all human activities luck is part and parcel of that thing done or to be done.

One breezy morning, an emissary arrived at the abode of P carrying a message from R. The message was calling P to go to R’s place of dwelling. P left for the place of R. He found him crying. P asked R about the trouble.

R handed P a telegraphic form on which it was written ‘your father is involved in traffic accident, admitted.’ R said ‘what can I do? My marriage is eight weeks away.’

P replied ‘postpone it for a reasonable time to give time for your father to recover.’ He added that there was nothing that R could do, since R was the first born in the family.

The story of R would confirm the assertion that whatever human beings do or plan to do, there is always the element of luck involved.

 It could be good luck which will generate happiness, or it could be bad luck to be accompanied by agony. Both types of luck are pervasive in sports, especially football (soccer).

A team of men and women of any Football Club can excel if they can accomplish at least four things in addition they should have good luck. First, they must be subjected to vigorous training in all departments of football. Second, they must nurture team – work habits and avoid selfishness on the pitch.

Third, the players must possess discipline to adhere to tactical plans worked out by the coach and the technical advisors.

Four, their tactical plans must be flexible subject to change where the original seems to be futile. All these things are conditioned by a high or a low degree of luck.

How luck can be described as cruel may be demonstrated by the final two legs of the CAF Champions games played in South Africa and Egypt respectively.

The contestants in the final two legs of the CAF Champions game were Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club of South Africa and Zamalek Sport Club of Egypt. The first leg was played in South Africa. Sundows scored three goals. Zamalek scored no goal. The first goal came as a result of long range shot, the ball flew over the Goalkeeper who was caught out of the goal line.

 One of the goals was a hard kicked ball which the Goalkeeper failed to save. The other goal was own goal through a defender’s error.

On careful evaluation one may say that two of the three goals came by way of good luck on the part of Sundowns. Zamalek players mounted relentless attacks on Sundowns position without resulting in a goal.

Zamalek were denied scoring opportunities by sheer bad luck coupled with good – goal keeping by Sundowns goalkeeper.

Someone who does not believe in the power of luck in its metaphysical configuration may say that the day Zamalek played against Sundowns, that day was not their day.

But this argument is not devoid from metaphysical speculation. Because to say that a day is not one’s day is to imply supernatural intervention. A kind of circular argument.

The logician would not entertain. This takes us back to the claim regarding auspicious and inauspicious luck.

The second leg of the games between Zamalek and Sundowns was played in Egypt on 23 October, 2016 was even more dramatic. Sundowns failed to score.

 Most of the 90 minutes they were defending with occasional advance deep into Zamalek’s territory.

 Zamalek players were in hurry to score in order to beat Sundowns and win the Champions Cup. They mounted waves after waves of dangerous attacks resulting in only one goal.

It was not enough to secure for Zamalek the CAF Cup. If all the shots aimed at the goal of Sundowns got into the net, Sundowns would have been beaten miserably. But it would appear that Sundowns were very lucky.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan hosted the FIFA under 17 Women’s Championship. The final was played in Amman on 21 October, 2016.

The game showed a contest between the best teams in the tournament: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) against Japan.

 The Kingdom of Jordan was founded in 1921. The first king was Abdullah I. In 1949 Jordan was renamed as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The current king is Abdullah II. It is a liberal country with a Parliament and a Prime Minister.

The hosting of the FIFA under 17 Women’s Championship marked a new progressive development for Arab women. The event was successful by all standards.

Africa was represented in the tournament by Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria. The Nigerian girls were eliminated at group stage along with Cameroon.

The chance of Cameroon to advance to Quarter final was spoiled by a long range shot from a Venezuelan girl Castelanos who fired a desperate but accurate shot from the middle of the pitch, inside the centre circle and the ball landed inside the net dashing the hope of Cameroon to compete in the Quarter final.

Ghana was stopped at Quarter final and denied a place in semi – final.

Two shortcomings of all the African girls who participated in the tournament which could be pointed out included slowness, they very slow on the ball causing them to lose ball to the opponents. And they were selfish there was apparent lack of team play.

This worked to their disadvantage. Two defects which must be addressed by football managers to make African women football shine on the global arena.

In the qualifying stage the girls from Japan beat all their opponents.

They accumulated 9 points, the highest in the tournament. They scored at this stage a total of 13 goals. Most of the goals were extraordinarily classic by all football standards.

 They also hammered their opponents in the quarter and semi finals by a total of 6 goals. These results would have put Japan as the winner of the FIFA under 17 Trophy.

But observers are now aware that the girls of Japan were denied the Trophy and the Gold Medals. They were awarded Silver Medals.

The Trophy and the Gold Medals were taken triumphantly by the girls from North Korea.

These girls were winners not by beating the girls from Japan, but simply they were lucky in the taking of penalty shoot – out. Sheer statistics of the final game between North Korea and Japan in Amman would tell the observer that the Trophy was for Japan.

Conservative count would show that the young girls from Japan made more than 17 attempts at the North Korea goal. Some balls hitting the cross bar or the post. Others were blocked by the defence, knocked away or saved by the goalkeeper.

In fact the goalkeeper of North Korea was kept busy throughout the entire 90 minutes of the game plus additional time. The girls from North Korea also played very well.

They threatened the Japanese by powerful shots which did not end into the net. At the end the stalemate had to be resolved by penalty shoot – out.

North Korean girls were lucky and they were declared the Champions. Definitely there was the element of luck in favour of North Korea.

Whichever argument is advanced in regard to winning matches, it is agreed that luck plays some role in winning a match. The article tends to support such a view.

It sees no any explanation why a team that beat all favoured teams would not win. Again the article makes reference to the Japanese girls at the tournament in Jordan.

They played superb football. They made short and accurate passes. They were focus when they were inside the opponent’s box.

They were able to kick the ball very hard at the goal of the opponent. As a result they scored 19 goals in five matches and committed very few fouls.

It is hoped that the sports authorities in Japan will give special attention for those girls who participated in the Jordanian tournament and take care of them to become the backbone of Japanese women football.

 Assuming that some of them will not fall out through marriage, an enterprise no government in the world has control over.

The lesson this author learned from the women’s tournament is that to beat one’s opponent a team must play as if it is one body.

 That is a player must not play alone and try to score in order to make name and to shine on the international football plane.

 Players must be kept together and be trained for a reasonable time so that a player knows how a team mate plays.

He or she will be able to read the movement of another player in order to maintain harmony in the play.

A camp of one or two months is not good enough it cannot blend players especially those coming from different schools, academies or clubs.

A coach should change his or her tactical plan where the original seems to produce no goals and making the players to lose ball unnecessarily.

The Japanese girls showed that their training and staying together for a time had made a difference.

 Let the football managers avoid throwing players with little training into the battle field, they will end up victims. The author is not an expert in football, but just commenting.

The author is Associate Professor, ZAOU