Three Lions or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Game
I’ve noticed a strange thing happening over the last decade: I don’t “care” about sports results as much as I used to. In most cases, barely at all.
For anyone who knows how fiercely competitive I used to be, this may come as something of a surprise. The only area in which I’ve almost always managed to shackle my former competitive nature is coaching. I pride myself on always being a coach who puts the players themselves first, far before team results. It’s a strategy that’s paid huge dividends for my enjoyment of coaching and, I hope, for the players I’ve had in my care. Subsequently, it’s changed how I enjoy the game in general.
I don’t really feel that “have to win” competitiveness very often these days, if at all. Whether it’s playing pool with Emma, or during our monthly games night with friends, I find my enjoyment comes far more from the intrinsic satisfaction of playing whatever game it is as well as I can. If I can come away from any such endeavour thinking, “I played fair and I gave it a good shot”, that’s more than enough for me now. If I win, that’s fun, but doesn’t change whether I enjoyed the activity itself.
In days gone by, if City or Liverpool beat (my team) United, I’d be annoyed for the rest of the day and maybe beyond. When England would invariably take a collective nap in the knockout stages of a tournament and lose a game they could have won, I’d find all kinds of excuses and proclaim all sorts of deficiencies on the part of the players and coaches. Clearly, Kev Brown in Saskatoon knows far more about the game and the squad than an idiot like Gareth Southgate, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I still get swept up in the emotion and elation of scoring a great try or a great goal, or a big save or a last-ditch tackle. And the thought of St. Helens beating Wigan is the one exception that proves this new rule of non-competitiveness. I’ve joined the old England crew to watch all three of England’s knockout stage games of the World Cup so far and the excitement and tension is fun for the ninety minutes to two hours it lasts. We sing, chant, and celebrate boisterously when we need to. But once I leave the pub and drive home, I feel fairly neutral, whether it’s been a good performance or a poor one. We’ve had both so far.
All of this means this is the first World Cup I’ve enjoyed more than I’ve been anxious or negative about. I don’t expect England to win the World Cup. I’ve honestly never expected England to win the World Cup, but this year I’ve been much more able to enjoy the games. This is a fun England squad to watch. They have confidence and genuine quality. It’s probably the most talented squad of players we’ve taken to a major tournament since 1996 and I’m really enjoying seeing the quality they can show, at times, and the commitment they have to one another. It’s good to go into games as an England fan thinking “Yeh, we should win this one”. The only game where this wasn’t the case for me was the Mexico game and that only because it was in the Azteca. Croatia, Ghana, Panama, Congo, Norway: all teams this England squad should be able to beat and, apart from a frustrating game against a Ghana team who played for a draw, England have delivered.
Tomorrow we take on the old enemy Argentina. I’m happy that most pundits are talking about Messi and how good he is and that they are the current champions. I’m glad that we keep hearing things like “They are beatable, but they have Messi”. For once, we England fans can think “Yeh but we have Bellingham”. Jude is the first player since Paul Gascoigne that you look at and think “I’d put him against any player at this tournament in terms of quality and consistency” and mean it. I’m happy that England have lived up to their top-four FIFA ranking and that we’ve made the semi-final in a half of the draw where reaching this stage probably should have been the expectation. Win or lose tomorrow, I’ll be fine with the progress of this team and the games they’ve played at this year’s tournament. If we win, I’ll be thrilled to watch them in the final. If they don’t, they’ve still had an excellent tournament. They’ve gone further than Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Italy (much further than Italy), Belgium, etc. and are in the mix with three other fantastic teams. But Argentina will be just as wary of having to play us as we are of playing them. I don’t remember the last time I could say that hand on heart.
I don’t know if it’s coming home, but I’m going to focus on the positives and enjoy however much footy we have left.
Recent Comments