England’s body language during the 2014 World Cup
The body language of the England team as they lost the game against Uruguay, pretty much mirrored their demeanour as they got off the coach before the start of the game. We had so much hope for them.
At the RightTrack office we were similar to many business office teams across the country, in organising a sweepstake. We merrily and casually taunted each other on who had picked out which country from a hat.
We each picked three teams and I felt pleased with the Netherlands and France, but I wasn’t so sure about Iran and their ability, let alone football history. I cannot recall who in the office picked out the England team. However, what I do recall is that comments were rife about how long they would last and doubts that this was a winning ticket.
World Cup predictions by animal psychics
In line with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, we even got our office dog, Codi, to predict the outcome of the England vs Uruguay match. The outcome was exactly the same as had been ‘predicted’ by Evan Davies’s dog Mr Whippy. Both predicted an England loss. Perhaps dogs have a better sense of these things.
It wasn’t just the whims of dogs, the general feeling from friends and family, as well as work colleagues, was that England would soon be home, despite focussed preparations by the team and the England national football coach, Roy Hodgson.
There were press reports of Roy Hodgson, insisting England players sang the National Anthem, with pride and conviction. I’m certainly no football expert, but even I could see that the team lacked vigour and enthusiasm in the match against Uruguay.
Ghana vs Germany match
In contrast, the Ghana vs Germany match was exciting, but I was disappointed to hear an English commentator comment, ‘when the Ghanaians wear their national shirts, they wear them with pride, unlike the England team’.
Does the English commentator seriously think that our national team don’t have a sense of immense pride when they put on an England shirt. What professional sports person wouldn’t?
So what is going on, where did it all go wrong? Somewhere in all of this, we all need to ask ourselves, do we offer these guys enough national support.
Let us consider this as a business
How well would a sales team fair, if every time they were in a competitive situation, half the office verbally expressed doubt on their ability to win. How well would they perform if every time they made a pitch or tendered for new contracts, people around them were using social media to bring them down? Positive thought and encouragement would make all the difference.
Brazil 2014, has not been good for us and it is a shame. But surely, those who can influence the general public, media, bloggers, commentators and the like have a collective responsibility, to find the positive in this situation and let us all learn from there. This, after all, is not the last world cup.