Takeaways from German victory

The expected has happened. Germany has beaten Argentina (1 - 0). The solitary goal was scored by Mario Gotze. The irony is that he was a substitute for a substitute. It is easy to draw a few lessons from this event.

Systematic team-work prevails over isolated individual excellence. Messi does not make a team. Camaraderie and goal-oriented (a welcome pun as it were) cohesiveness constitute a team. The German captain, Phillip Lahm said as much after the match.

Making a player 'indispensable' is an easy way to defeat. When Neymar became hors de combat, Brazil was spun into chaos and Germany defeated them by a scandalous 7 - 1 score. Similarly, Argentina paid the penalty for exaggerating the importance of Lionel Messi.

Let us not underestimate anyone. Who would have imagined that German victory would come through a deft placement by Mario Gotze who was out of the reckoning for original eleven. Underdogs are not necessarily underperformers.

When the time for a possible penalty shootout was nearing, Argentina players perhaps started easing their focus on extra time and started planning for shootout. They were not 'living in the present' which the Germans did. Never let your guard down. If you lose the present, where is the future?

Though it is easy now to gloat over German excellence, let us not forget that luck also plays a role. Especially when teams are evenly matched, what else is needed apart from luck?

Messi, the messiah?

The World Cup final is keeping the entire sporting and non-sporting world on edge. It is an exciting contest between the German team play and Argentinian individual excellence. Management theorists are likely to draw reasonable and unreasonable conclusions from the result of the crucial match.

Without the aid of either Paul, the octopus or Walter, the orangutan, we are constrained to grope in the dark in the absence of predictive ability. This handicap need not prevent us from making guesses, however wild.

We may take refuge under probability analysis. Based on current form of both teams, Germany is the favourite, perhaps with around 60% chances in its favour. Its defeat of Brazil, the home team, 7 to 1, was phenomenal, notwithstanding the absence of Neymar. (As an aside, one wonders why allegations of match-fixing are not floating around, given the high improbability of the score. Are footballers and soccer aficionados more gentlemanly than cricketers and cricket connoisseurs? Should we start calling football the gentleman's game?)

The entire continent of Europe is rooting for Germany despite innumerable political differences. In sharp contrast, Brazil barring Neymar is vociferously against its legendary rival, Argentina. (Lionel Messi and Neymar are thick friends; both play for Barcelona).

If Germany wins, the proverbial German pride will reach a new 'high' at a time when Joachim 'Low' is the nation's football manager. It looks like a papal contest with the finalists representing the nationality of the two Popes who are now alive.