Cool Head Warm Heart

Isn’t it boring? The entire knock out stage left only ONE African nation (Ghana) and ONE…errr…Asian nation (the Aussies). Four South Americans and TEN European nations. Again, there were the usual suspects like England, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Holland, yada, yada, etc.

No major upsets like those in 2002. All got back to the normal world cup routine. Sigh!

My favourite teams left Australia and Holland. I will support England if they play well.

I have been searching for a similar quote like this one…

Nationalism couldn’t do it, not for me. I had this teacher once who liked to wear a tartan tie; he marked me down for saying that patriotism was just another kind of gangsterism. “And what gang do you belong to?” he asked.

“The cinema-goers,” I said. — Andrew O’Hagan’s film choices

Well, not the cinema-goers part, but “patriotism was just another kind of gangsterism”. Who was the one who first said it? So wise.

Congratulation! Aussies…Hope you will beat Italy. It is not too difficult to beat Italy though. Yes, they have rock solid defence. This is a team traditionally plays with emphasis on defence. From previous matches, especially with Czech, it demonstrated it has one of the  strongest defence among the World Cup teams. The trick is just not to concede a goal, go for a draw and…penalty shootout. Historically Italy is one of the worst performing team when comes to penalty shootout, i.e. 1990 in Semi-finals lost to Argentina, 1994 in USA World Cup Final lost to Brazil, 1998 in France quarter-finals lost to France. We can claim Italy had never won a penalty shoot-out in World Cup.

Ok, I like Italy team, but you are Asians (or under Asia grouping) (even though you may not like to think like this and prefer to think that you are more of a Western country…). And I am a big fan of Guus Hiddink!

And for South Korea…you will have my support tonight. You may not hear my cheers and shouts, as I will be lying comfortably in my couch watching another historical moment of yours. But spiritually, ahem, I am will you. Though I am not a Korean but mentally I will quietly shout your slogan, “One Nation One Color, and that is…RED”.

This is the game of life and death for both teams. They both know that it is near to impossible to beat Brazil. The reasonable expectation for both Australia and Japan is to beat the opponent and subsequently Croatia to clinch the second place in the Group. Whoever loses this game will almost certainly not proceed to the knock out stage.

My heart is with Socceroos. Yes, I like Guus Hiddink. But the most important factor is that I will never support Japan. Not until they remove the World War II’s war criminals from their Yasukuni Shrine and stop worshipping these criminals.

You say, “Hey this is just football. Not politics…” Well, football is never ‘just football’, football is life, football is civilized war without guns, football is about friendship, it is about revenge, it is about a nation’s pride…

After Argentina lost the Falkland war they broke English heart twice with Maradona’s hand of God and Beckham’s sent off in two World Cups.

Sitting at the food store watching at two TVs and one projector screen with almost hundred of other diners, I realised most Malaysians support Japan. This is not surprising as the relationship of Malaysia and Australia, historically, was not a smooth one. Our ex-prime minister, Dr Mahathir, used to quarrel with John Howard, the Australia’s prime minister. What intrigue me is that most Malaysians seem to forget the history that Malaysia was once invaded by Japan and that the leader of the invasion is now worshiped as Japan’s national hero.

Yes, Japan is Asian (Well, football tribe). Yes, we spatted with Australia, but unlike Japan, Australia never invade Malaysia. World War II is not a distance history. Both my grandmothers (father’s mother and mother’s mother) are still alive. During World War II my mother’s mother travelled Malaysia for stage performance and collect donations for Chinese army to fight against Japanese Imperial Army. My father’s mother, today, still refuse to speak to my father’s Japanese friends. However, I know I am not alone in supporting Australia. The entire South Korea and the entire China nations, like me, hope Australia will win. (From the reactions of China and South Korea, you know how Japan treats its neighbours)

This game is getting intense. An Australia player was sent off with red card.

Yes, Australia score…Wow! Socceroos……..Wow…Socceroos! One : One now.

Oh yes, another one for Australia from Cahill again. Congratulation Guus Hiddink!

Ohhhhhh! Yes, another one for Australia. 3:1 and Australia beats Japan flat!

And Yes. Its over. Australia in (if they beat Croatia). Japan out (of the knock out stage), almost.

For my fellow Asian football tribe, don’t worry, we still have South Korea.

Trinidad and Tobago held Sweden to a nil : nil draw. Almost unbelievable. What a start for this small South American country.

But come to think of it we should not be too surprise about the result. Don’t forget this is the team that had to knock other South Americans football out of this World Cup final in order to qualify for this final. They defended fantasitcally with occasionally quick counter attacks.
Even though the game ended goalless, it is a much entertaining and intense game than the Germany vs Costa Rica World Cup opening game.

Our first surprise…Trinidad and Tobago…and welcome to the World Cup final.

If after watching the World Cup opening game between Germany and Costa Rica and you think that the game is boring even with a 4 - 2 goals result, I agree with you.

Germany football games were never interesting. Mechanical attack, slow counter attack, heavy passing at mid field, clinical finishing, etc. I always fall asleep watching Germany game even if the players score.

You want good, interesting and quick football game? Watch Sweden vs Trinidad and Tobago. So far there is no goal yet, but definitely intense with great attackings and fast moves.

We can expect teams like Holland, Brazil, Argentina, etc. to deliver entertaining and great football games. Germany? Forget it. Even with four goals they are boring.

There is an interesting online survey at MSN on “Who will win the World Cup?”

As at the date of this post, the expected winner is Brazil with 31% of vote. The funny part is the second most popular vote is United States with 12% of vote. This is even higher than England 11%, Germany 7.7%, Argentina 5.8%, Netherlands 2.8%, Italy 5.9% and France 1.9%.

United States win the World Cup? Ha ha ha, this is my initial reaction. I simply couldn’t imagine it to happen. Winning World Cup seems like a pipe dream or sort for US. But after a quick search I realised they were training like a club for months. In football history, many big football countries failed to perform in World Cup simply because they spent too little time to train their famous players to play as a team. Don’t forget 2002, US was in quarter final. I will not surprise if US manages to cause some upsets.

Who I want to see to win the world cup?

I want to see South Korea to win the World Cup. I always enjoy the story of David knocking down Goliath. I want to see Australia to win the World Cup. I am a big fan of Hiddink and I don’t mind Socceroos. I like orange, Holland, to win. Their attacking games are always entertaining (unlike that of boring but effective Germans). I hope to see England in final, I like Steven Gerrard.

It will be truly boring if Brazil wins again. It will be really boring to see Germany in final. Please don’t.

Which teams will reach semi-final?

Brazil, Italy, England and Argentina.

Who I genuinely believe will win the World Cup?

Brazil will still win the world cup judging from their performance in the friendly matches. Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Kaka, Ronaldhino, etc. are all ageing for sure, but their magic has not waned. This is the team that lost in 1998 final in France and win in 2002 facing Germany. They know how the tournament goes and have the experience and mentality dealing with the tournament.

France and Holland is in deep troubles. England has its chance to win the World Cup with the easy draw, but not if they keep to their tradition of losing the game in penalty shootout. By the way, this is one of the strongest squad ever for England. (Err…I thought I heard this last World Cup.) With Jonh Terry and Gary Neville at the back, Steven Gerrand and Frank Lampard at mid-field, England simply looks invincible. If everything goes well, the first real test comes only at semi-final against Argentina.

Germany? Probably not this round if they meet England in the early knock out stage. Historically Germans got into trouble whenever they faced English, and that was not just in football (like Bismarck). Their friendly against Japan and opening game against Costa Rica just showed how easily their defence line can be torn apart. But don’t forget, World Cup host always performed must better than their usual self.

Argentina? I used to hate them. But they paid their sin of Maradona’s “hand of god” (and Beckham’s 1998 sent-off) in 2002.

Looking at the past, it is always the team that improves along the way of the tournament that will win the game. They usually started with mediocre game plays but only to become better and better into the final.

Statistically (stat, stat and lies), European team always win when the game is hosted in Europe (except 1958 when Brazil won the World Cup in Sweden). I pick Italy to win the World Cup 2006. (England? Nah, they will lose at penalty shootout).

Who can spring surprises?
There were surprises in every past World Cup. Roger Miller and Cameroon in 1990, US in 1994 and 2002, Senegal, South Korea, Japan and Turkey in 2002, Croatia and Davor Šuker in 1998,

There will be surprises this round without exception. I think they are United States, Australia or Japan.

Which strikers or players will shine?
I can tell you it will be Steven Gerrard, it will be Ronaldhino, it will be that Walcott kid, etc. But the truth is World Cup is always the place for not-so-famous players to shine, be famous, join a new club (sometimes) and get rich. Henry Thierry, Sukar, Roger Miller, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen, etc. were all only reasonably famous then before making their names in the World Cups.

Give it a try to guess, I will still choose Steven Gerrard and Ronaldhino. Peter Crouch? Nah.

Who I miss in World Cup?

Frankly, it is Roberto Baggio, the pony tailed, talented but once cocky Italian striker. I missed him in the last World Cup final too. I remember how he led his Italy team into the final of World Cup 1994 against Brazil. He missed his penalty shot and Brazil won the World Cup with a 3-2 penalty shooting. Then a man with a totally changed demeanour in 1998, he did not miss his shot against France in a penalty shootout. However, France won the game and eventually won the World Cup. I expected him to seek his redemption once more in World Cup 2002, but he was not chosen for Italy’s World Cup team.

I will miss the way Roger Miller scoring his goals.

This is my vow: to follow his footsteps for enlightenment and to meet him one day.

Learn more about Siddhartha “Buddha” Gautama

This is a special web services at 43people.com. I selected a person whom I want to meet and left an entry like the above. 43people.com automatically updated this post with what I wrote at the site. Yes, I chose meeting Buddha.

I came across this web site called 43things.com and I think it is fantastic. You write down your goals and share with others. So far as I can see, it is a place where people comment and cheer your goals achieving efforts.

If you see others goal that you had achieved, just click on the button “I have done this”. You can select then whether it is worth doing and whether you are willing to help. There is a list on those who had done this and you can read their comments. There is a stat on whether this goal is worth doing, i.e. “4 out of 6 people (66%) think this is worth doing.”
You can invite people “to do this”. If you see an interesting thing to do, you can just click on the button “I want to do this” and it will be added to the things list that you want to do.

The best part is you can update your progress and along the way allow others to cheer your progress. You can also set a reminder and select a time when you will be reminded of your goal or the thing you want to do.
You can tag your goals or other people goals.

Even if you think such internet community is not a real or serious goals setting tool, it is at least fun to put in your list of things that you want to do.

This is my first goal, inspired by Steve Pavlina’s “how to become a early riser“. Find more goal setting resources.

The same logic is applicable in choosing means to achieve goals.

Conceptually
As much as we should not sacrifice tomorrow for today pleasure, we should not sacrifice today for our future. We want satisfaction of life, today and tomorrow.

When I choose a means to achieve a goal, I must choose a means that is worthwhile for me to live with. I must enjoy the means that I choose. I must feel good about the means. I must feel proud of it. I must find meanings in it. And if I die without achieving the goal, the means itself is a good reason for me to say my life is worthwhile that I’d never waste a single moment in life even though I do not achieve the goal. It is about live now…and improve future.

A single moment satisfaction in achieving a goal cannot be more important than the twenty years we spent to achieve this goal. It is twenty preparation years versus 30 minutes of exuberance achieving the goal. Which one is more important? When we realise time is homogeneous, we simply cannot say one is more important than the other.

Let’s say after we achieved our long term goal we looked back. Twenty years of insignificant meaningless fighting, backbiting, selfish taking and non-giving, all the people we betrayed, cheated and left, memories that we detest (of our own low behaviour and self respect) and would rather be erased. We knew we sacrifice a lot for this goal that we finally achieved. We enjoyed for a moment of glory and satisfaction, only to realise the emptiness of achieving this goal. There is nothing in this achieved-goal; there is nothing worthwhile in our twenty years of existence. We’d never lived until we achieved the goal. We sadly told ourselves we are leaning against the wrong wall. We told ourselves the price paid for the goal is too high.

On the contrary, let’s say after we achieved our long term goal we looked back. Twenty years of richly built relationships, twenty years of meaningful events and loving moments, hard work that we pride, moments that we lived, shared and enjoyed, difference we pride making in improving the world, etc. And we realised…this is a goal that enriched us for the past twenty years and will continue to enrich the rest of our life for just by owning the memory of the past twenty years. The means itself makes the goal worthwhile.

It is both MEANS AND GOAL that we choose that determine whether we lean against the right wall, and that determine whether we spent our life well.

It is in the means that whether a goal is worth pursuing. It is in the goal that whether a means is worth taking. It is a choice easy to make yet a plan so difficult to develop. The plan is difficult to develop because it has to satisfy both means and goal. But once the optimized solution is found, passion is natural and execution is simply easy.

Practically…
Therefore, unless we have figured out both goals and it means to achieve these goals, the goals bear no meaning at all. Writing down goals is only 10% of task of goal setting. We must figure out and embrace the means to achieve these written-down goals. If we have a goal but we are not happy with the means to achieve it, we should keep exploring alternatives until we satisfy with the means. Otherwise we should not pursue this goal even though we know the means is workable. For what? Wasting my life doing something that I do not find meaning in it but just to achieve a written-down goal and enjoy 5 minutes of happiness in achieving it? No way. It is about live now…and improve future.

If ultimately we cannot find a happy solution to optimize means and goal, it is about changing the goal.

Bringing it further…

Therefore it is wrong to kill now for future peace. Killing will never bring peace. Therefore it is wrong to start a war and create chaos in order to build a democracy world in future. Therefore Luke Skywalker threw away his lightsaber at the final moment with the Emperor. You cannot be in the dark side using the dark force and to bring light and justice to the world.

You can never achieve good in the future by doing wrong now.

…and this, steps into the arena of politics.

More resources in goal-setting at Steve Pavlina’s blog.
Read the principle behind the arguments.

Tags: Goals setting | Goal setting | lifehack