Like so many others I have been watching the World Cup of Soccer and as a Canadian I had an interest in Team Canada. We lost our first game to Belgium in what some said we should have won or least come out with a draw. My biggest take away came from post game comments from Manager John Hurdman. When asked about his next opponent Croatia, he said F**k Croatia. Right there I knew we were in trouble.
Croatia is a highly ranked team, no push over by any means. He gave them bulletin board material. Our Manager, motivated there next opponent. I understand the comment, but it should have been said in safety of the locker room.
Hurdman is a good Manager, he got Team Canada to the WCS, first time since the mid 1980’s. He preaches emotional control to his players, but he lost his own. The best Coaches, Saban, Belichick, Cooper, and Parcells never gave the other team motivation. Game over, we are moving on. Can not change what has happened.Those were stock phrases.
When we scored two minutes into the match, my first thought was Croatia has 88 minutes to tied it up, and we need to defend for 88 minutes. Two totally different mindsets. There was no panic in Croatia’s game, and when we has an andrenid crashed, Croatia made us pay. Coachable moment for Manager Hurdman.
On Thursday Team Canada plays Morocco. All Morocco needs is a draw to move forward, but this is a huge test for Hurdman and Team Canada. They do not need to be focussed on the outcome ,what is important is can they stick to there process and he has to understand that every member of the team knows what the process is. They need to Own the Shittyness of Hurdmans error and move on, because experience is mistakes already made and learned from.
Until next time!
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