Lessons from the Black Statellites of Ghana

History was made on Friday 16^th of October when the Black Satellites of Ghana cruised to a historic victory over four times champions Brazil in Cairo. Ghana cruised to a 4-3 victory after a bruising penalty shout out, to become the first African team to win the under 20 World cup. André Ayew, son of the legendary Pele led the ten men Ghanaian side to victory against favorites Brazil. The Ghana boys made Ghana and Africa proud; I sincerely hope this victory is a sign of good things to come. With Nigeria defending the under 17 World cup on home soil, I hope the Young Eaglets will repeat the same feat and make Africa proud.

Watching a 10 men Ghana team battling Brazil man for man throughout the match, without showing any signs of discomposure taught me valuable lessons about perseverance and sheer determination. Analyzing the game, I learned two vital lessons one can follow to attain set targets.

Lesson one – Stay Focused

The team was tactically strong and played as a team despite having lost a colleague in the 37^th minute. Sheer determination and focus on the main goal gave them the impetus to continue even though the odds were against them. Most times people fail to attain their goals due to lack of focus and distractions from temporary failure. Setbacks should be seen as stepping stones to realizing our dreams. The Black Satellites of Ghana remained focused to the very end of the game. Twice they were behind, but they kept soldiering on until they attained the trophy.

Lesson two – Don’t stop believing in yourself

Despite being one man down, the team never in a single moment doubted their ability to lift the trophy. With this belief the team worked coherently thwarting the marauding Brazilian strikers in their effort to score. They played as a team and managed to compete with their opponents’ man for man throughout the match. Often time’s people lose focus and allow doubt to creep in and destabilize their plans. The most important attribute in pursuit of success is self belief. You need to believe in your ability to do things before you get approval from outsiders.

In life success does not come on a silver platter. It comes through hard work, singleness of purpose, concerted effort and hard work. Abraham Lincoln said ‘You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose’.

To your success!!