Don’t worry non-football fans, this is one for you too. Actually, I probably lost you at the headline, didn’t I? In which case, welcome football fans, here’s an HR take on the World Cup so far!
It is already the tournament of upsets. And it’s looking more than likely that at least one of the big powerhouses of European football will not even make it to the knock-out stages. France, England, Spain and Italy have all started dreadfully. So bad were the former two, that there has been talk of dissatisfaction and disharmony in the camps, fall-outs with the management, players sent home and coaching staff quitting. In the French case, with a squad stocked with players who already boast bulging trophy cabinets, it certainly has far more to do with the clashing of egos than quibbles over technique and tactics.
There’s a clear issue over management of “top talent” and motivation here. It seems to me a classic case of the strength of the team versus the power of the outstanding individual. Of the four teams I just mentioned, a colleague of mine asked: “It is any coincidence that they are the highest paid at the tournament?” Good question. In fact, football in New Zealand, which drew with current World Cup holders Italy on Sunday, is an amateur game. As such, a small number of their players need to hold jobs outside of football to pay the bills – something the Italian stars have likely never experienced. The kiwis’ main motivation is the pride of playing for their country and enjoying their involvement in the sport’s foremost competition. It is proving to be the best motivating factor by far.
It’s not only the players – England’s manager Fabio Capello is the highest paid in world football, on a contract worth £6 million a year; it’s fair to assume his counterpart on the Algerian bench on Friday night was paid substantially less to achieve the same result. And New Zealand manager Ricki Herbert is, according to BBC Sport, on a basic annual salary of £25,000. That is far less than the average English Premier League footballer’s weekly wage.
So how do you get the best out of your star performers? Brazil also has some highly paid superstars. Yet one of the most famous, Ronaldinho, was left out of the squad for the simple reason that he was no longer seen as a team player, known more for individual flair rather than work rate. The players that strict disciplinarian manager Dunga has on the field are not necessarily the best players his nation has to offer, but they are the best team.
As for the success so far of Maradona’s Argentina, with dangerously flammable egos at every turn? Well, some explanations are best left to the (hands of) Gods.