What has soccer got to do with it?

I have just finished watching the soccer game (pardon my holding back a lot of emotions at this time) between Nigeria and South Korea; a game that Nigeria needed to win by just a goal difference to qualify for the round of 16. Do I hear anyone say that Nigeria’s performance at the fiesta in South Africa has been sub par (except for that by the goalie Vincent Enyeama) that progressing to the next round would been an injustice to better prepared teams or that getting out of round one would only have exposed Nigeria’s inadequacies even more.
So what was the issue with Nigeria? Some say it is a reflection of the fire-fighting attitude that has become commonplace around us. Others would argue that it is an outcome of nepotism and the federal character principle of sacrificing quality and performance for an all-inclusive political correctness. There are those who wonder why some half-fit players made the selection and yet another group asks what on earth made Nigeria allow a couple of over-the-hill, tired legs to board the team airplane to South Africa?
That then brings me to the caption – what has soccer got to do with it? Why do we as human beings seem to lack the will power, ‘the mojo’, the spunk, the gumption and the decisiveness to make those hard decisions that should be made in the interest of equity and fairness? As I ponder this thought, I also think of how we are faced with similar challenges in our private lives.
There are tons of stories of relationships that never should have been. There may be an equal number of liaisons that should get the axe. It was fathers’ day on Sunday in North America (and may be in some other parts of the world too) and greetings and felicitations were flowing back and forth from east to west and from north to south. In the midst of it all, a friend had wondered aloud if there was a difference between merely being a biological father and being a real dad ready to meet all the tough challenges that come with fatherhood. While I am a dad, I do not think I know it all and so would ‘plead the fifth’ in this case. I am also raising three lovely children and wonder if I am empowering them and exposing them enough to ‘stop the bleeding’ when it becomes absolutely necessary that it’s the right thing to do as they forge relationships in their lives in the future.
So as people take stock of the performance of the Nigerian soccer team to the on-going world cup and with all the passionate and strongly held (albeit contending) views, I ask again – what has soccer got to do with it? Is this purely a case of soccer or is it symptomatic of a larger human issue about decision-making? We live and learn daily don’t we?