Copa America: Teamwork Prevails Again

Uruguay beat Peru 3-0 in the Copa America final at the Monumental in Buenos Aires. This was to be the South American Championship when Argentina's soccer team, playing as the host nation, would beat arch-rival Brazil in a final, powered by two-time World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi.

Alas, this perfectly crafted media script was torpedoed by realities that have some parallels in the business world. Messi is a wonderful player, and he thrives in a Barcelona culture and system in which he grew up as a youth academy player. At Barcelona, he is surrounded by players who have all bought into the system--make yourself available to receive a pass, receive the pass, pass to the feet of a player in space, repeat--and execute flawlessly. With Xavi and Iniesta, he has two of the finest midfielders in the world who are always looking to give a killer pass that will spring Messi into space. Messi has freedom to roam, and his job is to finish when he gets the ball in or around the box.

Unfortunately, take a wonderful player and put him in a team of All-Stars, which is what a national team is, and it's not clear at all that he can perform. Would Steve Jobs make a difference turning around Yahoo? Probably not. He wouldn't have the assets around him and the culture that everyone has bought into that would help him succeed in the particular environment of Yahoo. Mr. Jobs too might not be interested in adapting himself to something so different as Yahoo would be compared to Apple.

So it is for the teams of Argentina and Brazil. Brazil looked positively awful in the Copa. A team of aging stars coupled with immature, but talented youngsters who don't understand how different the world tournament environment is and who react by showing off useless tricks. What's the reaction of the national football bodies in Argentina and Brazil to the poor showing? Hint: change the CEO. The Argentina coach is said to be on his way out, the second in a very short period of time. Brazil's coach will probably change soon, but not until some further defeats.

Changing the coaches and bringing in a new management team can't address the fact that (1) the best players make so much money playing for their clubs that playing for their countries doesn't carry the honor that it did for players like Maradona and Dunga, both of whom captained World Cup winners and managed their country's teams. The second reason is that typically players don't play the same positions for their country as they do for their clubs. So, they play out of position in a system that they generally don't understand, and everyone player has a slightly different personal agenda than that of the team.

How many management teams have you seen that would fit this same list of problems? It is interesting, and very instructive for someone who is a coach. A coach who can solve this problem would have to command respect, be a teacher and a supreme motivator. Often in short supply.

Kudos to Uruguay and their wonderful attacking tandem of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, now of Liverpool. They continued their great World Cup partnership, and backed by a solid midfield and the traditional, steely Uruguayan defense, it was a difficult assignment for Peru.