Scolari out to undermine opposition?

Christiano Ronaldo is still pursuing a move from English and European Champions Manchester United, to Real Madrid. Here’s what he said:

“It is a dream, a step forward,” Ronaldo replied when asked about the prospect of playing at the Bernabau.

“For me, it is a great opportunity and, as Scolari says, that train passes by only once and we have to take advantage of it.”

Hang on… ‘as Scolari says’. Something smells fishy to me. This is Liuz Filipe Scolari – the new manager of Chelsea! It would be in Chelsea’s interests to move Ronaldo away from Man Utd, wouldn’t it? Hmmm.

More on John Terry’s penalty miss

Following on from my post a couple of days ago, I found some more quotes by John Terry who missed the penalty that (he thinks) lost the Champions League final for Chelsea. The quotes are from the BBC news website.

“I am so sorry for missing the penalty and denying the fans, my team-mates, family and friends the chance to be European champions,” he said.

“I have relived that moment every minute since it happened.

“I walked forward to take it knowing that it was there to be won and it was all down to me. What happened next will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“I feel I have let everybody down and this hurts me more than anything.

“I am not ashamed about crying. This is a trophy I have tried so hard to win year after year and it was just an uncontrollable reaction. I wear my heart on my sleeve and everyone knows that.”

John Terry does not need to be ashamed about crying, and he doesn’t need to apologise for what he did – the team tried hard but just came up short by the smallest of margins. He does need to forgive himself though, and know that his self-esteem and identity need not be linked to his success or failure on the football pitch.

Goals, goals, goals – success and failure

This was the final moment of the season. The moment the whole season had been building up to. Chelsea had already lost the League Cup and the Premiership in the final moments, now was the pick of the three. The most important.

1-1 after extra time. Onto penalties, Man Utd had missed one of theirs. It comes to the last penalty. John Terry steps up. All he had to do was score, and Chelsea would win the Champions League, the pinnacle of European club competition.

As he stepped up to the ball, he slipped and missed. Man Utd were back in the hunt, and would go on to win.

After the game, John Terry cried. I don’t just mean that he was sad at not winning. He was inconsolable. For 10 or 15 minutes, as the rain pelted down around him, he couldn’t look anyone else in the eye. He buried his head first in the ground and then in his managers shoulder. They, he, had failed.

From the Daily Telegraph

His tears said it all. John Terry, one of the toughest defenders in the world, has suffered broken bones and battle scars, but nothing compared to the bitter taste of defeat.

The Chelsea captain didn’t care that 100 million people were watching him on television as he wept inconsolably on the pitch after losing the Champions League final.

Haunted by his penalty miss which cost the cup Terry seemed unable to look team-mates in the eye and instead buried his face in the shoulder of his manager Avram Grant.

His fellow defender Ricardo Carvalho said: “We couldn’t stop him crying.”

Winning this competition had been a goal of Chelsea and John Terry for years. They had never been to the final before, and it may be a long time before they get there again. John may not get another chance. It was devastating.

How do we cope when we fail?

If we build our lives on achieving goals, whether sporting, academic, or career – nothing wrong with any of these – but if they are the thing on which our identity is built, failure is devastating. It is not just the goal that is not reached, but our whole identity and our way of coping with the world is affected. It seems to me that there are many people who do this, whose goals need to be achieved so they stand out from the pack. What happens when the pack catches up?

So what can he do? He can buckle down, set new goals, and work towards them. Yes. But he may fail again.

Or he can set his identity on something that is real, unswerving, and will not let him down. Something which is not dependant on success or failure.

In the Bible, the apostle Paul has a goal and he says this about it.

”I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”  (Phil 3:12)

His ultimate goal is secure, because Jesus has already taken hold of him and is pulling him towards God. His identity is based on that which is already achieved, Christ’s death and resurrection. That is how Paul defines himself, safe in the hands of God.

Now Paul is free to set new goals, and strive for them in the security that his identity is safe, even if he fails. He can go for them in freedom to stretch out for them, not in the fear of missing them. Succeed or fail, his identity is not riding on it.

Perhaps John Terry could do the same.