Nigerian writer, political economist and football enthusiast Michael Ogueke shared that he believes football is a team sport. Loss & victory is the achievement of a team. He shared his feelings regarding the final clash between France and Argentina through a Facebook post.
Elaborating on his views, Professor Ogueke stated that No matter the level of the individual brilliance of a player, if he is not lucky to be in the winning team, he won’t win anything in football. He stated that this is why many great Football Players never won anything.
Providing an example to prove his point, Professor Michael Ogueke talked about two players, Kylian Mbappe and Leonel Messi. Talking about Mbappe, he recounted that Mbappe did the work of three supermen in the World Cup final. He was the playmaker, winger & striker.
Three times in 120 minutes, he brought France level from behind. He persevered to take the first penalty kick to give his team confidence in the shoot-out. Michael Ogueke believes that four times in a single match, the french player put the ball into the net of the Argentines.
Further, in his social media post, the political economist expressed that it was not because of a lack of effort, talent or brilliance that Mbappe is not a two times world cup winner. On the other hand, he believes that the player’s teammates failed him:
First, with the last minute of extra time, one on one miss by a teammate
The misses by his teammates in the shoot-out.
He believes that Messi is one of the greatest footballers in history today because of the team he played with at Barcelona. Professor Ogueke added that he is a world cup winner today because of his teammates’ heroics.
He especially talked about the Argentinan goalkeeper, Martinez, who saved a last-minute extra time one on one & two penalties in the shoot-out. He concluded his post with the words. It is the same with life! A man is as lucky, as good & successful as his circle.
