JOACHIM LOW, COACH OF THE WINNING GERMAN MEN'S SOCCER TEAM, KNOWS A FEW THINGS ABOUT LEADING A TEAM FOR A HIGH-STAKES PERFORMANCE.
BY CAMILLE SWEENEY AND JOSH GOSFIELD
Joachim Low was a mediocre professional soccer
player. As a coach he had only middling success.
When
he was promoted from assistant to head coach of the German National Team in 2006 he followed in the footsteps
of the much-revered coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Low was a tactical mastermind. As
Klinsmann’s chief game strategist and as head coach himself, Low had ditched
the static and defensive style of the German team and replaced it with a
relentless fluid style of attacking football.
The
German team’s success raised the collective hopes of the nation, but they
always lost the critical games. After a disappointing loss to Spain in the
semi-finals in the 2010 World Cup, Low was reviled in the German press. It
became a national sport to question Low’s ability to bring home the cup.
In
a pre-tournament poll, Germans had so little faith in Low’s leadership
that only 6% of the country expected the team to win the 2014 World Cup. But
apparently Low knew a thing or two about beating the competition because in
front of a billion viewers of the final game, Low proved 94% of his countrymen
wrong.
So what can we learn
about competing from this footballing philosopher?
KEEP ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOUR RIVALS
Even if you have a
wildly successful strategy your competitors will eventually figure out how to
respond. Low made a splash with his counterattacking style of soccer. In the
2010 World Cup, Germany’s opponents were shocked. But when they adjusted to it,
Low knew that he, too, would have to change.
“They
all played deeper against us. They knew what we are about,” Low said, according to the Guardian. Although Low never abandoned the fast
counterattacking transitions, he became more flexible. For each game he developed
a strategy tailored to his competition--after which he moved on to what one sports journalist called Low’s “precision-engineered plan” for
the next team. Low will change his team’s formation, switch players’ positions,
reconfigure the tempo of a game, and even use mind games to psych out his
rivals. Just ask Brazil.
KNOW
THE CONDITIONS
Competition takes
place under specific conditions. These conditions--that can range from an
economic environment to a climate--affect all of those who compete. The
organization that plans how to optimize its team’s efforts under those specific
conditions has an advantage over the organization that goes about doing things
as they always have.
Low
knew that one of the reasons no European team had ever won a World Cup hosted
in South America or Mexico was that even a powerhouse European team might be
unprepared for the physical demands of playing in a tropical climate. Since the
2014 World Cup was held in Brazil’s hot and humid climate, Low was aware that
Germany’s typical focus on ball possession would “devour energy.” Instead of trying to macho his team
through the tropical climate, Low advised his players to be patient, to
conserve energy so they could retain their stamina to the very last match.
“You
could see at the end that Argentina was getting more and more tired,” said Low, to reporters in a press conference
after the final match. As Argentina’s strength flagged, Low expertly
substituted fresh players. In the last two minutes of regular playtime Low sent
in 22-year-old Mario Gotze, who had been on the field barely a third of the
total 690 minutes the German team played in the World Cup. Gotze looked as if he’d
had just strolled out of a spa. When he received a chest-high pass from another
substitute player, Gotze calmly chested the ball, and threw himself in the air,
extending his leg and precisely kicking the ball past Argentina’s goalie
through the sliver of unobstructed space into the net for the only goal of the
game.
INSTILL INNOVATION IN YOUR TEAM
Even though the
German players (many of them well-paid stars on different professional clubs)
train together for only several weeks before the World Cup, they are renowned
for their efficiency and organization. But they also have an extraordinary
ability to creatively respond to game situations. Of course, the Germans have a
multi-syllabic word for it--mannschaftliche--which
means team synergy.
Low
directs his players to think like entrepreneurs, searching for opportunities
and dangers. Before games they discuss the strengths of their team and the
strengths of their opponents as well those of the individual players. Based on
that information they develop "if-then" strategies for specific
situations so that the players can react quickly and in concert.
“Today's
generation of players wants to understand why something works--and how,” Low
said in a lengthy pre-World Cup 2014 interview with the German team psychologist and
a journalist from Zeit. “You cannot just say: ‘Do this! Now
or never!’ I have to include them in the tournament strategy.” Whether the
player is a “master or a substitute,” Low accords every player a major role on
the team. Low is a virtuoso of motivation. In a post-match press conference Low said that just before the end of halftime
in extra time of the final match, he told Gotze, “Show the world that you are
better than Messi [Argentine soccer superstar] and that you can decide the
World Cup."
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