The best offense is defense?

I’m free! That is my flu symptoms are officially gone and I can start being a normal human being again. It was rough to get sick immediately after my wedding, but I suppose at least it happened after.

I watched the Brazil vs Croatia game this morning while going through my morning inbox. It was fascinating to watch as it was clearly Brazil’s game to lose the entire way through. Croatia knew they had no chance of keeping up with Brazil if they played into their hands, so Croatia decided to basically hole up on the defensive side and do everything possible to get to penalty kicks.

The strategy was working as they went into extra time and it seemed like this would be headed for penalties. Neymar for Brazil eventually broke through and scored a gorgeous goal which seemed like this would doom Croatia. Pretty much everyone including myself thought the game was over until somehow Croatia got a goal. That was their only 1 shot on target the entire match.

The match went to penalty kicks and Croatia was able to pull it off. Their strategy had worked beautifully to beat a much more talented and better Brazilian team. It was a fascinating game to watch as someone who doesn’t watch much soccer. I suppose it would be the equivalent of a bad football team trying to control the clock the entire game.

I love drawing sports parallels to business and I couldn’t help but think how Croatia’s strategy could be translated to today’s business world. As much as I’d like to be aggressive all the time, perhaps the market is signaling that we all need to pull a Croatia and play defense for now. Let’s bend, not break and live long enough to get us to our opportunities that lie ahead. Anything can happen if we make it to penalty kicks.