Germany Brazil Semi-Final 2014. An object lesson for organizations who forget the fundamentals

The Brazil Germany Semifinal 2014, played in front of tens of thousands of fervent Brazilian supporters, offers a cautionary tale to any organization that forgets to do the basics. It is particularly telling that an organization that for decades was held in such high esteem collapsed in 18 minutes. In that brief time, Brazil had as many goals scored on it as they had allowed in their previous two entire World Cup tournaments. In reviewing those 18 minutes, the reason for the speed of the collapse becomes painfully obvious.

How could such a thing occur? Going into the game, there was enormous emotion on the part of the players, the fans, and the entire Brazilian nation, that had carried the team through the first several rounds. As the national anthem played, and the cameras swept across the crowds and the players, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the team and the nation felt a sense of destiny. After all, Brazil had won five World Cups, more than any other, playing the World Cup, in front of its hometown fans. However, with all that fervor, the team members appeared to forget that they still needed to play the game at a level commensurate with the competition.

In analyzing what happened in any game, or any business, the typical line is: what keeps the CEO/the coach awake nights? One response would be not to defend the number one goal scorer on the other team. It seems so basic. Know your competition and defend against those things that can do you damage. Yet on Germany’s first corner kick, the top German goal scorer, Thomas Mueller, was left completely unguarded and easily put the ball into a wide-open net. Minute 11. The look on the crowd was one of surprise and irritation.

What had happened? Interestingly, in the run-up to that first goal, the British announcers were making the typical color commentary such as Brazil having never lost to a European team in Brazil. They mentioned the fever pitch of the team and the crowd; that the noise that was so intense that the needed headphones simply to hear each other. For the first five minutes, the crowd screamed and jeered every time Germany touched the ball while enthusiastically singing and cheering the Brazilian play. The commentators mentioned in passing that Brazil, who in previous tournaments had made famous their Samba style of crisp play, had actually committed more fouls than any other team in the tournament and so had strayed far from their traditional core values. To that point in the tournament, it had not apparently made a difference.

At the same time, the commentators observed that Brazil was giving up a lot of space to the Germans and appeared to be adopting a laissez-faire, Sunday morning, friendly pickup game style. So it was that this lackadaisical play, failing to do the basics, cost the first goal. However, Brazil had been behind in the Croatia game, their first. Ironically, that was an own goal, perhaps a foreshadowing of some of the fundamentals that were missing in this team. But for the crowd, having been behind before early on, there was no reason to worry and the cheers and the chanting continued. The Brazilian players responded to this wave of emotion through a frenzied attack with long passes that were often not on target and a series of individual efforts that crashed against the German defensive wall.

What makes a CEO/the coach not sleep well at night? One thing might be not guarding and paying attention to the striker who had scored more World Cup goals than anyone else in history. Ten minutes after the first goal, exactly this occurred and Miroslav Klose had not one but two point-blank chances to score. The goalie could parry the first but with no backup from the defense, the second went in. As the camera panned across the crowd, one saw in the faces the first signs of disappointment and holding back of tears. More importantly, the signs of doubt began to creep into the faces of the Brazilian players. Actually, it was more disbelief because this was their home crowd, their home stadium, and such things should simply not happen.

What makes a CEO/the coach sleep very poorly? One thing might be not passing the ball well and letting three opposing players pass the ball back and forth unimpeded until one could take a clear shot and follow-up the rebound to put it home. Less than two minutes after the second goal exactly that occurred and Tony Kroos had his first goal. Now the wave of emotion in the Stadium began to turn to one of extreme disappointment and many fans were beginning to cry. How would the Brazilian team respond to such a turn of events?

What makes a CEO/the coach have nightmares at night? One thing might be to have a defender be so unfocused as to allow the opposing midfielder take the ball away from the defender deep in their own zone and allow the attacker to continue unhindered and take a clear shot at goal. One minute after the third goal, exactly that occurred and Tony Kroos had his second goal in two minutes. Many fans watching the game on TV thought they were watching a replay of the third goal until they realized they were actually watching the fourth goal. At this point, the crowd was moving from enthusiastic cheering of their home team to a mixture of disbelief, tears and stunned silence. How would the Brazilian team respond?

What makes a CEO/the coach not sleep well at all? One thing might be to have the entire team essentially stand around, stop moving, not play their man, and essentially freeze and forget how to play the game. That is exactly what continued to happen with no clear plan of attack or plan of defense, simply a series of random, unconnected attempts to play the ball. The result was a fifth goal just four minutes later by Sami Khedira. The commentators, reflecting the almost deafening silence from the hometown crowd, stated that if this had been a boxing match, the referee would have been forced to call the match to protect the participants from further injury.

From minute 11 to minute 29, Brazil had allowed more goals than in entire tournaments. The reason for this historical collapse was relatively simple: Forgetting to play the basics. The speed of the collapse was shocking, yet in many ways not surprising given this inattention to fundamentals. It did not get better for Brazil in the second half. As the commentators said: “One of the most astonishing games in this or any world cup”. “This game will be referred to in 50 years time”. “Please do not adjust your set, the score is correct.”

The lessons for organizations are clear. If you want to succeed, you need to do the basics really well. You need to have a plan and execute the plan. You need to constantly review and train on the fundamentals so that, like a good professional, you do things well so often so that you can't do them poorly. The penalty for failing to plan and execute on the basics can often be very swift. For soccer teams, playing sound defense, controlling the ball, looking for opportunities, being patient, not losing focus by being overly emotional, shaking off mistakes and continuing to play at a high level, and taking advantage of what ever the opposition gives you, means you will probably carry the day. For businesses, understanding the customer, building on your own expertise and special skills, working together as a team to deliver the best quality product and service to the marketplace, analyzing the competition and taking advantage of whatever opportunities they give you, similarly lead to success. Conversely, complacency, emotional fervor leading to competitive myopia, “not invented here”, “we've always done it this way”, “this could never happen to us”, and similar lapses have led to corporate collapse in remarkably short periods.

Brazil Germany Semifinal 2014. A game for the ages and an object lesson for organizations both on and off the field.