I personally thought the final would be a South American affair between Brazil and Argentina but Holland and Germany put that theory to bed.

Just goes to show that nothing is really that predictable in football but as we’ve said before to any budding Asian soccer star, self-discipline matters.

Brazil started strong against the Dutch but lost their way as soon as Holland scored their first goal. From then on Brazil went into panic mode and lost their discipline in defence, an area on which the 2010 Brazil had been built.

Brazil plays best as a team of individuals with flair and creativity who are allowed to play fast one-touch football the South American way.

The world cup 2010 Brazil team looked more like a European team and it didn’t suit them.

Germany on the other hand have always looked like a strong, disciplined unit that have grown stronger throughout  the tournament. Their passing is accurate and they play as a team both in attack and defence.

Germany destroyed Maradona’s Argentina with a 4-0 victory dominating most of the game. Again, the South Americans lost their discipline.

Germany has been the most impressive in the tournament so far, growing in confidence and as a strong unit match by match.

But their discipline is what sticks out most, each player knows what their job is and they get on with it in an effective and efficient manner.

Asian soccer star learning point

Self- discipline is the cornesrtone of success. Discipline will give you freedom.

As Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “the undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”.

And as we already know and have seen from the South American teams that play with passion and flair, once they lose their self-discipline they lose the freedom to play with flair and creativity. They give in to their emotions.

In the longer term, a lack of discipline equates to a lack of freedom to develop particular skills and abilities which are required to play professional football.

And I say that with great hope.

So far, world cup 2010 has been a great disappointment with most of the ‘big players’ failing to perform. The games have lacked the ambition and fluidity that we have been accustomed to in past world cup finals.

But there are plenty of lessons to be learned, especially for anyone that wants to play professional football and realise their dream of becoming an Asian soccer star.

You see, every kid has dreams of playing professional football but very few make it.

Even those kids, and that is the majority,  with real outstanding talent never get scouted or get dropped by the professional club academies and centres of excellence if they don’t seem like they’re not making the grade.

Getting scouted and dropped is in the hands of other people who have their own club and budgetary pressures as well as their own ideas of which kids are likely to make it in the professional game.

To a large extent they also have their built-in bias to profile and stereotype players before the kids have a chance to settle in and really shine; that’s if they get to trial in the first place.

Asian kids already have it tougher than most to get a foothold because of this stereotyping which is precisely why asiansoccerstar.com has been increasing in readership month after month.

Any kid aiming for that goal of becoming an Asian soccer star needs to train harder, longer and smarter than they can imagine. They need to work on their mental toughness and have an unrelenting hunger, desire and ambition to succeed.

Asian kids need to be learning all the time from each training session, each match and every match they watch. World cup 2010 has provided many opportunities to learn; about determination, grit, ambition, desire, hunger and the will to win. They also need to learn about nutrition, psychology and develop their awareness.

Many of these skills can be developed away from the football pitch in every day life.

So far most of the world cup 2010 finals teams have drawn a blank in many of these crucial areas with players and teams under-performing to their potential; France, Italy and England being the worst culprits.

The South American teams have fared better but we expect more of them in the quarter finals.

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England were poor throughout the match apart from a 20-minute glimpse of creativity, passion and desire to chase the ball down. But it didn’t last very long.

I don’t need to give a running commentary of the match as the whole nation was watching, but may be if the second goal had been given things might have turned out differently.

What I found really frustrating was the set-up and movement of the players, there was none.

There was no fluidity of movement or awareness, which are fundamental even at the most basic levels of football. England’s performance was akin to a Sunday league match and a massive disappointment to fans all over the world.

But what is it about the English game that lets them down time after time when they come across a decent footballing side?

It’s not as if they were pitted against the best in the group stages and yet they struggled. Even the game against Latvia was a struggle and considering they were playing the smallest nation in world cup 2010, England should have walked through with an emphatic victory.

Here’s my take on it, and future Asian soccer star’s should take note.

I think football at a grass roots level is fundamentally the problem. Kids are taught FA drills that do little to actually develop a holistic player and focus too much on winning rather than technical development.

Take the South Americans and even the Germans, Dutch and Spanish, they all spend a huge amount of time on individual technical development before moving onto tactical game play.

I feel any one looking to reach their goal of playing professional football and becoming an Asian soccer star needs to spend time on their own developing their technical ability.

With the right mental toughness and technical ability anything is possible in the game of football.

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