Goal at Carnival!

The World Cup is going to be more than a Carnival...

If you thought that Carnival in Brazil is wild and popular, wait until this year's World Cup. We are a few hours away from the beginning of the 2014 World Cup -- a month-long celebration of the passion for the world's most popular sport, soccer, the real football.

Television viewers are likely to tune into Brazil 2014 World Cup in record numbers, making it the most watched sporting event ever. The month-long tournament could prove even more popular than the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which reached a global TV audience estimated at 3.6 billion people.

Four years ago, when South Africa hosted the World Cup, some 3.2 billion people watched at least a portion of the competition; that was 10% more than viewed the previous tournament in 2006 hosted by Germany. And this year's competition is expected to grow even more.  The final match is expected to be watched by a live television audience of over a billion people, which would make it one of the world's most-watched television events in history!

32 countries -- one gooooooooooooooooooooal...

 

Over the next month, thirty-two national teams will play towards a common goal. Or goals. In this case, "goals" are both figurative and literal.  There is no greater feat in sports than the scoring of a goal in competitive world-class football soccer, more so in a World Cup. In football soccer, a goal occurs when the entire ball passes over the goal line between the goal posts and under the crossbar and no rules are violated. That is a very specific definition. So specific, it is simple. Just put the ball completely over the goal line inside of the three posts and don't break any rules. Eerily similar to completing any goal in life. To accomplish any goal in life, simplify it.

With proper planning and preparation, goals get realized. Add uncompromised effort and passion to the mix, and achievement of goals becomes almost a sure thing. This reminds of the story of an unsung hero playing for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup final match. A player that earned a starting spot on the tournament squad due to a popular veteran's failing health. He scored the first goal of the game for the eventual champs. The same player was hit hard on a shoulder midway through the game, causing an injury that would typically sideline a player -- were this any other game. He refused to come out of the game; instead, he literally bit a hole in his jersey to rest his thumb and nurse his injured arm to keep on playing, through unbearable pain. It's such uncompromised effort that makes the difference in anything we set out to do -- and accomplish goals.

So, for the next month, whether you are a fan of the world's most popular game or not, remember to simplify and score a gooooooooooooooooooooal! 

...MARIO