What makes a champion?

As Germany deservingly won the World Cup 2014 with a solitary extra-time goal to beat Argentina, many useful lessons could be derived from their success.

In the first place, although it was the fourth World Cup of their history, it was actually the first for a unified Germany.

So what makes a champion?

The question was posted on Bernama Eds WhatsApp and General Manager Datuk Yong Soo Heong promptly offered his thoughts:

• Teamwork
• Connectivity
• Understanding

 About two hours earlier, not long after the match ended, he had tweeted: 

“Lesson to be learnt from Germany’s win in 2014 FIFA World Cup? Teamwork. Perhaps spirit is another key ingredient.”.

The Independendent newspaper said Germany was richly deserved to take the place of Spain as the pre-eminent world team.

“They have worked towards this with ingenuity and patience and Mario Gotze’s goal deep into extra-time, was reward for all the years of planning and the laudable belief that a proper football nation should develop, not import its best footballers,” the Independent wrote.

Even  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has asked organisations in the government to emulate the success of the German football team which he said won the World Cup 2014 through unanimity.
"In my opinion, we can sum up the success of the German team as individual brilliance and commitment to extraordinary teamwork.
"When we are able to consolidate individual performance in the context of unanimity as a cohesive unit and work together in the spirit of consensus, our achievement will be far greater than the sum of the individuals," he said at the presentation of Treasury excellent service awards at the Finance Ministry complex in Putrajaya.
Early Monday, Najib joined 25,000 football fans to watch the final match of the 2014 World Cup on a huge screen at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.
Germany beat Argentina 1-0 through the goal scored by Mario Goetze in the 113th minute after the game went into extra time.
Najib said that at the organisational level, if an individual puts in extraordinary hard work and has strong organisational culture, he or she would attain a higher level of achievement.
"Thus, if we extend this to the level of a government, we will not be working in a silo.
"We work in a government across boundaries; we are not working in silos. Then, of course, the performance as a whole will reach a higher level," he said.