Shattered Dreams

Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.
- Bill Shankly (former Liverpool FC Manager)

When John Terry came up to take the fifth penalty in the shootout against Manchester United, he had the moment of his life waiting for him and he would be the greatest of all Chelsea heroes in a few seconds. What would make it more special is the fact that he had been there from the age of 14 and he has been the product of the Chelsea academy. Coming through the ranks, he on that night had the biggest moment of his life. The fact that he was the captain of the team he served so long and just one kick in the back of the net would give him the biggest achievement of his life and in the history of club too makes the moment ever so special. What a moment in life!!! He would not have swapped his life with anyone in the big wide universe for that moment. The kick of glory was just moments away.

Ten minutes later, he would swap his life with anyone in the ground for a few days. His sobbing pictures would be more than enough to tell the story to even the dumbest of persons what had gone down. The moment had gone all terribly wrong – he missed and Manchester won the game in sudden death. Left crying like a baby on the field, he would have just wished for once that he could just have changed that moment in any possible way that he can. He was slaughtered by the media and the fans criticized him like anything just for the fact that he missed the penalty without caring for the fact that whether he played well or not. And for once he was left with the question for… Why Me ?? No one even remembers Anelka for missing the ultimate kick and the blame was all on the Chelsea Captain.

Lets for the sake of argument say that Terry had scored, then what? Does anyone remember who missed for Manchester – it was their season long hero Christiano Ronaldo who scored over 40 goals in the season and yet if they would have lost he would have been a villain. And then he might have been asking the same question – Why Me? His crying face told the story of how relieved he was – if they would have lost he would have rued that moment for the rest of his life. And now do we realize that its the one who wins that matters and the losers count for nothing.

Mia Hamm was quoted saying “The person that said winning isn’t everything, never won anything.”

She could not have been wrong in a way. Everyone knows the importance of a big stage and how important it is to stand up to that moment. But when that moment goes wrong you just feel as if the world has came to an end for you. It’s just like feeling that the whole of the world has gone against you. As was seen after the missed penalty incident that it doesn’t matter whether you tried or not, all that matters is whether you delivered or not. It’s heartbreaking to think that every morning you wake up and wish that the moment could have been different. And it might just come to a point for once – what if life never gave another chance? Are we to contemplate every time the fact that the moment could have been different? But as it goes the only thing that matters to the world is winning and no one remembers any other things. Such moments in life give us an opportunity to believe in words like luck, fate and destiny. At such moments you realize that when people say that you need that one percent luck for success, what it means. It is always bitter to think that the only person you can blame for your shattered dream is no one but your own self.

As we go through life we have moments, we have incidents where we are just left standing and wondering the same question. Those are the moments where you need to be strong. Amidst all the pain you have, you need to stand up and face the moments and tell yourself that you can beat your destiny. Frank Lampard the other long serving player for Chelsea said in an interview later about Terry that he was Mr. Chelsea and was a man’s man. It just shows the belief everyone has in the guy and the fact that he will bounce back. The world always worships the winners but it is upon us to prove that one can rise from the dead and come back as a winner.

But as we approach the end it comes to the fact that you write your own destinies and the fact that no one else is to blame just might become the source of inspiration which might just give you the strength to achieve bigger and better things. As is beautifully out down by Gordon Lightfoot the famous songwriter –

“Turning back the pages of my sweet shattered dream, I wonder if she’ll ever do the same; And the thing that I call living is just being satisfied With knowing I’ve got no one left to blame”