FIFA World Cup Final: Coach Didier Deschamps and a Lesson in Authentic Leadership. (A Master Class)

I am not a Sportswriter, commentator, analyst, or enthusiast. I am a Lawyer by training, and I have a passion for crafting public policy statements.

I write this piece strictly influenced by both a theoretical and managerial perspective, based on what I observed a few days ago in the 2022 World Cup final match in Qatar between the France National Football Team and the Argentina National Football Team.

As human beings, we are bound to make mistakes or commit errors of judgment in whatever we do. Only God is infallible.

Objectively, most mistakes are excusable, while some are unpardonable, depending on their egregious nature or willfulness.

It is, however, the ability or inability of the leadership to react to a given situation, acknowledge the existence of shortcomings, identify the nature of the deficiencies, and develop appropriate and immediate remedial mechanisms that separate authentic leaders from neophytes and opportunists.

In the just concluded 2022 World Cup tournament, most of the France National Football Team's star players didn't make it to Qatar due to serious injuries.

The team, though plagued by unmitigated disasters before the World Cup tournament, was still able to make it to the final round against the Argentina National Football Team.

Given the team's excellent performance in the preliminary stages, it was a dumbfounding spectacle when it conceded two goals in the first 35 minutes of play against Messi and his crew. The team was chaotic, lacking steam or cohesion, and appearing unmatched for the Argentine side.

And like a bolt from the blue, France's coach, Didier Deschamps, went into action, not waiting until the end of the First Half to make a change or replacements.

He dropped two players and brought in new faces. Marcus Thuram and Kolo Muani came on for Ousmane Dembele and Olivier Giroud respectively.

That decision in the last 5 minutes of the First Half was not just unusual, but unprecedented. He didn't prevaricate. He must have reasoned that waiting until the end of the First Half before initiating replacements is a deadly flighty purpose that must be overtaken and conquered.

He reacted fast and furiously with commensurate remediation when he discovered the leakages and deficiencies in his lineup. And the result was magical. That's the thesis of this essay.

As he must have anticipated, his team turns the heat on the Argentina team instantaneously. The players maintain that vigorous standard of play until the blasting of the final whistle at the end of 120 minutes of real football.

He made other tactical changes in the early minutes of the Second Half - a decision that revolutionized his team.

Consequently, the French side, thanks to the electrifying Mbappe, scored two goals in quick succession, thus making the scores even for both teams before the end of the original 90 minutes of play.

The question now is, would France Nation Team have conceded those two goals in the First Half if Marcus Thuram and Kolo Muani were parts of the initial eleven players on the field for France? We may never know.

What we do know, however, is that after those changes the French Team did not only stop Messi and his crew from terrorizing their 18-yard box or scoring, but they went ahead and scored two goals before the full 90 minutes of play.

The regulatory 30 minutes of extra time brought out the best and a new surge of energy in the team. Thus, turning the 2022 World Cup final match into one of intense and monumental suspense.

And were it not for a miraculous save by the Argentina Goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, in the dying minutes of the second half of the extra 30 minutes, France striker, Randal Kolo Muani could have made it 4 - 3 in favour of France.

What the France National Football Team coach, Didier Deschamps, did in the first half of the game is a true definition of authentic leadership.