As I write this, the England national soccer team are a few hours past winning their first knockout game at the 2022 World Cup. Their coach, Gareth Southgate, has overseen probably the most consistently excellent 6 year period for the national team in at least 50 years.
But, the prevailing narrative is that his teams play too conservatively given the generational array of attacking talent they have at their disposal.
But Southgate has done his homework. He knows what it takes to go deep into tournaments. He knows it’s rarely the teams that come haring out of the blocks in the early stages that do well.
Most often it’s the teams that go about their business, methodologically conserving energy, and just doing enough to advance to the next round.
Sometimes it’s better to be boring and win.
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