The dependability of quality

By Steven K Nsubuga

On March 18, 2017, our very own football league champions KCCA    (Kampala Capital City Authority) faced off with reigning African champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the second leg of the CAF Africa Champions league.

A week earlier in South Africa, KCCA had avoided disaster by going down to a narrow 2-1 defeat. This meant that a 1 nil score line in favour of KCCA would enable them qualify at the expense of Sundowns.

And they came pretty close to eliminating the champions, but a few minutes to the end they conceded an equalizer and were thus eliminated. A week earlier, in the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League, Spanish champions Barcelona overcame a 4 nil first leg deficit to overpower French champions PSG, winning the second leg 6-1.

Why am I referencing football here? It is because football is a metaphor of life and can therefore be used as a source of lessons on the same. On paper KCCA were never expected to get past Sundowns. It would have been considered an upset, a miracle even, had they defeated Sundowns.

This is because by virtue of being African champions Sundowns had proved their superiority on the continent. However, even champions have their off days and so when they met KCCA, they were run close.

Ultimately though, in the final minutes of the game, one of their players displayed composure under pressure, dummied a KCCA defender and rifled home an unstoppable shot into the roof of the KCCA goal. Sundowns' quality could not be stopped. They had come into the tie as the superior team and even though they did not embarrass KCCA, their quality ensured they came up tops.

Similarly Barcelona were not expected to be eliminated by PSG and so the world was shocked when the latter put them to the sword in the first leg, emerging victorious with a 4 nil scoreline. Most pundits stated that overturning this deficit was a mountain too steep for Barcelona.

In the second leg, Barcelona set about proving them wrong, and despite a brief comeback by PSG who scored a goal, thereby requiring Barcelona to have to score 6 goals, it still proved a doable task and thus barcelona emerged victorious, making history as the first team to ever overturn such a huge deficit.

The lesson is clear: quality always comes through at the end. This does mean that those with quality have a smooth ride; as seen in the aforementioned football games the journey may be rocky, there may be some setbacks but in the grand scheme of things the thrill of victory will cancel out the past losses. Barcelona suffered a heavy defeat in the first game, but a week later overcame by subjecting an even bigger defeat on their opponents, knocking them out.

Therefore dear reader pursue mastery in your chosen field, keep at it and having attained it, your quality will always enable you become victorious in the end. The Bible also has something to say about quality. In the book of Proverbs 22:29 it says, "Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank." What more can I say? Seek the path of mastery and you will win.

Steven is a member of the Critical Thought Group. He is a software developer.