^{Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash}

After the finals of the just ended #AFCON21 in Cameroon, the Cameroonian social media space exploded into a frenzy of outcries, declarations and accusations of witchcraft as seen from the actions of Egypt's superb shot-stopper Gabraski.

By the way, Cameroon managed to go out of their way and organize what was arguably the best #afcon ever with amazing stadiums, footage, entertainment and extravaganza.

Anyway, right after the finals where Senegal managed to defeat Egypt after a penalty shootout to lift their first-ever International trophy, someone managed to pick up and share a video of Gabraski's water bottle which he clearly forgot behind the goal post as he exited the field in tears from their loss.

^{Gabraski's Water Bottle containing penalty Clues: Image Credit: Ibrahima khalil Djité on Twitter}

Cameroonians immediately went crazy as the video showed that Gabaski had diagrams of the penalty preferences of every Senegalese player glued on his water bottle. People started calling Egyptians cheats, witches and so on and so forth... What was most shocking was the caliber of people who took to social media to say all these things... I'm talking sports journalists, media personnel, intellectuals... 🤣🤣🤣

Well, this is what made me decide to do this short write up to attempt to

1. Explain why Gabraski's bottle is not juju or cheating...
2. Remind us all of the importance of strategizing...

So,

Strategy formulated from Research is not Witchcraft... It is a basic requirements in sports... in business... and especially in life. Are you living your life based on a well thought and define plan of action, or are you just going with the flow (I hope not)

In sports, every team worth their salt discusses and builds notes in training. We see players entering the field all the time with notes from their Managers... Take for example, there's a popular story about Mourinho passing a note at one time to one of his players through an opponent 🤣🤣🤣 #theSpecialOne

^{Jose Mourinho - Source: Aleksandr Osipov on Wikimedia Commons}

One of our biggest problems is that we're so accustomed to not planning so much so that when we see people who have clear plans and strategies implemented to secure a win... we call foul and witchcraft 😂😂😂

AGAIN!!! 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗱. It makes you ignorant (puts you in a position to step back and learn).
"Life turn-turn Balance, na you no di do the necessary work required"

A Business Insider article summarizes Sun Tzu's Art of War like this:

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝘆, 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗻𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗯 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲."

It's like my friend Mambe Nanje said,

"The world has changed... The new Juju is #data driven"

The movie "Money Ball" is a great example of how a team manager uses data to create incredible results.

Well, If you're still crying Juju,

1. There's no rule of the game against it
2. Managers do it all the time... The reason why managers stand by the side of the pitch is so they talk to their players... remind them of what they've discussed and new information that comes up during open play... NFL players carry plays in their casket and pads
3. No one is restricted from doing same... it's equal opportunity ...so the fact that someone prepared more than u and used tools u didn't use doesn't make it fraud.

^{Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash}

If there's any lesson to be learned here. Do your Homework before you embark on any project.

Thanks for reading.