Victory Lessons from the Green Pitch
■ Yi Jiayan
"Energy can infect everyone, and it will never be extinguished..." On the evening of July 19, local time, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, New York, accompanied by the farewell strains of "Dai Dai," cascading ribbons and golden confetti fluttered down as more than eighty thousand spectators slowly departed the stands bathed in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
With that, the United States-Canada-Mexico World Cup—39 days, 104 matches—wrote its final chapter.
The celebrated Dutch football manager Michels once said: "Football is war." Indeed, every fiercely contested pitch compresses the logic of two armies in confrontation; every sweeping, high-stakes match conceals lessons for defeating the enemy in modern warfare.
For soldiers, watching exercises play out on the green pitch is more than spectating; the way of victory lies in constant reflection and constant readiness. In the night skies over the North American continent, the contest on the green pitch has now concluded—but looking back at every match, any soldier who thinks about and prepares for war can read the logic of warfare and draw the strength of victory from that spinning football. Because the truly strong never pass up any opportunity to learn, even if it is a football match.
I
Extra time in the final, the atmosphere thick with tension. In the 106th minute, a lofted delivery floated down from the air; Spanish player Ferran Torres struck it with force, the ball cutting a sharp straight line and shaking the net, transforming a long agony of suspense into the entire team's jubilation in an instant.
1–0. From the scoreline alone, it was just a single goal's difference—yet the statistics revealed Spain's comprehensive dominance throughout the final. Over the course of the match, Spain completed 20 shots, 12 on target, while Argentina managed only 2 shots and 0 on target. A prominent football commentator identified the secret of Spain's victory: a superior system (体系).
The football king Pelé once said: "Football is a team sport; one person cannot win a match." This World Cup final reminded us once again that football is a sport of eleven people—winning requires the strength of the team. No matter how capable a single superstar may be, it cannot overcome the opponent's powerful, interlocking system.
Is this not also the law of victory in modern warfare? In modern warfare, joint operations and system-versus-system confrontation (体系对抗) have long since replaced individual combat. Just as the "one-touch passing" on the football pitch requires each combat element to complete information transfer and fire coordination within milliseconds. This demands that we work harder to train within the system and train the system itself (强化体系练、突出练体系), actively embed ourselves in the operational chain, strengthen inter-service and inter-branch interdependent training, strengthen training to integrate new domains and new forces into the operational system, continuously enrich system-of-systems operational experience, raise system-of-systems operational capability, and forge elite forces that win through system superiority.
II
"A one-goal lead could not preserve half a match's glory; Argentina's two goals turned the tide, and the 'Three Lions' youth, full of expectation, saw it all dissolve into a sigh the moment the decisive blow arrived." After the United States-Canada-Mexico World Cup semifinal, netizens described England's regret at winning and then losing in these terms.
What caused the defeat? After the match, media, fans, and former players all questioned England manager Tuchel's conservative in-match tactical arrangements and substitution decisions.
First he tacitly permitted a defensive retreat after going ahead on the scoreboard; then he actively neutralized his own team's most threatening mode of attack; finally, a substitution before the final whistle left a massive defensive void in the central area outside his own penalty box... After the match, a leading British media outlet enumerated England manager Tuchel's three command blunders, and the conclusion can be summed up in a phrase we know well: "One incompetent general exhausts the entire army (一将无能，累死三军)."
The ancients said: "A general's strength lies in strategy, not in courage." On the football pitch, the manager is that "general." So it is on the pitch; so it is even more on the battlefield. War is the greatest system of uncertainty; no operational plan can anticipate every variable.
A commander's on-the-spot decisions and a unit's rapid response are often more important than pre-arranged plans. The "improvised combination" on the football pitch and "adapting to circumstances" (随机应变) on the battlefield are, in essence, both about keen perception of the situation and precise grasp of timing. It must be recognized in particular that the role of command confrontation has risen to unprecedented heights in modern warfare. Commanders at every level must comprehensively upgrade command training, fix their gaze on "the next war," constantly harbor "concern" about capability, and constantly pose "questions" about victory—only then can they comprehensively raise their warfighting readiness capability for the new era and firmly grasp the initiative in future warfare.
III
Among the unforgettable moments of the United States-Canada-Mexico World Cup, there is certainly this one: the decisive last-minute strike (绝杀).
"Stoppage-time thunder, extra-time breakthroughs—one decisive goal after another ensured that every hard-fought battle retained its reversals and miracles." "A single second reversed joy and sorrow, sending a match on the verge of conclusion surging back into towering waves of heat." "The final instant rewrote fate; suspense and drama stretched to the limit—this is football's most stirring hot-blooded romance."...
One thought heaven, one thought hell—extreme suspense also conceals the profound truth of winning through change in the arena of contest. From despair to hope, from tears to laughter, football tells us in the most brutal and yet most generous way: as long as the final whistle has not blown, one must never give up. Is life not the same? We always think fate has been written, that the road ahead is blocked—not knowing that the turning point is often hidden in the next sprint, the next contest for the ball. This is precisely football's metaphor for life.
Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "It often happens that favorable circumstances and the recovery of initiative arise from 'persisting just a little longer.'" Do not despair at the edge of the abyss and lament that the road is exhausted—wonders and marvels are often found precisely in desperate straits. On the future battlefield, dangerous situations, perilous situations, and stalemates are unavoidable. At such moments, what is most needed is to clench our teeth and "persist just a little longer." Only by preparing for both the expected "ten thousand" and the unexpected "one-in-ten-thousand," and by training hard the capability to fight uphill battles and break through counterattack situations, can we transform disadvantage into advantage, transform passivity into initiative, and ultimately fight and win.
IV
At this World Cup, VAR (Video Assistant Referee), semi-automated offside recognition technology, and intelligent data analysis systems were widely applied—technology is profoundly changing the game of football. Coaching teams adjust tactics through real-time data; players monitor physical indicators through wearable devices; referees ensure fairness through technological means. Football is no longer a purely physical contest; it is also a contest of technology and data.
So too on the battlefield. From precision guidance to unmanned combat, from cyberspace to artificial intelligence, technology is reshaping the form of warfare. Whoever can lead by one step in technological innovation will hold the initiative on the future battlefield. Behind every exquisite combination on the football pitch lies the product of big-data training; behind every precision strike on the battlefield lies the support of technological power.
Technology is the primary combat capability; innovation is the primary driving force. Raising the combat effectiveness of our forces requires us to actively carry out science and technology military training activities (科技练兵活动), make full use of cutting-edge technological achievements such as intelligent technology, actively develop intelligent simulation and modeling, war-gaming confrontation, and network confrontation exercise-and-training systems, fully release the comprehensive effects of innovation in training methods, drive innovation in tactics and training methods (战法训法) supported by technology, and comprehensively raise the level of training and the capability to fight and win.
V
Spain's championship victory offers many lessons to summarize, but one is often overlooked: discipline.
"Talent determines a team's ceiling, while discipline fortifies the baseline of victory... Tactically precise execution of orders and a composed, restrained mindset on the pitch kept Spain's formation intact and free of vulnerabilities through 120 minutes of hard fighting, ultimately allowing them to claim the crown through ordered structure." A football professional wrote these words.
Indeed, in football, discipline is the skeleton of tactics, supporting the precision of every run and every pass-and-cut combination; discipline is the hub of coordination, condensing the heartbeats of eleven people into a moving fortress; discipline is above all the crystallization of will, enabling individuals to remain subordinate to the overall arrangement even under extreme fatigue. In a certain sense, the soul of football lies not only in superior strength, but also in iron-like execution and unspoken trust.
"Without discipline, we would be like loose sand, crushed grain by grain, quickly, by the enemy." The verse at the Memorial Hall of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression serves as a sobering reminder. Discipline is like a furnace, forging the sinews and bones of a steel torrent; orders are like mountains, marking the standard for advance and retreat in attack and defense. Strengthen discipline, and revolution is invincible. In modern warfare, the operational space is full-domain and multi-dimensional, operational elements are highly interconnected, and the operational tempo has accelerated to an unprecedented degree—this demands all the more that we use iron discipline to forge iron will, temper iron style, and build iron forces.
VI
This World Cup was a "twilight of the gods," and also a "dawn of new stars."
Ronaldo, Modrić, Neymar... A generation of legends walked onto the pitch; every match could be their World Cup swan song. At the same time, players born in 2000 or later accounted for roughly forty percent of participants. England's squad included 13 players born after 2000; Spain's included 12. The 19-year-olds Yamal and Cubarsí started in the World Cup final. "They are not 'children'—they are warriors." Spain manager De la Fuente's eyes reddened after the match.
The passing of the old and the coming of the new is a law of nature and a law of history. In the history of warfare, new weapons replacing old weapons, new tactics replacing old tactics, and a new generation replacing the old generation are irresistible historical trends. History teaches us: whoever can embrace the power of youth will win the future.
Young officers and soldiers are the rising sun of the military, the living source of combat power generation. Their thinking is swift as lightning, their spirit sharp as a rainbow; their fingertips can marshal torrents of data, their eyes can pierce the fog of the battlefield. By cultivating and entrusting important responsibilities to young officers and soldiers, letting the edge of youth be honed in realistic combat training, the People's Army will possess its most vital element and its most enduring driving force—and will surely, on the journey of building a strong nation and a strong military, guard a youthful China with a youthful self.
VII
In truth, the changes of war far surpass those of football, and its mysteries are beyond what football can compare to. Football has a common saying: "That's football!" The military world also has a common saying: "That's war!" When speaking of football's appeal, people often say: "Football is round!" When speaking of the appeal of military affairs, people also say: "War is alive!"
Different trades are as far apart as mountains, yet the underlying principles are not. Reading the logic of victory on the World Cup pitch, contemplating the true essence of winning in a contest of strategies, using the pitch to illuminate military strategy (韬略) and using victory and defeat to examine gains and losses—all of this helps us to advance steadily and adapt with composure in the grand game of the era's shifting winds, accumulate strength in silence, press forward with resolve amid changing circumstances, build a steel Great Wall, and guard the peace of our mountains and rivers.