Good morning all, doing my 5 minutes free writing with prompt - Second Best. Hope you enjoy the story.
Now that world cup has concluded at the start of the week. The now former champion Argentina shows that they are 1 victory short of defending the trophy. They are now the second best.
Second Best, on podium, they are the silver medalist, or 1st runner up. But honestly only in competitions that were likely rigged then the second best would be happy. It's human nature to want to win, to be the best and second to none.
Thus, second best is also the first loser, and probathe most painful loss, losing only to the undefeated, despite guaranteed podium finished but no one is looking at the lower step given a chance.
The last 2 world cup journeys of Argentina has also taught us that sequence of losing is important. In 2022, they lost their opening group match that shocked many. From there, they went on to win all other matches till the moment almost millions of people waiting to see, The G.O.A.T. Messi lifting the trophy.
However, in 2026, they won right from the start all the way to the final where they suffered the first and only defeat and now they are second best.
Therefore, losing early might not spells the end, but losing at the end to the eventual winner would mean you can only be second best.