Like any first-timer who has come to appreciate that there is more to football than David Beckham, I followed the FIFA World Cup anxiously

And when the spectacle came to an end, it left many lessons that come in handy for university students

Pride is a vice

Brash England could not shut up with the phrase: “It’s coming home.”

They were loud, pompous and overconfident. Well, something went home alright. And that was their plane. Remember that slay queen in first year who rejected you because you couldn’t afford trips to the coast that her sponsor could? Wait until she heads back to your door at the final year, six abortions later, grovelling and spinning tales about how she always loved you. Or that boy that keeps saying he only dates women of a certain type? Two years down the line, he gets an STI and crawls back and is now a poet.

Carelessness is costly

I can only imagine how tough it must be for Hugo LLoris with that howler. 

Let’s not forget the fair play rule that had Senegal sent home. LLoris’ carelessness is the same carelessness that has seen as young men sow wild oats everywhere, expecting to raise a choir of children with the two shillings HELB advances.

Hard work is rewarded

While he may not have won the cup, Croatia’s Modric was the player of the tournament.

Sure, the trip to the library is tedious. When you finally hold the certificate in hand, the sacrifice will be worth the chase.

Discipline in the face of it all

Doubtless, the campus is one place where anything goes.

You really don’t have to be disciplined. We all saw Japan cleaning up, even when they lost and did not have to. While they may not have made it to the crown, they reminded us of the need to do right. While alcohol may call your name on Friday night, how about some discipline? This will save you a lot of money and diseases.

Sometimes you’ll be lucky, sometimes you won’t

I strongly believe that luck played a strong hand in favour of France.

They clearly are the students who go into an exam room with ‘mwakenya’, cheats without getting noticed and scores an A. Croatia on the other hand, is the student that does everything right, reads all the course work and gets a B because the lecturer recycled a paper set out of topic.

Now, we can all go back to wondering what we were doing at 19 while Kylian Mbappe is scoring goals at the World Cup.