Football heroes or zeroes, injuries have already wrecked so many teams before the start of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar
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FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting spectacle on earth. It’s even bigger than the Summer Olympics, which is also held every four years. As the final countdown nears for the kick-off of the football blitz in Qatar next Sunday, November 13, it is worth looking at an important and key area like fitness.
These days, the media is full of news pertaining to how Indian cricketers are unfit or injured, not able to give their best due to excess cricket. Blame it on the Indian Premier League is the favorite pastime. People forget, being a professional athlete, you cannot pick and chose when you want to play and where you want a break.
A few spoilt brats in Indian cricket do have that luxury, but, certainly, in sports like tennis and football, there is no such relief. The timing of this FIFA World Cup has come in for severe criticism from the day it was awarded to Qatar. Such criticism is there because the European nations have always felt a sport like a football is their preserve.
Just sample of this, the FIFA World Cup in 2018 was hosted by Russia. Today, Russia is engaged in one of the most mindless wars in history against Ukraine, with a madman called Putin obsessed with it. Russia, itself, is divided over the war. Britain, parts of Europe and the United States of America are furious that Russia is waging the worst kind of war. Loss of lives, loss of business, economic loss and humanity at large suffering has got magnified.
Hardly any time is being given to the players to recover and be in peak shape for competing in the FIFA World Cup, the world’s biggest sporting spectacle
Russia, the erstwhile USSR, was a great sporting nation. Viewed historically, they did themselves proud when Moscow hosted the Olympics in 1980. At that time, the West Bloc boycott had diluted the Olympics. The Games still went on. Look at the current situation. Last edition’s host of the FIFA World Cup, Russsia, was not allowed to compete in the qualifiers this time by the UEFA and FIFA.
It is a decision that has been appreciated but the damage it had done to their own football is colossal. One can understand how mindless Russia has been and how its athletes are suffering in a variety of sports. Those who have studied Russia from a historical perspective will understand how much they were part of the global sport in terms of dominating several arenas.
All that has come to an end now. The focus in this World Cup in Qatar is now on other European football countries who have qualified and, of course, countries from South America. Imagine, having a FIFA World Cup in November and not the summer. This is the time when the European football season in Britain is nearing an end.
In fact, there are matches over this weekend as well and nothing matters to the rich club owners. None cares for the poor (not financially speaking) football players. They are like commodities in a market that are bought and sold, with prices fluctuating according to their form and fluency, and, of course, fitness.
Flip through the list of players who are going to miss the World Cup, the list shakes you up. Sample this: Marco Reus (Germany), Paul Pogba (France), Ben Chilwell (England), Diogo Jota (Portugal), and Arthur Melo (Brazil) are some of the names who will not be playing the matches but watching at home on television.
The list is much longer as if the players have been in a war and are unable to walk around. The kind of injuries sustained are crazy: Hamstring, calf, ankle, knee, back, thigh, and fibula. It’s almost like whatever you can find in a book called Grey’s Anatomy which gives you a peep into the human system. Some of the injuries are serious in nature, due to wear and tear and inadequate rest.
The major injuries are also because of excess play, and not getting enough rest. Qatar is hosting the World Cup in November because in summer it’s like a blast furnace. We can continue speculating with friends on which nation will win, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, and so on but the reality is no team is injury free. The short gap, less than a week between club football and the World Cup is a nightmare.
This has been the shortest-ever gap, where players do not get even one-month off-period. The doctors, physios, masseurs, ortho specialists, and the whole gamut from the medical fraternity are breaking their heads and heart, on how to get the superstars into shape. The commercial world of football treats the players like machines. They are supposed to hold us in thrall, non-stop.
Makes sense? No way. If you are still punting on your favorite time, please go through the list of players who are fully fit or on the casualty list! Modern football is killing a whole breed. All because we want to see them play non-stop. Dude, they are not an F1 car that can be tuned up in the pits in no time. These are humans. Wanna shed a tear?
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)