It was like a bad dream. One wounded, then another, another finished with self-denial. Two could not start at all, others played after a long absence. Slovak footballers completed the last two matches of the League of Nations against Sweden and Estonia in a stripped-down lineup.
For numerous injuries.
For one thing, the terrain in Stockholm was disastrous. Not only Slovaks complained, but also locals. However, to place the blame only on the “Swedish” surface would be playing with the truth.
In this case, it is true that there is too much for football players. A large number of matches gradually take their toll on football.
72 matches per year
At this stage, with a long way to go before the end of the season, it should not be about fatigue injuries. However, the break was short, many started at the European Championships during it, and although only three months have passed since the beginning of the year, many players are already starting their third dozen matches. Dissatisfaction with the current situation is growing.
At the end of September, Rodri, the recent owner of the Golden Ball of France Football magazine, called. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to go on strike. We’re afraid it’s too much,” said Manchester City’s Spanish midfielder.
Six days later, he tore his ACL. Currently, one of the best players in the world will not play for a year.
Not a week passed and Dani Carvajal was added to the seriously injured list. Spanish journalists recall how screams of pain rang out in the silence of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Diagnosis – torn two ligaments and a tendon in the right knee.
It looks like he invited this injury on himself too, as he said not long before: “It’s no coincidence that we have so many injuries. We can’t play 72 games a year. It needs to be analyzed.”
This year, the best of the best have a real task ahead of them. They have completed the Euro, preparation for the season, the Super Cup was played in many countries, the Club World Cup will last the whole month, the basic phase of the Champions League has two more matches and representative duels, domestic league and cup competitions.
Experts suggest that such a calendar is unviable. According to them, the quality of the game will drop because it is impossible for players to maintain their top level for a whole year while playing every three days.
As many as 101 footballers were injured in the Spanish league in the first six weeks. Fourteen of them went under the knife. By the October representative break, the number of injuries had increased to two hundred, while up to ten clubs could talk about a double-digit number.
Who will back down? Nobody
It’s not just Spain. The last two seasons in the Premier League saw an increase in injuries by eleven and then by up to 22 percent.
“The number of hours on the field increased dramatically and that was the reason, although not the only reason, why we also saw an increase in the number of injuries. Especially in countries where league metrics indicate high demands in terms of intensity and sprints,” says Pablo de la Torre, Bournemouth’s fitness coach.
“There is scientific evidence that the tissues – in this case the hamstring, which is the most common injury – are not fully recovered and ready to compete again every three days.
Other studies indicate that players who spent 2,500 to 3,000 minutes on the field have an increased risk of injury. It’s their toll for an oversaturated calendar.”
Experts point to the fact that although the number of meetings has slightly increased, GPS data also claim that the distance covered has not increased radically, the problem lies elsewhere.
In the very intensity. She had never been here before. He wants enough rest, but instead the players experience a practically never-ending season.
Spain’s Marca ponders which matches should be removed from the calendar and gives a humorous answer in the article. “Of course they should be someone else’s matches.”
And here is the problem, because no one wants to back down.
Business is done on the green lawn and his interests are superior to those of sports. European football generates 38 percent more money than five years ago.
Maheta Molango, head of the English Professional Footballers’ Association, suggests setting the maximum number of games per season at somewhere between 50 and 60 and protecting a summer break of at least four weeks.
Anger for Lobotka
Not even Stanislav Lobotka, the best Slovak football player of recent years, had that much. After the EC, he joined the training with SSC Napoli almost immediately.
In an interview with šport.sk, he also talked about the inflated schedule and, like Carvajal, he also got injured for a few days. In the representative match in Azerbaijan.
“It’s definitely something to think about. After last season, the European Championships were held immediately, whoever reached the finals only had about two weeks off. It also went by very quickly for me. After that, I had to come back, train and play again.
I think that such a rest is short. If the holiday was a month and a half, maybe it could be managed because it’s a big difference compared to three weeks.”
This, understandably, raised the pressure on the president of the Italian club, Aurelio de Laurentiis. However, this time less understandably, he directed his anger at the Slovakian national team coach Francesco Calzona.
Lobotka was absent from the team for three weeks, he only played the first full match since the forced break in Stockholm. There, however, other names were added to the list of injured.
Dávid Hancko also finished the meeting with difficulties, he arrived among the journalists with a bandaged ankle. “It’s been talked about for a long time, there are a lot of matches, I can see it in myself,” he nodded his head.
In the end, however, his big football heart spoke: “On the other hand – I’m happy to be able to play so much.”
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
