Did injury and tiredness ruin the World Cup?

Now that the world cup has finished we can look back at a tournament that was full of interesting football and many fantastic team and individual performances. The great players from Spain, Holland and Germany nearly all performed well but we have to accept that many players from around the world were disappointing to say the least.

The final itself was interesting and absorbing and there is no doubt that the best team won. It was a victory for football as the only team wanting to play football rather than stopping the other team in any way they could, won out in the end.

Concerns

The head of South Africa’s World Cup organising team Danny Jordaan has expressed his concern around how tired many of the players appeared.

“Player freshness is always an issue at the World Cup. How many matches can the body of a player take? It seems at the end of a season the body cannot take the pressure and extra energy required for the World Cup.”

Despite being nominated for ‘player of the tournament’ the world’s best player, Lionel Messi, was largely ineffective throughout the tournament and failed to score a goal. Kaka looked like a shadow of his former self for Brazil and I think I could have produced similar performances to those produced by England’s Wayne Rooney.

Disappointing

Cristiano Ronaldo was poor for Portugal although was asked to play as a lone striker whilst the other nine outfield players were all asked to defend and for Spain, Fernando Torres had a hugely disappointing tournament.

The two players vying for the ‘best player in the world title’ before the tournament, Messi and Ronaldo, had both played more than fifty games during the season and the likes of Kaka, Rooney, Drogba and Torres all arrived at the tournament not fully fit.

Jordaan said,

“The players we expected to score many goals did not score a single one.”

He also talked about the additional physical demands faced by Africa’s top players who had also taken part in the African Cup of Nations back in January.

“Those players had to play at the African Nations Cup in January, then go back to their clubs to play in the league and the Champions League, then come back to the World Cup. Is it reasonable to expect Michael Essien and Didier Drogba to come and perform in the World Cup? I think not. I think it is too much.”

Some countries, like Germany, have a winter break, and England manager Fabio Capello is soon to demand a similar situation in England. That request will be met with a total refusal by Premier League chiefs for whom the league and the money surrounding it is far more important than the fortunes of the national team.

Jordaan thinks it is essential that these matters are looked at prior to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

“A complete rest period has some effect but it is something that really needs another look for 2014.We have to make sure these players do have a rest before they come to a very demanding World Cup in Brazil.”

I think what Jordaan has said does have some merit. The World Cup should be the ultimate stage for the best players to show off what they can do. Football fans around the world should be in awe of the magnificent football and individual skills on display. Unfortunately, at this World Cup the players I have mentioned have failed to produce the goods for whatever reason.

Form

If the reason is that the players are out of form, then there is not much that can be done about that, but if it is tiredness or injury, then surely the game should try to do all it can to prevent that ruining the biggest tournament it has. It is only played once every four years, after all.