Before facing FC Barcelona and conceding a cruel defeat in added time on a goal from the inevitable Robert Lewandowski (1-0), the captain of Valencia CF José Gayà had responded to the possibility of playing in the first World Cup of his career… in the middle of European autumn. “It is not usual, but it will be necessary to adaptexplained the 27-year-old defender. We had known for some time that it would take place in Qatar, so we prepared in the pre-season so that the World Cup did not disrupt our dynamic.”
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The defender will perhaps join a list that continues to grow over the days. Amine Harit and Bartlomiej Dragowski saw their World Cup dreams come to an end last weekend following serious injuries, other profiles like Sadio Mané, N’Golo Kanté, Reece James or Timo Werner will also not be there. party for having strained their bodies more than reason by dint of playing almost every three days. “At the moment there is an injured person who will miss the World Cup in every gamecomplained Bruno Genesio when Rennes-AEK Larnaca left the Europa League on November 3. What we make the players live with this calendar is not human.”
This observation of the overexploitation of footballers, already established a long time ago by Pep Guardiola, is all the more highlighted with this imminent World Cup in Qatar. Therefore, federations are expected to take precautions to minimize the risk of injury during competition. “The most important thing for staff is to ask themselves the question: ‘Where do our players come from?‘, establishes in the first place Xavier Amen, physiotherapist and athletic trainer.
“You have to analyze their origin, that is to say their national championship and their club, and carry out a general inventory. Communication must be optimal between a federation and a club to talk regarding the player or players who can be selected. is a cornerstone for the success of a federation at the World Cup. Also, the clubs are going to have a very close eye on the progress of the World Cup, because the post-tournament period is of paramount importance, there has serious deadlines ahead with large sums of money at stake.”
In the middle of this relationship between club and selection, the footballer is himself confronted with the reality of a World Cup in its own right. From then on, the growing desire to represent his country in the most prestigious of international competitions took over and the club had to act accordingly.
Sadio Mane
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With barely a week to soak up the local climate, the injury risk estimate will rise
Geographically, moving from the European continental climate to the Qatari desert climate involves anticipation at club level. “Temperature variation and acclimatization will change the biological process in every footballercontinues Xavier Amen. For players from the northern hemisphere, this is a factor to consider. These footballers will have additional stress for the same given task. Normally, the body needs time to adapt to new conditions. With barely a week to soak up the local climate, the injury risk estimate will increase.” he analyzes.
“For this World Cup, clubs have prepared accordingly via thermo training rooms to produce efforts in high heat so as to limit the risk of injury and promote rapid adaptation. But for the same effort provided, the feeling The player can be totally different. Benzema is not going to adapt in the same way as Griezmann. In this, the transition between the start of the break and the start of the World Cup must be well managed under pain of injury. If the staffs are working well, some players might gradually increase in power to reach their best performance at the end of the competition, this is a possible strategy. Also, sleep, recovery, stress management, hydration and nutrition will be fundamental to reduce the risk of injury. “
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UOnce there, the training programs must be scrupulously followed in order to minimize the risk of convalescence. “The basic principles of training a top athlete are continuity, progressiveness, saturation, variety, individualization and specificity, lists Xavier Amen. The athletic trainers of the federations know this, so they will organize themselves in close collaboration with the coach so that these principles are applied in training to generate effort but will also monitor the effects. For optimal performance in a World Cup, you have to control the efforts and the effects. Every human being has a different amount of charge.”
The importance of knowing your body and the players then becomes essential. “If there are too sudden variations in the load, this is where the risk of injury increases. In this, it is fundamental to control the charges attributed to the players. The load is an effort. And effort also takes psychology into account, explains Xavier Amen once more. “There is the physical effort of carrying weight, but also the psychological effort of adapting to the weather. If the training takes place in dry heat or in the snow, it is not the same. If the match is a Champions League final or a match once morest a Ligue 1 soft underbelly team, it’s not the same either. Running for 90 minutes in a match does not require the same load as running for 30 minutes in a match. this same match and do a 60-minute training session to compensate. Effort is always subject to a context where nervousness can be variable in geometry. The athletic trainer must therefore adapt efforts individually so that each player benefits from the effects desired for performance purposes.“
Karim Benzema, in training with the Blues on November 14
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For three or four weeks, footballers have changed their mindset
“Unconsciously for three or four weeks, footballers have changed their mindsetconsiders Xavier Amen. This change can have an impact on the load felt because the level of stress is rising, the excitement is palpable. There is unrest and extra-sporting issues that everyone is talking regarding. In the midst of all this, footballers are caught in this storm. At the same level of training as usual, this can lead to overload because the psychological context is different for the players.
As for the Mané subject, it is ultimately complex. “In this, I do not think that the fault is to be put on Bayern, but players like Mané are not insensitive to the coming of a World Cup in the middle of the season. It is possible to estimate a risk of injury , but impossible to prevent the injury.“For a first World Cup in the fall, we will therefore have to rely on everyone’s professionalism and avoid putting passion before reason. Easier said than done…
Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez
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