MOGAMAD ALLIE: After Qatar, it’s right back to club football as pressure mounts on players

In five days’ time the host nation Qatar kick-off the 22nd edition of the Fifa World Cup when they face Ecuador, a team that finished fourth behind old stagers Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in the South American qualifiers.

It will be the first of 64 games to be played over a hectic four-week period that is bound to see club managers having their fingers crossed as they closely monitor their players for any signs of potential injury.

Teams such as Bayern Munich with 17 players at the World Cup,  Barcelona (16), Manchester City (15), Manchester United (14) and Real Madrid (13) will have the highest representation in Qatar, so Julian Nagelsmann, Xavi, Pep Guardiola, Erik ten Hag and Carlo Ancelotti will be anxious about their players’ welfare bearing in mind the business end of the season that lies ahead in the new year. One of that number, Cristiano Ronaldo, may not be around after the World Cup.

To win the competition the two finalists will be required to play seven intense games at a rate of roughly one every three to four days, allowing little time for recovery while at the same time increasing the risk of injury.

As it is, most of the players involved at the World Cup are coming off a tough first three months of the European season where they would have been involved in as many as 21 league and Champions League or Europa League games.  Many would also have played for their countries in the European Nations League or international friendlies, further adding to their physical and mental burden. 

Unlike in previous World Cups, when the tournament was played between the second weeks of June and July, players would at least have had a short break at the end of the season before gathering for a camp about 10 days before the start of the competition. And they would also have had a post-tournament break, unlike this year when they will plunge straight back into club commitments.

It will be tough for the teams to hit the ground running when the national coaches have had limited time with their respective teams, so don’t be surprised if we see a few shock results in the early games of the tournament.

Amid the backdrop of the debate around the scheduling of the World Cup, as well as the increased number of games imposed on top footballers, Fifpro, the international players’ union, has complained about their members “being pushed past acceptable limits by a saturated schedule” to allow for a mid-season World Cup.

Preliminary comments from a Fifpro report due for release this week note the damage inflicted on the players’ physical and mental health by what the union terms “an unsustainable” workload which puts their “career longevity at risk”.

Using the example of Senegal international Sadio Mane, the report highlights that since the beginning of last season the forward played 93 competitive matches for his clubs, Liverpool and Bayern Munich, before he suffered a calf injury against Werder Bremen in a Bundesliga game last week. 

Although Mane has been included in coach Aliou Cisse’s Lions of Teranga squad, he is likely to miss the crucial opening game on Monday against the Netherlands due to the injury.

The Bayern attacker may also be a doubtful starter for next Friday’s second group game against Qatar, but such is his value to the team that every effort will be made to have him ready for what could be a decisive clash against Ecuador. With the Netherlands favoured to win Group H, the outcome of the meeting against the South American side could well be the one that decides which team joins Louis van Gaal’s Oranje from the group in the second round.  

Among the other key findings that have been released, the Fifpro report warns about exposing players to increased risk due to the impact of additional fixtures crammed into an already crowded early-season schedule.

The significantly reduced preparation and recovery periods before and after the World Cup, Fifpro warns, pose a big threat to player health as well as possibly influencing performance levels. 

Already injuries have taken their toll on several of the world’s leading players who won’t be in action in Qatar.

France will have to soldier on without key midfielders Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante as well as defender Presnel Kimpembe, Germany will miss Marco Reus and Timo Werner, while Diogo Jota won’t be around to help Portugal’s attempt to lift the World Cup for the first time.

Morocco suffered a major injury blow over the weekend when Olympique Marseille attacker Amine Harit damaged knee ligaments while Ghana will be without Charlton Athletic’s Jojo Wollacott, their first-choice goalkeeper who injured his finger in the warm-up before last Saturday’s League One game against Burton.

While Fifpro and European-based players have raised their concerns about the impact the hectic schedule will have on players at the World Cup, Brazilian great Cafu believes a mid-season tournament will actually see players in much better shape than they would have been at the end of the campaign.

The two-time World Cup winner (1994 and 2002) told India’s Hindustan Times: “Usually by the time a World Cup would arrive, players would be tired, having gone through a full season. That won’t happen this time and that should benefit teams.”

Most of the players who’ve been subjected to a cramped schedule over the past three months will surely differ with Cafu. He was  after all speaking in his capacity as a 2022 World Cup ambassador.