A Game of Three Quarters
Are international managers playing it safe with their star assets?
It has been well documented and much lamented that a number of high profile players suffered injuries that would see them sit-out the months of June and July, luckily for them there’s a World Cup on to fill the hours.
Franck Ribéry and Radamel Falcao are the two truly world class players to miss the tournament whilst a Uruguay struggling for goals had Luis Suárez on the bench for their surprise 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica but that’s where he stayed, suggesting that the Liverpool forward has not yet recovered from his knee surgery.
It is not just that the fans are being deprived of seeing these players perform on the world’s grandest stage, the spate of injuries to star performers, including Romelu Lukaku, Jay Rodriguez, Theo Walcott and Victor Valdés, to name a few, seems to have affected the players who have made it to Brazil.
In the hotly anticipated World Cup opener hosts Brazil were given a real test by an industrious Croatia side who took the lead. Brazil’s blushes were saved by a brace from their flamboyant marksman and global superstar Neymar. It was Oscar who provided the third in stoppage time, Neymar was denied the shot at what would have been a very special hat-trick when he was substituted for midfielder Ramires in the 88th minute: with the game still very much in the balance Scolari chose to sideline the side’s greatest goal threat and La Seleção’s 8th highest goalscorer ever.
This substitution was a cautious one. Replacing a forward with a midfielder generally is but I think it’s clear by now that Neymar is far more than just a forward. I have no doubt that seeing a season of club football leave so many stricken will have influenced the manager’s choice to withdraw World Cup 2014's posterboy and Brazil’s great hope.
That was the opening game and we are now on matchday four and substituting your star man early has become a bit of a theme. On a couple of occasions it’s just been good sense — Louis van Gaal’s withdrawal of two-goal Robin van Persie was pure pragmatism as the game was all but won and he’s always an injury risk — but on several occasions caution has been the better part of valour.
Mexico’s top goalscorer in qualifying and the man who need the winner Oribe Peralta was sent to rest his legs after just 72 minutes in a tight encounter with Cameroon. Diego Costa was given the dreaded curly finger with Spain chasing the game against the Netherlands after a mere 62 minutes — Costa is only recently returned from a late-season hamstring injury — Colombia brought off their first choice striker Teó Gutiérrez with nearly 20 minutes still to play in their match against Greece and just last night Mario Balotelli only played 72 minutes of Italy’s hard-fought victory over England, Roy Hodgson has perhaps learnt this lesson the hard way with goalscorer Daniel Sturridge forced off with thigh discomfort in the 80th minute of the same game.
Managers at this World Cup are more wary of injury than ever and are taking fewer risks in the hope of keeping their best players fitter for longer. Despite their remarkable fitness records and capacity to play huge numbers of consecutive games from start to finish, do not be surprised to see this cautionary approach being taken with the world’s two very best players, starting with Lionel Messi in Argentina’s opening game this evening.
