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Soccer players feel the heat
Too many matches and injury problems are making players retire well before time. In pics
Imagine the Ronaldihnos, Owens, Henrys, Eto'os and Rooneys of the soccer fraternity calling it a day well before their time. The thought, however brazen, may become a possibility in the not-so-distant future if these rising stars are allowed to burn themselves out.
Too many matches, large sums of money at stake and recurrent injury problems are resulting in frequent burnouts, with several stars tiring out and hanging up their boots much before other of their ilk did a few years back.
The problem came to the fore with the failure of many top nations in the World Cup and European Championship and FIFA, along with UEFA, concluded that leading players were arriving for the tournaments worn out from their regular season activities.
In December 2004, FIFA made a bold statement that May 14, 2006 will be the cut off date for all major competitions including domestic cup finals in the season preceding the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but its efforts in tacking this problem seem far too less and a tad late in the day.
The move of world soccer's officiating body will allow players representing the teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup sufficient time to recover and prepare for the final competition.
Sample this - a large chunk of France's 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning team, retired from international scene after Euro 2004. Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu all hung up their boots. Portugal's Luis Figo, Czech Republic's Pavel Nedved and England's Paul Scholes too bid adieu.
Most will still continue playing club soccer for a few more years, but the pressure of international soccer has been a telling point in their careers and subsequent decisions.
Now, take the case of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. He arrived at Manchester United in July 2003 as an exciting prospect. In the following 18 months, the Portuguese winger has played almost without a break for his club and in friendlies, the European soccer championship and the Olympics for his country.
He has chalked up more than 80 matches and will take that total beyond 100 before the end of this season.
Ronaldo is only 19. His experience is repeated across the world as clubs and countries seek to wring every drop of value from their premium assets.
Earlier, this was not the case. All-time greats like Bobby Charlton (1956-1974), Pele (1956-1977) and more recently Diego Maradona ((1977-1997), Mario Kempes (1972-86) and Johan Cruyff (1966-1984) all played for an average of 18-20 years. Players such as Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer played for about fourteen years. But, they did not play as much as the current crop does.
Everybody recognises the problems -- from players to administrators to television executives, but precious little is being done.
Among the loudest warning voices is that of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has been quoted as saying, "there has been a lot of talk about players being too tired and I would agree."
Blatter plans for players to be guaranteed a period of rest before the 2006 World Cup to ensure the sport's showpiece is not again undermined.
Some players too have begun to show their frustration. Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest went on strike in August 2004, refusing to leave for a training camp. Dinamo captain Florentin Petre reportedly said they had only eight days for rest after they won Romanian Cup last season.
With the soccer calendar through the year almost choker-a-block, it remains to be seen if some more top names wave good-bye to fans or are able to go on for a while more.
