Never before had there been a football season like the current one, with the clubs’ calendar split in two by the World Cup in Qatar. A saturated program of dates in which while the Argentine champion walks through Buenos Aires, others undertake a trip to play the Copa del Rey. The World Cup players, with hardly any rest, must reintegrate into the first competitive level with the consequent physical and emotional risk. Those not called up have their chance, but they will have to make up for the lack of rhythm after a ‘second pre-season’.
These are some of the conclusions that they expose for El Peródico de Esapaña, from the Prensa Ibérica group, Luis Casais, professor and researcher at the University of Vigo, coach or member of the Association of Physical Trainers (APF); y David Peris, President of the Spanish Federation of Sports Psychology (FEPD). Two subject matter experts who are never dissociated in high-performance football, immersed in a divided and unprecedented scenario that can alter the order of objectives and positions in which the protagonists arrived at the World Cup.
from cup to cup
The first thing to do is put the chronology in order. The season began on August 10 with the European Super Cup. Two days later, the first league day was played, which stopped on November 10 to make way for the Qatar event that ended on Sunday, December 18. Barely 48 hours later, the second round of the Copa del Rey got under way, with First Division teams in contention. The situation is repeated in England, where the EFL Cup was activated. the return of LaLiga we have to wait until next Thursday, December 29, while the Second has not stopped during the World Cup. Thus begins a football binge: between December 21 and January 8, 12 days of matches.
The marathon of cross competitions for the 2022/2023 academic year will end on June 10 with the dispute of the final of Champions at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. “The players will be forced to perform at a high level with the demand that this implies and more so on dates they are not used to -due to the saturation of the calendar at Christmas-. It is a situation that will have to be managed to find the optimal state of form. Just finished the World Cup, they have to be well again because they are playing important objectives”, reflects the sports psychologist David Peris.
From the aspect of physical preparation, the planning of the season has been a challenge. “The interruption of the World Cup has caused two large parts or ‘macrocycles’ in which the teams are forced to repeat the structure that was carried out for the whole year: prepare, compete, rest; that is to say: preseason, season, first round or vacations “says Professor Luis Casais, who considers that, from a physical point of view, “For 90% of the players, this year’s schedule structure is more beneficial than a five-week summer preseason and a 9- or 10-month competition.”
The time of the ‘outsiders’
However, the remaining 10%, which corresponds to those called up for Qatar, “will have double the demand for participating in a World Cup in the middle of their competitive period, since they will return to their leagues partially exhausted to compete for another five months.” . On the other hand, the physical trainer assures that, although during the new preparatory period that the clubs have carried out with the non-World Cup players they have lost specific adaptations, “it helps them to better manage their physical condition: some teams have recovered injured or overloaded teams and others have done a physical ‘recharge’ that will give them a good base for the following months“.
This set-up situation anticipates, for Luis Casais, from the Association of Physical Trainers, “that the teams with hardly any internationals, the ‘outsiders’, may be in better condition than some of the ‘greats’ who have been training with few troops, mostly substitutes, and who will receive overloaded players who need some rest or rest”. On this question, David Peris adds a nuance: “These footballers have been training in atypical situations, without objectives, in a state of semi-vacation compared to the stressful scenarios they will go through again”.
Except for some exceptional tour, like the one that Betis did for Latin America (with terrible results, evidencing the disconnection), the Spanish teams have chosen to schedule friendlies with other teams that, in the same situation, have relocated. Or with Central Europeans and other latitudes who already take advantage of these dates, which coincide with their winter break, to do stages in national territory. Therefore, the performance of the clubs in the return to routine will depend on a combination of factors that derive from those who stayed and those who went to Qatar.
individualized work
“In teams with a high number of World Cup players, such as Atlético, Real Madrid, Barça or Sevilla, there will be a double or even triple group of players: those who have been doing the ‘pre-season’, the World Cup players who have played the last qualifying rounds and they will need a breather; and those who have only been in more primary phases, that they do not have so much fatigue, but neither do the extra preparation of the ‘mini-preseason’ these weeks”, adds Luis Casais, who agrees with David Peris that, both in the physical and mental section, individualized work will be required.
Because they argue that each player is different, because of his role in the team, whether or not he has a replacement, because of his moment in his career or age, because of his physical profile… And there is no general chart of states for his performance either. in the world Cup. The paradigmatic case is that of PSG, with players like Judge, Marquinhos, Mbappe, Messi o Neymar that have had more wear than Konate, Soler, vitinha o Sarabia, which have borne a lighter load. Finally, the group of Ramos, Bernard o Verratti who have been training.
The situation is repeated in the Real Madridthe only Spanish representative in the Champions League, which returns on February 14 with the round of 16 dispute. Tchouaméni, Modric, Military y Vinicius are in a situation of greater physical stress than carvajal, Rodrygo o Camavingaas analyzed by the member of the APF who places Kroos, Alaba, Mendy o Nacho, who have stayed in the Spanish capital, on a different step from that of Benzema, who left the French concentration without making his debut. To these peculiarities must be added, according to Casais, specific examples such as that of coin World champion with Argentina, who returns with some discomfort aggravated by the accumulation of matches.
performance drop
In the psychological factor, adaptation will be even more a personal matter. “Most of the players who have been in the World Cup have ‘failed’, because only one can win. You have to know how to manage it,” explains the president of the FEPD, recalling that “The body and the mind seek balance: when you have had a great effort like the one required in this tournament, what you do is go down in order to recover. Therefore, you have to work to sustain your performance”. Hence, the professor from the University of Vigo contemplates a period of figures that are slightly below their potential, something that the most rested will take advantage of to take a step forward.
As if the open fronts were few, some players will change teams in the coming weeks with the winter transfer market, heated by the World Cup hangover. The top of the shaker that world football has become, more hectic than ever, where personality and physical preparation must be an ‘all in one’ in squad life. No time to forget the missed penalty in Qatar, because the ball for the next shot, in the field of LaLiga or the Cup, is already ready.
