Down on their knees: spain's recurring injury problem
For the many bearing the hopes of espana, you'd forgive them for thinking that the rain in spain falls mainly on their world cup players. raul, vicente, xavi, valeron, these are some of the names that might be missing from the spanish first xi when june rolls along. in fact, so uncanny are all four injuries that spanish coach luis aragones must be cursing the god of cruciate ligaments (if there ever was one), because all four key players have damaged cruciate ligaments.
raul's and valeron's are in the left knee, xavi's is in the right, and vicente's is in his ankle. the spanish press are anxiously awaiting signs of comeback while the fans are distrought. aragones meanwhile, says he can only wait and see if his players improve. but are there any positive signs? raul has returned to training but is struggling for fitness - as a striker, loss of sharpness in front of goal will also be a worry. xavi, who has been the longest out among the four, is apparently close to training again.
Vicente: close to training or shattered world cup dream?
while raul and xavi spot possible comebacks, reports on vicente range from the succulently optimistic "should return to training soon" to the dramatic hopelessness of "world cup dream over". but valeron, the least vital of the four (though undoubtedly still important), is the one in the tunnel with the least light. with the wealth of attacking midfielders in spain, valeron's whopping 8 month layoff not only ends his world cup hopes completely, but it could also mean the beginning of the end for the 30 year old's international career. already, earlier this month, aragones has named five new faces in the spanish squad for a get together. the boss, it seems, is preparing for the worst.
Messi: from uncapped last year to injury worry of the year
Across the atlantic (what the heck am i saying, it's in La Liga itself), argentina are finding themselves in a similar situation to their hispanic cousins. in what is perhaps the most hyped up injury of this world cup outside england, barcelona wonderkid leo messi has just returned to argentina for treatment on his hamstrings. meanwhile, argentina fans worldwide storm online football forums to talk about their fear of losing this precocious talent. on one hand, this says plenty about messi's rise to stardom, yet one cannot help but wonder how fragile the argentine faith is when it now seems like the fate of their nation's world cup lies in the feet of a 17 year old who one year ago, had not earned his first full cap.
Aimar has a serious cold
perhaps a more respectful injury to sweat so much about would be pablo aimar's. the nippy attacking midfielder is suffering from a viral meningitis, or what hopeful fans refer to in their forum posts as "a serious cold". like spain's vicente, aimar's media diagnosis runs from 10 days to "the end of the season". another player injured is luciano figueroa. the river plate striker featured heavily in argentina's confederations cup run last year, and was largely expected to figure in the world cup as well. but an injury in early march (cruciate left knee ligament again!) has ruled him out entirely from world cup reckoning. will argentina miss the prolific strikerate of young figueroa? at 12 goals in 20 games, one suspects they will.
so the hospital beds are filled up, the physio rooms are booked out, and the names on the team sheets have been crossed out time and again. spain and argentina have great talent on the pitch, but perhaps what they need now are good doctors.
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As world cup selection draws ever nearer, the tension between players who are desperate, players who are injured, fans who are going crazy and superstars who are snubbed all pivot on the one man: the manager. between today and 19 May, men like marcello lippi, raymond domenech and luis aragones have crucial decisions to make - in most cases, these decisions are extremely vital, and can separate an ordinary tournament from world cup glory.
23 men, six weeks, one deadline.
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