There are no such things as good injuries. Anything which affects a player’s health and well being and could, no matter how minor, impact on his future playing style and effectiveness cannot be beneficial.
Yes, the old saying about "what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’’ has some truth in it. Players who succumb to serious ailments and come back have shown the sort of mental strength which stands them in good stead when the going gets tough – either in what is left of their playing careers or subsequent life as a coach or manager.
But in reality the best that can be said about injuries is that if they are going to happen, they might have the decency to occur at an appropriate time. For a player that usually means when the season is virtually over, when his club has no chance of being relegated or promoted and is out of all cup competitions. If he has to miss out, it might as well be when there is nothing at stake.
How agonising then to miss out on something special, as Socceroo defender Kevin Muscat found out a few years ago when he was prevented from captaining Millwall in the FA Cup final because of a shocking knee injury.
But for a manager there can occasionally be an upside to the injury phenomenon, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time. When Socceroo boss Graham Arnold gets the injury report from his team manager Gary Moretti he must, at present, feel rather like an overworked consultant in a particularly busy public sector hospital. The Socceroos roster these days resembles more a casualty list than a playing squad, with so many players missing from action and unavailable for selection. In the recent game against Denmark, Arnold selected a starting eleven missing more than half a dozen players from the World Cup squad, while in March’s friendly with China a number of top liners were similarly absent through injury or just plain fatigue.
Tim Cahill, the dynamic Everton midfielder, is out for the rest of the English Premiership season after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot against Sheffield United early in March. Harry Kewell, the Liverpool winger and Australia’s talisman, has not played since that fateful night in Stuttgart when he scored the equalizer against Croatia to take the Socceroos through to the last 16.
Josh Kennedy, the beanpole frontman who made such an impact in the World Cup when used off the bench, has missed the entire season with his Bundesliga side Nuremburg because of an achilles injury, succumbing to further problems at the start of March. Craig Moore, the Newcastle defender, is on the easy list, while Lucas Neill, the sometime stand -in skipper in Mark Viduka’s absence, is another who has missed chunks of the season through injury. Vince Grella, the tough tackling cog at the heart of the Socceroo midfield, is playing through the pain barrier week after week only because his club, Parma, is involved in a relegation dogfight in the Serie A.
It has all made it rather hard for Arnie in the lead up to the Asia Cup, although there could be something of a silver lining for him in Bangkok should these key men all recover in time.
It is just possible that they will turn up in Thailand for Australia’s group games fit, fresh and raring to go after such a lengthy enforced absence from the game. Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle and Nuremburg’s loss could be the Socceroos gain if that quartet, all vital parts of the Socceroo mix, recover from their injuries with a renewed vigour for the game and the desire to lead Australia to its first really meaningful international trophy.
Cahill and Kewell, after all, went into the World Cup with injury doubts and battled to convince Guus Hiddink that they could play a role in Australia’s campaign. Recovered, and with a point to prove, between them they scored three of Australia’s four goals. If that was an augury for the Asian Cup, then Arnold will doubtless be happy to do without them in the lead up as long as he gets them when it really matters.
Yes, the old saying about "what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’’ has some truth in it. Players who succumb to serious ailments and come back have shown the sort of mental strength which stands them in good stead when the going gets tough – either in what is left of their playing careers or subsequent life as a coach or manager.
But in reality the best that can be said about injuries is that if they are going to happen, they might have the decency to occur at an appropriate time. For a player that usually means when the season is virtually over, when his club has no chance of being relegated or promoted and is out of all cup competitions. If he has to miss out, it might as well be when there is nothing at stake.
How agonising then to miss out on something special, as Socceroo defender Kevin Muscat found out a few years ago when he was prevented from captaining Millwall in the FA Cup final because of a shocking knee injury.
But for a manager there can occasionally be an upside to the injury phenomenon, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time. When Socceroo boss Graham Arnold gets the injury report from his team manager Gary Moretti he must, at present, feel rather like an overworked consultant in a particularly busy public sector hospital. The Socceroos roster these days resembles more a casualty list than a playing squad, with so many players missing from action and unavailable for selection. In the recent game against Denmark, Arnold selected a starting eleven missing more than half a dozen players from the World Cup squad, while in March’s friendly with China a number of top liners were similarly absent through injury or just plain fatigue.
Tim Cahill, the dynamic Everton midfielder, is out for the rest of the English Premiership season after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot against Sheffield United early in March. Harry Kewell, the Liverpool winger and Australia’s talisman, has not played since that fateful night in Stuttgart when he scored the equalizer against Croatia to take the Socceroos through to the last 16.
Josh Kennedy, the beanpole frontman who made such an impact in the World Cup when used off the bench, has missed the entire season with his Bundesliga side Nuremburg because of an achilles injury, succumbing to further problems at the start of March. Craig Moore, the Newcastle defender, is on the easy list, while Lucas Neill, the sometime stand -in skipper in Mark Viduka’s absence, is another who has missed chunks of the season through injury. Vince Grella, the tough tackling cog at the heart of the Socceroo midfield, is playing through the pain barrier week after week only because his club, Parma, is involved in a relegation dogfight in the Serie A.
It has all made it rather hard for Arnie in the lead up to the Asia Cup, although there could be something of a silver lining for him in Bangkok should these key men all recover in time.
It is just possible that they will turn up in Thailand for Australia’s group games fit, fresh and raring to go after such a lengthy enforced absence from the game. Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle and Nuremburg’s loss could be the Socceroos gain if that quartet, all vital parts of the Socceroo mix, recover from their injuries with a renewed vigour for the game and the desire to lead Australia to its first really meaningful international trophy.
Cahill and Kewell, after all, went into the World Cup with injury doubts and battled to convince Guus Hiddink that they could play a role in Australia’s campaign. Recovered, and with a point to prove, between them they scored three of Australia’s four goals. If that was an augury for the Asian Cup, then Arnold will doubtless be happy to do without them in the lead up as long as he gets them when it really matters.
